Max Verstappen needed ’15 qualifying laps’ to defend Belgian Grand Prix Sprint victory against Oscar Piastri

Max Verstappen needed “15 qualifying laps” in order to defend against McLaren’s Oscar Piastri, as the Red Bull man secured his first Sprint win of the season in Belgium.

After starting second to the Australian, Verstappen used his low-drag set up to perfection on the opening lap, pulling into the lead along the Kemmel Straight and into Les Combes.

For the rest of the 15-lap duration, Piastri remained within DRS range, but even when deploying his battery, he was unable to line up an overtake of his own.

“It worked out really well,” said Verstappen following his win. “That is the only real opportunity that you’re going to get against them, and we got it into Turn 5.

“I knew it was going to be very tough keeping them behind, so it was very much like cat and mouse with DRS, battery usage, and the whole race was within seven tenths.

“I couldn’t afford to make big mistakes. I had one tiny hiccup into the last corner, but apart from that, it was a great result to keep them behind. To have a win here at Spa, for me, it’s a Sprint win, but it still counts, and I’m very happy with what we did out there.”

In the closing stages, Verstappen indicated via team radio that he was having issues with the “peak” of his brake performance.

Asked about the nature of these problems, he explained: “Basically, you’re keeping faster cars behind, so you have to drive over the limit of what you think is possible.

“Tyre management goes out of the window, so that is what is making it really difficult. I’m just doing 15 qualifying laps to keep them behind on a track where tyre management is important. It wasn’t easy, but we managed to do it, so I’m very happy with that.”

Although Verstappen qualified second on Friday, he was 0.477s off Piastri’s pole time, and with rain expected on Sunday, Red Bull may not be willing to gamble on such an extreme set-up this time around.

“Do I feel pole is possible? I’m not sure, but we’ll try our best to set up the car how we want,” he said.

“After this race, we’ll have a few more ideas of what we want to do, and then try to be as close as possible to them.”