Max Verstappen takes commanding Sprint victory at Spa-Francorchamps from Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris

Max Verstappen has clinched his first Sprint win of the season at the Belgian Grand Prix weekend, the Red Bull driver holding on for victory after making an impressive overtake on Oscar Piastri during the opening lap of action.

While Piastri initially made a solid launch to hold onto P1 off the line, Verstappen surged ahead later in the lap to take the lead. But as the Sprint entered into its second half, the Dutchman faced increasing pressure from both Piastri and the other McLaren of Lando Norris.

Despite Piastri’s best efforts, Verstappen continued to defend his position and sealed a dominant win, with Piastri and Norris ultimately having to settle for second and third respectively.

Charles Leclerc followed in fourth for Ferrari, despite briefly running ahead of Norris in the early stages, while Haas’ Esteban Ocon, Williams’ Carlos Sainz, the other Haas of Ollie Bearman and Racing Bulls’ Isack Hadjar followed in fifth through to eighth.

After just one practice session on Friday, Sprint Qualifying had decided the grid for the third 100km dash of the season, a format that awards points to the top eight finishers from a maximum of eight for P1 down to one for P8.

Piastri stormed to his first Sprint pole of the campaign by setting an impressive lap of 1m 40.510s, putting him over four-tenths clear of Verstappen in second while the other McLaren of Norris had to settle for third.

Meanwhile there were some surprises further down the order; Hamilton was the shock exit from SQ1 in P18 while both Mercedes cars missed out on the top-10 shootout, with Antonelli eliminated early in P20 and Russell ending the session in P13.

Ahead of the Sprint getting underway, one change was confirmed to the grid as Franco Colapinto – who had ended Sprint Qualifying in P19 – would start from the pit lane due to Alpine changing the rear wing of his A525 under parc ferme conditions.

There was further trouble for the Enstone-based squad when Pierre Gasly’s car was pulled off the grid in the build-up to the Sprint, with the Alpine crew rolling the vehicle back through the pit lane and to the garage due to a water system issue.

When the tyre blankets came off prior to the formation lap, it was revealed that the whole field would be starting on the medium compound with the exception of Colapinto, staring on the soft tyres from the pit lane. Meanwhile it was soon confirmed that Gasly would not be taking the start, with the team unable to fix the issue on his car in time.

As the lights went out, Piastri made a strong start to lead away from pole position – but Verstappen was not ready to give up, the Dutchman making a stunning overtake by getting in Piastri’s slipstream down the Kemmel straight to surge into P1.

Meanwhile the other McLaren of Norris also lost a position, with Leclerc taking P3 from the Briton just behind the leaders. Behind them, Ocon had held onto P5 ahead of Sainz in P6, Bearman in P7 and Hadjar in P8, the Frenchman gaining a place following the exit of his countryman.

Piastri remained on the tail of Verstappen, with the gap standing at around half a second as Lap 4 ticked down, yet the Australian could not quite close in. Elsewhere, Norris retook third place from Leclerc, whilst Alpine confirmed that Gasly had joined the Sprint two laps down, the team seemingly using the event as a test session.

Further back, Antonelli made a move on Nico Hulkenberg to grab 17th place, the Italian looking to make up for his disappointing Sprint Qualifying. Piastri, meanwhile, looked to have kicked up a little gravel as he pushed hard in his pursuit of Verstappen.

“I’ve got no rear already,” Hamilton was heard radioing in on Lap 7, the Ferrari driver running in P14 following his off in Sprint Qualifying on Saturday. At the front, Norris looked to be catching the leading pair of Verstappen and Piastri – would a three-car fight for the lead play out?

Antonelli was chasing Hamilton by Lap 9, the rookie looking to put pressure on the driver he replaced at Mercedes. Up ahead, Norris was now just six-tenths behind Piastri, with the Australian the same margin behind Verstappen.

Piastri looked to find a way around the outside of the Red Bull on Lap 11, but the World Champion managed to defend. “I can’t brake,” Verstappen reported, having had a slight moment at the last chicane.

None of the trio were ready to give up as the Sprint entered into its final laps, with Norris told that Piastri’s battery was at “mid-level” as the Briton remained on the tail of his team mate. Further back, Alex Albon was also in fighting mode as he engaged in a close scrap with Fernando Alonso for P14.

Despite his efforts, Piastri could not close the gap further to Verstappen and the Dutch driver crossed the line to seal a dominant Sprint victory, the Red Bull man taking the chequered flag by 0.753s from his closest rival.

Norris was a further six-tenths back from Piastri in third place, ahead of Leclerc, Ocon, Sainz, Bearman and Hadjar in the remaining points-paying positions of fourth to eighth respectively.

Kick Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto and Racing Bulls’ Liam Lawson completed the top 10 order, with Red Bull’s Yuki Tsunoda and the Mercedes of Russell just missing out in 11th and 12th.

The Aston Martin pair of Lance Stroll and Alonso were P13 and P14, while Hamilton ended a difficult Sprint event in P15.

Albon had to settle for 16th, followed by Antonelli, Hulkenberg and Colapinto in the final positions ahead of Gasly, who was classified as retired after his brief return to action.

Key quote

“It worked out really well,” said Verstappen. “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.”

What’s next

Following the Sprint, the drivers will next return to action during Qualifying for the Grand Prix later on Saturday, with the session set to begin at 1600 local time. Head to the RACE HUB to find out how you can follow the action.