Max Verstappen held off the faster Oscar Piastri to snatch victory in the Belgian Grand Prix Sprint after pinching the lead on the first lap.
Piastri got a good start and appeared to get a clean enough launch out of La Source to open a gap on the long flat-out blast through Eau Rouge and down the Kemmel straight, but Verstappen’s Red Bull Racing car was trimmed for top speed, catapulting the Dutchman past the McLaren as they reached the braking zone for Les Combes.
Piastri covered the inside line, but Verstappen was too fast, sweeping around the Australian’s outside easily to deprive him of the lead.
The title leader clung to the Dutchman’s gearbox through the rest of the lap to ensure he had DRS available to him down Kemmel on the second lap, but even with the drag-dumping device his car was no match for the slippery Red Bull Racing machine, making no significant inroads down the long straight.
It was the frustrating story of Piastri’s race, with Verstappen only having to nail his exit from La Source to ensure the Australian could pose no threat into Les Combes, the circuit’s best overtaking spot. The Dutchman duly delivered over all 15 laps to claim a defensive victory by 0.753s.
“It worked out really well,” he said. “That’s the only real opportunity you’re going to get against them, and we got it. Then of course I knew it was going to be very tough to keep them behind, so it’s just playing cat and mouse — DRS, battery usage. Basically the whole race was within 0.7 seconds, so I couldn’t afford to make big mistakes.
“It was for us a great result to keep them behind and to have a win here in Spa for me. Of course it’s a Sprint win, but still it counts.
Piastri lamented his lack of straight-line speed but was satisfied enough with his performance.
“I tried my best to snake my way through the straights and not give too much of a tow, but I just didn’t have enough straight-line speed, and I didn’t have enough straight-line speed for the next 14 laps either,” he said. “Still a good result, still good points. It’s only the Sprint. The main points are tomorrow. I’m pretty happy with it, but just obviously a bit frustrating that I couldn’t get past.”
Lando Norris finished third and just 0.661s behind Piastri despite having been passed by Charles Leclerc on the first lap.
Leclerc pulled the same move on Norris as Verstappen had pulled on Norris, demoting the Briton to fourth, but the McLaren was a much better match for the Ferrari than it was the Red Bull Racing car, and he passed the Monegasque with a straightforward DRS move into Les Combes on lap 4.
After five laps replenishing his battery and cooling his power unit, Norris closed in on his teammate, getting access to DRS on lap 9, but Piastri getting the same benefit from Verstappen meant the effect was neutralized.
He remained bottled behind the top two to the flag, costing him one point to Piastri and extending his championship deficit to nine points.
“Not a lot going on,” Norris said. “Obviously a bit of fun at the start, with trying to overtake Charles. Maybe I could’ve positioned myself a little bit better, but otherwise it was a bit too difficult to get past Max.
“I wasn’t going to get past anyone unless Oscar got past Max. They drove good races. Not a lot we could do on a day like today, so looking forward to tomorrow.”
Leclerc finished fourth, 8.762s behind the leaders but comfortably ahead of Haas driver Esteban Ocon in fifth.
Carlos Sainz scored three points for Williams in sixth ahead of Oliver Bearman in the second Haas machine.
Isack Hadjar scored the final point of the Sprint for Racing Bulls, the Frenchman challenging Bearman all race but falling short by 0.509s.
Gabriel Bortoleto finished ninth ahead of Liam Lawson, Yuki Tsunoda, George Russell and Lance Stroll. Stroll was one of only four drivers to make up a place in the race — the others being Verstappen, Lewis Hamilton and Andrea Kimi Antonelli — after gaining one place by passing teammate Fernando Alonso down the inside of La Source at the start.
Alonso finished 14th ahead of Lewis Hamilton, Alex Albon and Andrea Kimi Antonelli. Nico Hulkenberg was demoted to 18th by both Hamilton and Antonelli.
Franco Colapinto finished 19th after starting the race from pit lane after Alpine broke parc ferme conditions.
Pierre Gasly retired from the race after 12 laps on a difficult start to Saturday for the Frenchman, having been pulled off the grid with a water leak and joining the race two laps down before calling it a day.
