“I tried my best to drive a weaving line on the straights and not give away any slipstream, but I didn’t have enough top speed,” says Oscar Piastri about his start. “But it’s still a good result with nice points. I’m quite satisfied, but a little frustrated that I didn’t get past. The weather for tomorrow looks bad, so you don’t want to take too much wing off. But I also don’t want to experience another race like today.”
“I had one chance and I had to take it,” says Max Verstappen. “It was very difficult to keep them behind me afterwards. It was six, seven tenths the whole race. It felt like I had to drive fifteen qualifying laps. I couldn’t afford to make a mistake. It’s just a sprint race, but it counts. I’m happy with this. I had to keep faster cars behind me. That’s just extremely difficult. It wasn’t easy, but I succeeded. I don’t know if pole is possible, but we will do everything we can to get it.”
FINISH – Verstappen crosses the start-finish line seven tenths ahead of Piastri. The result:
FINISH – Max Verstappen achieves an incredibly impressive victory during the sprint race at Spa-Francorchamps. Oscar Piastri finishes second and Lando Norris takes third.
Lap 1 to go – Again Piastri is too far away to attack Verstappen on Kemmel. If Verstappen doesn’t make a mistake, he will win this sprint race.
Lap 1 to go – The last lap is underway at Spa-Francorchamps. Verstappen crosses the start-finish line seven tenths ahead of Piastri. That was enough in all previous laps.
Lap 2 to go – Again Piastri is too far away to launch an attack. Verstappen only has to survive one more lap to take a very impressive sprint victory.
Lap 3 to go – Verstappen now has a slightly bigger gap and Piastri has to look behind more at Norris. The Red Bull driver ticks off another lap.
Lap 4 to go – Verstappen has to survive a few more laps to take another victory in a sprint race. Red Bull’s choice to fully focus on top speed seems to be paying off excellently.
Lap 4 to go – Piastri is now closer than ever, but still can’t get past. Norris joins his teammate, but is holding back for now.
Lap 5 to go – Verstappen has to survive five more laps. Will Norris dare to attack his teammate?
Lap 6 to go – The gap between Verstappen and Piastri is now as small as the gap between Norris and Piastri.
Lap 7 to go – We are watching a wonderful sprint race at Spa. Number three Norris now has the DRS of Piastri.
Lap 7 to go – The good news for Verstappen is that Norris is almost within DRS of Piastri. Verstappen still can’t afford to make any mistakes.
Lap 8 to go – Verstappen is still holding on. The sprint race is already halfway. The standings:
Lap 10 to go – We have been seeing the same picture for laps. Piastri can only join Verstappen with DRS at the end of Kemmel. He is always too far away to launch an attack.
Lap 11 to go – Red Bull has fully focused on top speed this weekend at Spa and that is paying off now. Piastri always joins Verstappen, but can’t get past.
Lap 12 to go – Piastri is still just too far away to launch an attack. Behind them, Norris takes third place at the expense of Leclerc.
Lap 12 to go – Piastri is now very close behind Verstappen. Can he now launch an attack towards Les Combes?
Lap 13 to go – Piastri is on Verstappen’s heels, but can’t get past yet. The Red Bull is doing well on the straight, even without DRS.
Lap 14 to go – Verstappen is under full pressure from Piastri. The standings:
Lap 14 to go – Norris is surprised by Leclerc and drops back to third place.
START – Verstappen already said to Viaplay that he would do it at this spot and the Red Bull driver just does it. Verstappen leads, ahead of Piastri and Norris.
START – There is the announced attack from Verstappen on top of Kemmel Straight. Verstappen takes the lead.
Warm-up lap – The cars roll onto the grid. The sprint race at Spa-Francorchamps is about to begin.
Warm-up lap – Alpine just reported that Gasly cannot participate, but now we still see the Frenchman putting on his helmet in the pits and preparing to drive. That’s good news for Gasly, although a top ten classification seems out of reach.
Warm-up lap – The warm-up lap is underway at Spa-Francorchamps! All drivers are on the medium tire, except for Franco Colapinto (soft).
Verstappen announces that he will launch an attack on Piastri on Kemmel Straight, the long straight towards Eau Rouge, immediately after the start if he gets the chance. “Because I don’t have much more to lose anyway,” he says to Viaplay. “And I also want to have a little fun. But to be honest, I don’t know if we can get into that position. When I qualified on pole here with such a big lead, I really wasn’t thinking about who was second. Because then I knew I would drive away anyway.”