Piastri wins rain-delayed Belgian GP

Oscar Piastri overtook teammate Lando Norris in the early part of the race and dominated the rest of the way to win the Belgian GP.

Rain forced the race to start 80 minutes behind schedule, after which a Safety Car led for the first four laps of the race, before things fully took off at lap 5. 

It was around this point that Piastri shot past Norris, who began the race at pole position, and held the lead till the end of the race. 

The Australian finished 3.4 seconds ahead of Norris, with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc coming in at third place to complete the podium.

Saturday’s Sprint winner, Max Verstappen, ended Sunday’s race in fourth place. Perhaps, the most impressive performance of the race was Lewis Hamilton finishing seventh after starting at pit lane. 

Belgium’s Spa-Francorchamps circuit was wet for the early part of the race, which lead to the Safety Car being brought out early. After Piastri’s leap over Norris, he then pitted at the lap 13 for medium tyres, just as the tracks started drying.

Norris followed on lap 14 for a set of hard tyres to go the distance with. The Brit’s pit stop increased the gap between him and Piastri by 9 seconds, although he was able to reduce it before the end of the race. Neither of them stopped for tyres again.

Sunday’s victory was Piastri’s sixth win of the season and extends his lead on the driver’s standings by 16 points (266), ahead of Norris (250). They gained extra points on Saturday’s race after finishing second (Piastri) and third (Norris). 

The agenda in McLaren is expected to shift soon to prioritise Piastri winning the world championship title this year, a goal that seemed reserved for Norris at the start of the year. With 11 races to go, the team cannot afford to have both driver’s eating into each other’s points.