Imperious Piastri passes Norris for Belgian win

The pass that won the race

An hour and 20 minutes after a formation lap was completed behind the safety car in teeming conditions, the Formula 1 pack was finally released to race — after four more laps behind the safety car and a rolling start. Max Verstappen led the chorus of critics who felt F1 has become far too cautious when it comes to racing in the rain.

The Belgian Grand Prix was finally unleashed on the fifth lap, with the entire grid running on Pirelli’s intermediate tyres on a damp — but soon to be drying — track. Piastri had been concerned the loss of a standing start would play against him in his bid to take an early lead, which he knew was his best chance to have a shot at victory.

But a great exit from La Source set him up beautifully to pull a classic move through Eau Rouge and out the top of Raidillon, to which Norris had no answer. Pole position at Spa isn’t always the best spot to start from, and so it proved once again.

“Oscar just did a good job, nothing more to say,” said the clearly disheartened British Grand Prix winner. “He committed a bit more through Eau Rouge and had the slipstream and got the run. Nothing to complain of.”

Norris takes a chance on the hard tyre

As Piastri sprinted away, Norris knew his best chance to get back to the front was a strategic masterstroke, or perhaps some help from a safety car. But the safety car never reappeared in a race that ultimately ran in the dry, and the divergence in strategy he went for didn’t quite work out. Still, it was a valiant effort. He might have been closer without a few minor mistakes, but in reality it would have been a tall order to dislodge the imperious Piastri.

The key was when to switch to slicks as the track began to dry. Who would blink first? As it turned out, Lewis Hamilton — with much less to lose having started from the pitlane — led a quartet into the pits for yellow-walled medium tyres on lap 11 of 44. It quickly became clear the time was right, so Piastri followed a lap later. But with Charles Leclerc and Verstappen still within range in third and fourth, double-stacking wasn’t an option for McLaren, so Norris waited another lap before taking his slicks.

The team went for a late call to give him white-walled hard compound tyres, meaning it was a near certainty he wouldn’t have to stop again (unless the rain returned). That was much less the case for the medium-tyre runners. Indeed, initially Piastri voiced doubts on the team radio over whether he’d be able to run all the way to the end without stopping again.

The gap between the pair was just over eight seconds and, against what the teams had learnt on Friday, the hard tyre Norris was running now appeared on a par with the medium on performance. Perhaps Lando was still in this…

Piastri plays it cool

Would Piastri really be able to keep his mediums in good enough shape to make it home, in a stint lasting 32 laps? After those initial doubts, the answer was an emphatic yes. Norris was only able to nibble away at the gap to his team-mate, but was pushing so hard that inevitable small errors — running wide at Pouhon, locking up into La Source — crept in and undid his good work.

In contrast, Piastri appeared unblemished in his driving as he banked yet another ice-cold performance of the highest order. He was never under serious threat and took the flag a comfortable 3.4seconds ahead of Norris. That meant he left Spa with an increased advantage of 16 points at the top of the table.

“I knew that lap one was going to be probably my best chance of winning the race, and I got a good exit out of Turn 1 and lifted as little as I dared through Eau Rouge, and then it was enough,” he said of his crucial pass. “The rest of the race we managed really well, struggling a little bit at the end.

"Maybe the medium [tyre] wasn’t the best for the last five or six laps, but we had it mostly under control which is what I wanted. I was pretty disappointed with myself after yesterday [when Norris pipped him to pole], but turns out starting second at Spa is not too bad after all.”

Leclerc holds off Verstappen for third

In his first weekend without Christian Horner as his boss, Verstappen scored a brilliant sprint race win in the dry with a trimmed out Red Bull that got the better of Piastri early on. But in the Grand Prix itself, the four-time World Champion had little to work with in terms of taking on the McLarens.

Not only that, he couldn’t even pass Leclerc’s Ferrari, despite a concerted effort in the early laps on a damp track. Leclerc started and finished a fine third, despite having Verstappen — who finished where he started — shadowing him closely all the way. After the impressive sprint win, Laurent Mekies’ first weekend at the Red Bull helm ended on an underwhelming note.

Hamilton rallies

Beyond the McLarens, Lewis Hamilton provided the best entertainment with a superbly executed race after what until Sunday afternoon had been a disastrous weekend. Poor in qualifying for both the sprint and Grand Prix, he joined Kimi Antonelli and Fernando Alonso in starting from the pitlane after an engine change. But in the tricky conditions, the seven-time World Champion finally summoned a bit of magic.

On one lap he passed Lance Stroll, Carlos Sainz Jr. and Franco Colapinto, and also swept past Nico Hülkenberg and Pierre Gasly to run 13^th. Then, stopping first on lap 11 vaulted him further up the order; once the pit visits cycled through Hamilton was seventh.

Across the rest of the race, the Ferrari pressed Alex Albon’s Williams — but on a weekend when overtaking proved harder at Spa than in previous years, Hamilton couldn’t quite get within range to make a move. Seventh it had to be, as he and Albon followed George Russell’s fifth-place Mercedes across the line.

Liam Lawson, Gabriel Bortoleto and Pierre Gasly completed the top ten, scoring vital points for Racing Bulls, Sauber and Alpine respectively. F1 now heads directly for Budapest and the Hungarian Grand Prix this coming weekend, before pressing the pause button for the summer break.

Last year Piastri scored his first Grand Prix win at the Hungaroring. Norris will have a much better holiday if he thwarts the Aussie from banking a repeat result on Sunday.

Images courtesy of Getty Images.