OSCAR PIASTRI rained on Lando Norris’ parade to win a sodden Belgian Grand Prix.
Fearless Piastri left pole-sitter Norris for dust after just one lap to take the lead and see out a largely uneventful race in Spa.
ReutersOscar Piastri extended his championship lead ahead by winning the Belgian GP[/caption]
AFPLando Norris suffered a lap-one horror show as Piastri swept past the pole sitter[/caption]
APLewis Hamilton made a small amends to his disastrous weekend by racing through to P7 from P18[/caption]
It means Piastri stretched his lead at the top of the table to 16 points from just eight ahead of the weekend, having also finished second in the sprint race, ahead of the third-place Brit.
Charles Leclerc sealed the third and final podium spot today after a fierce battle with Max Verstappen, who had to settle for fourth, while George Russell came in fifth.
Lewis Hamilton put in an absolute shift to finish in seventh from 18th after starting in the pit lane due to taking on a new power unit in his Ferrari.
The race was delayed by a whopping one hour and 20 minutes after Spa was hit with its usual downpour, that even KO’d the race in 2021.
The safety car zipped around the track with the drivers following behind, with their cars spraying out water like sprinklers.
After four laps it was a rolling start which got things underway as Norris held onto the lead with teammate Piastri snapping at his heels.
The ruthless Aussie nearly smashed into the back of Norris on lap five but missed by a whisker before nipping past him to take the lead.
Hamilton made a huge statement after what he described as a “weekend to forget”, charging into 13th from 18th after a blistering opening ten laps, before becoming the first driver to gamble on slick tyres on lap 12 – a decision which rewarded him with a big jump up the order to P8 as he then immediately swept past Liam Lawson on cold mediums and into P7.
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Meanwhile, Verstappen was in hot pursuit of Monegasque driver Leclerc in the battle for third and nearly nudged ahead.
Race leader Piastri, Leclerc and Verstappen all pitted though as Norris momentarily regained the lead.
The Brit stuffed up his pit stop though and lost a huge chunk of time staying out an extra lap as Piastri pulled clear.
Seven-time world champion Hamilton worked tooth and nail and was running in seventh, right behind Alex Albon, halfway through the race.
There was a tyre conundrum between the two McLarens as the race progressed, with Piastri asked to make a call on whether to make another pit stop or try to see it out until the end.
The 24-year-old was on the medium tyres while Norris was on the more robust hard tyre and 15 laps, as dreary as talking about tyres, followed.
Norris was the culprit of a silly mistake as he locked up at Turn 1 and lost more than half a second and it looked like game over to catch up with Piastri.
The 25-year-old had other ideas though and was closing the gap into the dying laps, with five seconds separating them at the end.
Piastri said on team radio after: “Nicely f***ing done.”
Meanwhile, Hamilton – on what was his worst race finish at Belgium (other than five career retirements) – added over the team radio. “Sorry about this weekend and losing you points.”
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