Max Verstappen dominates the McLarens in the sprint in Belgium
Max Verstappen pulled out all the stops to beat favourites Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris in the sprint race of the Belgian Grand Prix.
Dutchman Max Verstappen (Red Bull) claimed a brilliant victory in the sprint race of the Formula 1 Belgian Grand Prix on Saturday, trapping the McLarens. Under a bright sun bathing the spectacular Spa-Francorchamps circuit, the four-time reigning world champion squeezed into the only small gap available and then magnificently held off the papaya-colored cars.
Starting in 2nd position, "Mad Max" took advantage of the long first straight and the slipstream offered by Australian poleman Oscar Piastri to overtake him at Turn 5. He then managed to keep the world championship leader behind him, who was nevertheless benefiting from the assistance of DRS.
"I'm delighted! It went very well. It was the only chance to beat McLaren and we took it. I couldn't afford to make any mistakes and it was very difficult to keep them behind me. To keep the fastest cars behind you have to be flat out all the time, I did 15 qualifying laps!" Verstappen said.
The latter also gave a winning debut to Laurent Mekies, the team's new French director, who replaced historic boss Christian Horner two weeks ago, who was sacked after 20 years at the head of the Austrian team .
"The team did a great job, Max ( editor's note: Verstappen ) had incredible pressure for 15 laps but he managed to contain the McLarens with superb resistance and good tire management. What Max did today ( editor's note: Saturday ) is very complicated to do so he was really very impressive," said an admiring Melies to Canal+.
The battle between the McLaren drivers continues, as Oscar Piastri edged out Lando Norris on Saturday, taking a single point off his runner-up in the title race. The Australian now has a nine-point lead over the Briton.
Monaco's Charles Leclerc, who had managed to overtake Norris early in the race, was unable to resist the vice-world champion and finished 4th, far behind the leading trio. His British teammate Lewis Hamilton, who started in 18th position after failing to qualify, failed to perform a miracle and finished 16th.
Seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari), who started 18th after failing to qualify on Friday, had an anonymous race and finished in 15th place.
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