Piastri outruns Norris for Belgian GP win

Oscar Piastri took a controlled victory over teammate Lando Norris at a rain-delayed Belgian Grand Prix to extend his championship lead.

Lights out at Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps was delayed by 80 minutes after heavy rain lashed the circuit, dangerously reducing visibility, and race control ran the first four laps behind the safety car as a precaution when action eventually commenced.

Despite rapidly drying conditions, a rolling restart was mandated, with pole-getter Norris taking control of the field at the end of lap 4.

Norris's pole advantage didn't last long when the race finally got underway. Mark Thompson/Getty Images

Piastri piled on the pressure from the moment Norris put his foot down, tailing the sister car all the way to the start-finish straight that heralded the resumption of racing on lap 5. They were closely matched into La Source, but a snap on exit for Norris gave Piastri an invitation to make the pass for the lead.

The Australian slipstreamed the Briton through Eau Rouge and onto the Kemmel straight, his momentum strong enough to get him comfortably around his teammate’s outside long before they hit the brakes for Les Combes. It was a decisive move on a drying track, earning Piastri pit stop priority over his teammate at the imminent switch to slick tires.

The first drivers in were led by Lewis Hamilton, who was running 14th after starting from pit lane. His sector times were immediately impressive, and Piastri led the bulk of the field in on the following tour.

Norris, at 1.5s adrift too close for the team to double stack, was forced to wait another lap before moving to slicks. Not helped by a slow change of his front-left wheel, he ended his out-lap 9.1s off the lead.

But the Briton had a potential ace up his sleeve. With nothing to lose, he selected the hard tire in a bid to make it to the checkered flag without having to make a second stop. It put pressure on his teammate to try to stretch his mediums 32 laps to the end too, with Norris being told Piastri would have to manage his pace to make it to the finish. Pirelli estimated its medium tire had a performance life of 20 laps.

Piastri maintained a lead of around 8s – aided in part by a Norris snap of oversteer through Pouhon on lap 27 – until lap 32, when the Briton began nibbling more significantly into his deficit, getting it down to around 7s.

Another mistake, this time a lock-up at La Source, dropped him back over 8s adrift on lap 34. Norris was coached over radio to be less aggressive on the brakes as his hard tires began to wear, while Piastri and his engineer both agreed that the medium tire would make it to the finish.

The Briton continued gaining, and with five laps to go the gap was cut to 5s. But Piastri’s consistency and Norris’s errors ensured the race ran out of laps before the gap could be closed entirely. A final mistake at La Source put Norris’s charge to bed, and Piastri took the checkered flag by 3.4s.

“I knew lap 1 was probably going to be my best chance of winning the race,” he said. “I got a good exit out of Turn 1 and lifted as little as I dared through Eau Rouge, and that was enough.

“I was pretty disappointed with myself after yesterday, but it turns out starting second at Spa’s not too bad after all.”

The victory extends Piastri’s title lead to 16 points.

Norris credited his teammate for the victory, saying he tried everything he could to regain the lead after the first lap.

“Oscar just did a good job,” he said. “He committed a bit more through Eau Rouge and had a slipstream and got the run. He did a better job in the beginning, and that was it.

“There was nothing more I could do after that point. I’d love to be on top, but Oscar deserved it today.”

Charles Leclerc held his starting position to finish third and collect his fourth trophy in six races. Leclerc held off Max Verstappen ably in the opening phase of the race in a boost to Ferrari’s poor wet-weather reputation, and he gradually eked open a margin once on slicks to secure the place.

“I knew that the first part of the race was the trickiest one for us because we maybe didn’t have the downforce that McLaren or Max had, as they compromised the qualifying to be better in the rain today. Luckily it dried up pretty quickly and then the pace was good.”

Verstappen finished fourth ahead of George Russell, who had another anonymous race in a Mercedes cut adrift of the front-running teams on pace.

Alex Albon finished sixth, his best result since May’s Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix, after being demoted a place by Russell on the second racing lap with a slipstream down to Les Combes.

Hamilton finished a terrific seventh, up 11 places after starting from pit lane, thanks to an inspired early call to be the first driver on slicks. The Briton had already exhibited strong pace during the wettest phase of the race on the intermediate tire to rise to 13th, but the early stop vaulted him six places and deep into the points, though his straight-line speed deficit to Albon ensured he could rise no further.

Hamilton scyhed up from the back in the wet. Ryan Pierse/Getty Images

Liam Lawson finished eighth for his second point-scoring result in three rounds ahead of Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto in ninth.

Pierre Gasly completed the top 10, leading home Oliver Bearman in a close battle for the final point.

Nico Hulkenberg finished 12th after a late second pit stop dropped him down the order from 10th, though he couldn’t recover the place even with fresher rubber.

Yuki Tsunoda finished a frustrated 13th after starting seventh but losing out while being kept out an extra lap before switching to slicks to avoid double stacking behind Verstappen. The delayed stop dumped him out of the points, from where he couldn’t recover into the top 10.

Lance Stroll was 14th ahead of Esteban Ocon, Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Fernando Alonso, Carlos Sainz, Franco Colapinto and Isack Hadjar.

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