Max Verstappen won the sprint race at the Belgian Grand Prix on Saturday, following a delayed start due to heavy rain, boosting the Red Bull driver's lead in the Formula 1 World Championship by 118 points. Australian McLaren driver Oscar Piastri finished in second place, ahead of French Alpine driver Pierre Gasly.
Verstappen benefited from the withdrawal of his teammate and closest title rival Sergio Perez due to a collision with Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton, who crossed the finish line in fourth but was penalized with a five-second penalty, dropping him to seventh place for causing the incident.
Ferrari drivers Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc took fourth and fifth places respectively, followed by McLaren's Lando Norris. George Russell, driving for Mercedes, secured the final point in eighth place.
The race started after five laps behind the safety car in an attempt to dry the track after heavy rainfall. The heavy rain is one of the major safety issues at Spa, a fast track that has seen the deaths of two young drivers in lower championships in the past four years.
Half of the participating drivers went for a pit stop at the start, led by Piastri, to use intermediate rain tires instead of full wet tires. Verstappen remained on the track before pitting at the beginning of the second lap, losing the lead to Piastri.
Verstappen commented, "It was the safe choice; I might have returned in first place, but I could also have lost it due to the number of cars in the pit lane with the possibility of the safety car coming out again. So I didn't mind staying on track."
Indeed, the safety car came out again on the third lap of the 11-lap race when Fernando Alonso of Aston Martin lost control of his car and crashed into the barriers on his 42nd birthday.
Piastri led the race when it restarted on the sixth lap, but he could not withstand Verstappen, who regained the lead. The Australian driver said after crossing the finish line 6.677 seconds behind Verstappen, "I led for several laps, gave it my all, but we can't keep up with Max. Regardless of Max, the race was strong; we still have some work to do to reach the top, but being in front is great."
Perez retired on the ninth lap after his collision with Hamilton, who was trying to overtake the Mexican rival. Red Bull team principal Christian Horner stated that the collision with Hamilton caused damage to the side of Perez's car. He added, "His performance dropped, and we had no option but to retire; luck was not on his side."
Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff told reporters that the collision "was a racing incident." He continued, "This is a sprint race, and we want to compete. Talking about damage is not appropriate because Perez was already falling back." He added, "When you look at what happened in the corner, they were next to each other. It was a racing incident."
