Verstappen regains lead from Piastri to secure Belgian GP Sprint Race

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen managed to regain the race lead from McLaren’s Oscar Piastri, after a flurry of pit stops, to secure the Belgian Grand Prix sprint race win.

How the race unfolded…

After a lengthy delay as a weather cell passed on through, ahead of the race start time, the race managed to get started and a few laps were conducted behind the safety car. When the safety car returned to the pit lane, it was decided that the race would start with a rolling start.

As Verstappen bolted down the pit straight after he got up to racing speed before Blanchimont, half of the field – led by Piastri – peeled into the pit lane to swap over the wet tyres for the intermediates. A lap later Verstappen followed suit and popped into the pit lane for the same tyre change.

When the Dutchman returned to the track, Piastri had cleared him with an undercut and the Australian had a healthy five-second gap over Red Bull’s leading man.

As Piastri tried to keep the Dutchman at bay, Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso brought out the safety car on lap three of 11. The Spaniard found himself in a spin, on the run down through Pouhon, as he touched the wet kerb around the outside of the corner. As he regained control of his AMR23, Alonso could not avoid the gravel and he quickly beached himself.

Despite a later restart by Piastri, at the end of lap five, it allowed Verstappen to remain on the gearbox of Piastri on the run down to Eau Rogue and Radillion. As the two drivers blasted down the Kemmel Straight, the overtake was light work for Verstappen who regained the race lead with ease.

From there the Dutchman cruised to victory with minimal issues, ahead of Piastri and Pierre Gasly.

On the restart lap, Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton raced hard alongside Red Bull’s Sergio Perez through the latter stages of the circuit. As the two curled around turn 16, Hamilton was alongside the Mexican but the two inevitably made contact.

The collision between the W14 and the RB19 meant Perez was handling a wounded car, with a hole in the sidepod, and the Red Bull driver quickly lost performance across the seventh lap. The #11 Red Bull was quickly ordered into the pit lane to retire from the race.

At the same time, Hamilton was slapped with a five-second time penalty.

Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc, and McLaren’s Lando Norris occupied fourth, fifth and sixth place respectively.

Despite a fourth-place finish, at the chequered flag, Hamilton tumbled down the order due to his five-second penalty and finished the sprint in seventh just ahead of his teammate, George Russell, who finished in eighth.

That’s all for the article; Verstappen regains lead from Piastri to secure Belgian GP Sprint Race!

Read more Formula 1 here:

• F1 Belgian GP: Verstappen takes fastest lap over Piastri by 0.011s
• Alpine F1 Team and Otmar Szafnauer part by ‘mutual agreement’ after Belgian GP
• F1 Belgian GP: Verstappen secures pole in mixed conditions
• F1 Belgian GP: Sainz fastest in rain-affected sole practice
• Ferrari appoints loverno as Sporting Director as Mekies leaves
• All 10 F1 teams to support F1 Academy drivers

Give us a follow on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter to keep up with the latest news from the world of Motorsport! You can also support us on Patreon or on our website!

Kamron Kent

Hi, I’m Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion.

I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I’ve loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.

Kamron Kent

Hi, I'm Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion. I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I've loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.