Sprint Shootout-
Max Verstappen was at his best again, as the Red Bull driver narrowly beat the McLaren of Oscar Piastri and the Ferrari of Carlos Sainz to take pole for the Sprint Race.
Verstappen left it late to put a time down as he took the chequered flag with four seconds to go, but he went straight to the top of the timesheet’s with a 1m 49.056s.
The full top 10 are- P1: Verstappen, P2: Piastri, P3: Sainz, P4: Leclerc, P5: Norris, P6: Gasly, P7: Hamilton, P8: Perez, P9: Ocon and P10: Russell.
The drivers were met with worse conditions yesterday, than the day before as the Shootout got postponed by 35 minutes. Once it got started, with each lap the times were beginning to drop as track conditions continued to improve.
Aston Martin made a bold call during SQ2, as they put Lance Stroll on a set of medium tyres. However, the decision proved costly as Stroll ended up in the barrier at Turn 9 which saw a red flag.
The session was unable to be restarted, Ricciardo narrowly missed out on a place in SQ3 along with the Williams duo and Aston Martin duo.
It was good enough. Just tricky conditions, you don’t want to make big mistakes so I think the lap was okay – I just didn’t risk too much in the second sector where it was still a bit damp, and it was just enough for first so that’s good. If it’s going to be wet, dry, also if it’s wet, how you’re going to survive with the wet tyres or the intermediates. So a lot of question marks still but we’ll figure it out along the way.
Verstappen on getting pole.
Sprint Race-
Red Bull’s, Max Verstappen converted pole position into victory during Saturday’s Sprint race at the Belgian Grand Prix, as he claimed back the lead from McLaren rival, Oscar Piastri after the two opted for different strategies.
Amid plenty of action at Spa-Francorchamps circuit, Alpine’s Pierre Gasly made the most of the conditions to round out the podium. Lewis Hamilton was demoted from fourth to seventh after the Mercedes man clashed with Sergio Perez and picked up a penalty.
The full top 10 are- P1: Verstappen, P2: Piastri, P3: Gasly, P4: Sainz, P5: Leclerc, P6: Norris, P7: Hamilton, P8: Russell, P9: Ocon and P10: Ricciardo.
With a rain theme of the weekend so far, the heavens opened up again just before the 17:05pm time scheduled start of the Sprint – officials decided to push it back by 30 minutes to allow the latest downpour to pass by.
By the time the formation lap began on mandated full wet tyres and behind the Safety Car which became several laps.
After a lot of near misses in the pit lane as drivers squabble for position after changing tyres to intermediates. Gasly found himself running third behind Piastri and Verstappen, with Perez up to fourth, Hamilton in fifth and Sainz rounding out the top six from Leclerc and Norris.
As the race started to settle down, Verstappen took his chance to gain into Piastri’s lead which stood at just under two seconds after their stops.
But on Lap 4, Fernando Alonso lost control of his Aston Martin at Pouhon and spun into the gravel which then triggered a Safety Car just before Verstappen was about to make a move on Piastri.
Hamilton and Perez dramatically banged wheels through Blanchimont as they battled over fourth position the seven time world champion managing to work his way through around the outside of La Source a few moments later.
I think [staying out on wets at the start] was just a safer call. I could come in first, but then I might be blocked by other cars. There might be a Safety Car and then you lose out massively. I didn’t to stay out, we lost one position, but we know that we are quick. I think you could see that when we put the inter tyres on we were flying, so it was OK!
Verstappen on the Sprint.
Jordan's Track Talk 