Max Verstappen dominates Sprint Race from Oscar Piastri, Lewis Hamilton given penalty for Sergio Perez collision

Max Verstappen won a rain-hit Sprint Race at the Belgian Grand Prix with Oscar Piastri in second for McLaren.

The rain that had blighted much of the action in Belgium continued to intervene, and it made an already brief race even shorter.

After a late start and the race starting behind the safety car, there were just 11 laps of racing to get through.

Verstappen was ready to launch forward with Oscar Piastri separating him from the Ferraris of Carlos Sainz and then Charles Leclerc behind him. Piastri made his way into the pits in the first lap for inters, with Verstappen coming in on the next lap, with the Australian quickly taking the lead.

Before the race got underway, Verstappen remarked that he felt inters would provide sufficient grip as the track had already started to dry out.

Alpine’s Pierre Gasly betrayed no upset from his team’s managerial crisis as he moved up to third, where he would finish, and Sergio Perez moved to fourth, up from eighth.

On lap four Fernando Alonso brought out a yellow flag by striking a barrier, and that gave Piastri his first chance to restart the race leading from behind the safety.

The world champion was able to move into his rival’s slipstream on lap six as the safety car came in, and Lewis Hamilton and Perez battled fiercely for fourth. After the pair tussled there were suggestions of damage and as the Mexican lost grip, Hamilton took fourth with a few laps remaining.and Perez retired.

However, Hamilton was swiftly hit with a five-second penalty for causing a collision with Perez that led to that damage and ended his hopes of challenging Gasly.

That led to the Mercedes driver finishing in seventh spot in the final results, earning two points, with George Russell in eighth for one point.

Carlos Sainz scored five in fourth, Leclerc four in fifth, and McLaren’s Lando Norris three in sixth.

Speaking after the race, Verstappen explained his decision to wait a lap before changing his tires.

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen finished first in the delayed Sprint race in Spa.

He said afterwards: “No I think it was just a safer call, I could come in first but then I might be blocked by other cars. There might be a safety car then you lose out massively so I didn’t mind to stay out I mean we lost one position but we know we are quick and you could see that when we put the inter tyres on we were flying so it was ok.

“We just tried to get an even split on the brakes but it was all under the control, the car was quick, tyres were holding on, so yeah just tiny little issues.”

Looking ahead to Sunday’s race with what he had learned in the Sprint, he added: “I don’t know I need to pass a few cars so I think the biggest risk is just Lap One, Turn One, it’s always very tricky there so as long as we stay out of trouble I think we will have a quick car.”

Leclerc will start Sunday’s race in pole, followed by Perez, Hamilton and Sainz respectively. Verstappen is sixth after taking a five-place grid penalty after taking his fifth gearbox of the season.