Oscar Piastri Wins Wet-Dry Belgian GP

(F1) Oscar Piastri claimed victory in the Belgian Grand Prix, holding off McLaren team mate and title rival Lando Norris in a wet-dry affair at Spa-Francorchamps to extend his Drivers’ Championship lead to 16 points.

Heavy rain ahead of the 44-lap race delayed proceedings by almost 80 minutes but once racing got underway on Lap 5, the crucial moment came immediately as Piastri got a better run on his team mate and polesitter through Eau Rouge.

The Australian’s run was so great he completed the pass along the Kemmel Straight well before the braking zone of Les Combes and thereafter managed a margin of roughly one second in the early running.

With the circuit having substantially dried and with track position, Piastri pitted on Lap 12 for the medium tyres with Norris forced to complete another lap, and after making his own stop the following tour for hard rubber, the Briton found himself nine seconds adrift.

Despite having to manage his softer compound, Piastri maintained a healthy gap which only reduced in the final laps to as much as 3.1s, but a small mistake from Norris at La Source on the penultimate lap meant the margin extended to 3.4s at the chequered flag.

The two title challengers were well clear of Charles Leclerc in third, the Ferrari driver finishing 20s behind Piastri but having held Saturday’s Sprint winner Max Verstappen at bay throughout, the Red Bull man just 1.5s away from another rostrum.

Mercedes’ George Russell enjoyed a lonely race for P5, having passed Alex Albon early on, with the Williams driver surviving constant pressure from Lewis Hamilton in the second half of proceedings to claim sixth.

Hamilton had climbed 11 places in his Ferrari after a pit lane start and was one of the first to switch from the intermediate tyres at the crossover point to eventually finish seventh.

Liam Lawson’s Racing Bulls and Kick Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto claimed 8th and 9th respectively, with Pierre Gasly’s Alpine taking the final point on offer in P10 after heading a DRS train for much of the race.

This was headed by Haas’ Oliver Bearman, with Nico Hulkenberg P12 after making a second stop having been running in the points, while Yuki Tsunoda lost two places in the closing stages.

The Red Bull driver finished ahead of Lance Stroll (Aston Martin), Esteban Ocon (Haas), Kimi Antonelli, Fernando Alonso and Carlos Sainz - the Mercedes, Aston Martin and Williams drivers all starting from the pit lane.

Alpine’s Franco Colapinto and Racing Bulls’ Isack Hadjar completed the order as all drivers reached the chequered flag as there was no caution period once racing had got underway after the delayed start.