Max Verstappen held off the sooner Oscar Piastri to grab victory within the Belgium dash after pinching the lead on the primary lap.
Piastri bought an excellent begin and appeared to get a clear sufficient launch out of La Supply to open a niche on the lengthy flat-out blast by way of Eau Rouge and down the Kemmel straight, however Verstappen’s Purple Bull Racing automobile was trimmed for prime pace, catapulting the Dutchman previous the McLaren as they reached the braking zone for Les Combes.
Piastri coated the within line, however Verstappen was too quick, sweeping across the Australian’s outdoors simply to deprive him of the lead.
The title chief clung to the Dutchman’s gearbox by way of the remainder of the lap to make sure he had DRS obtainable to him down Kemmel on the second lap, however even with the drag-dumping system his automobile was no match for the slippery Purple Bull Racing machine, making no vital inroads down the lengthy straight.
It was the irritating story of Piastri’s race, with Verstappen solely having to nail his exit from La Supply to make sure the Australian might pose no menace into Les Combes, the circuit’s finest overtaking spot.
The Dutchman duly delivered over all 15 laps to assert a defensive victory by 0.753 seconds.
“It labored out rather well,” he mentioned. “That’s the one actual alternative you’re going to get in opposition to them, and we bought it.
“Then in fact I knew it was going to be very robust to maintain them behind, so it’s simply enjoying cat and mouse — DRS, battery utilization.
“Principally the entire race was inside 0.7 seconds, so I couldn’t afford to make huge errors.
“It was for us an important end result to maintain them behind and to have a win right here in Spa for me. After all it’s a dash win, however nonetheless it counts.
Piastri lamented his lack of straight-line pace however was glad sufficient together with his efficiency.
“I attempted my finest to snake my approach by way of the straights and never give an excessive amount of of a tow, however I simply didn’t have sufficient straight-line pace, and I didn’t have sufficient straight-line pace for the following 14 laps both,” he mentioned.
“Nonetheless an excellent end result, nonetheless good factors. It’s solely the dash. The details are tomorrow.
“I’m fairly pleased with it, however simply clearly a bit irritating that I couldn’t get previous.”
Lando Norris completed third and simply 0.661 seconds behind Piastri regardless of having been handed by Charles Leclerc on the primary lap.
Leclerc pulled the identical transfer on Norris as Verstappen had pulled on Norris, demoting the Briton to fourth, however the McLaren was a significantly better match for the Ferrari than it was the Purple Bull Racing automobile, and he handed the Monegasque with a simple DRS transfer into Les Combes on lap 4.
After 5 laps replenishing his battery and cooling his energy unit, Norris closed in on his teammate, having access to DRS on lap 9, however Piastri getting the identical profit from Verstappen meant the impact was neutralized.
He remained bottled behind the highest two to the flag, costing him one level to Piastri and increasing his championship deficit to 9 factors.
“Not so much happening,” Norris mentioned. “Clearly a little bit of enjoyable initially, with attempting to overhaul Charles. Perhaps I might’ve positioned myself a little bit bit higher, however in any other case it was a bit too troublesome to get previous Max.
“I wasn’t going to get previous anybody until Oscar bought previous Max. They drove good races.
“Not so much we might do on a day like right this moment, so trying ahead to tomorrow.”
Leclerc completed fourth, 8.762 seconds behind the leaders however comfortably forward of Haas driver Esteban Ocon in fifth.
Carlos Sainz scored three factors for Williams in sixth forward of Oliver Bearman within the second Haas machine.
Isack Hadjar scored the ultimate level of the dash for Racing Bulls, the Frenchman difficult Bearman all race however falling brief by 0.509 seconds.
Gabriel Bortoleto completed ninth forward of Liam Lawson, Yuki Tsunoda, George Russell and Lance Stroll. Stroll was one in all solely 4 drivers to make up a spot within the race — the others being Verstappen, Lewis Hamilton and Andrea Kimi Antonelli — after gaining one place by passing teammate Fernando Alonso down the within of La Supply initially.
Alonso completed 14th forward of Lewis Hamilton, Alex Albon and Andrea Kimi Antonelli. Nico Hulkenberg was demoted to 18th by each Hamilton and Antonelli.
Franco Colapinto completed nineteenth after beginning the race from pit lane after Alpine broke parc ferme situations.
Pierre Gasly retired from the race after 12 laps on a troublesome begin to Saturday for the Frenchman, having been pulled off the grid with a water leak and becoming a member of the race two laps down earlier than calling it a day.
RESULTS
