Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen scored Saturday’s Belgian Grand Prix sprint victory despite rain playing a factor in the event.
While rain showered Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps prior to the event, forcing mandatory wet tires to start the race, the sun beamed, giving teams an opportunity for strategy.
Oscar Piastri, Pierre Gasly, Carlos Saniz and others immediately pit for for intermediate tires once the safety car pulled into pit lane, leaving Verstappen and Charles Leclerc struggling on wet tires as the track dried.
Once pitting, the climb back to the lead was Verstappen’s next move.
Verstappen passed Piastri’s McLaren on a restart on lap five after Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso triggered a safety car. From there, the sprint was all Verstappen’s.
“It wasn’t a straightforward race today, we made the safer call with the pit stop because there was a lot of risk in pitting straight away, I opted to stay out for another lap,” Verstappen recalled. “After that, as soon as I came out on the intermediates, I could see that we had a lot of pace, it was just a matter of time.
“The weather of course was challenging today, it was okay from my position, but I understand that the people behind me were still struggling to see. There are some improvements to be made with the visibility, but I think race control did the smart thing today, they took some time to analyze everything and that was wise.
“At the moment, it looks like our car is fast on the wet and the dry so I’m pretty chilled and looking forward to the race tomorrow.”
Piastri would manage to finish runner-up, followed by Gasly and the Ferrari pairing of Sainz and Leclerc.
Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton was dealt a five-second penalty for causing a collision with Red Bull’s Sergio Perez, dropping the seven-time champion from fourth to seventh in the finishing order.
The contact with Hamilton forced Perez to retire from the event.