Spa [Belgium], July 30 : Red Bull's Formula One leader Max Verstappen seized back the lead back from McLaren's Oscar Piastri during the Belgian Grand Prix's Sprint race on Saturday, as the two drivers chose different approaches in an exciting rain-hit Sprint race at Spa-Francorchamps.
Alpine's Pierre Gasly took advantage of the slick Spa-Francorchamps track's conditions to round out the podium, while Lewis Hamilton was dropped from fourth to seventh after colliding with another Red Bull driver, Sergio Perez, and receiving a penalty.
When the race finally got going behind the Safety Car after being delayed by rain for 15 laps, half the field stopped in the pits to switch from the wet tyres they had to start on.
Piastri, who started in second place, was one among those who stopped right away. He then took the lead from Verstappen of Red Bull, who had stopped a lap later to switch to intermediate tyres.
However, another Safety Car stoppage gave Verstappen the chance to overtake Piastri at the restart after Fernando Alonso of the Aston Martin crashed into the gravel trap.
With the victory, the leader of the world championships increased his advantage at the top of the rankings to 118 points. He then relaxed into the lead and won by more than six seconds.
Pierre Gasly took third for Alpine after climbing three places amid the early pit stops.
The seven-time world champion managed to manoeuvre his way through around the outside of La Source a little while later. Gasly held third, while Hamilton and Perez violently banged wheels through Blanchimont as they contended for fourth position.
When Perez suffered damage to his side pod, he became a sitting duck, losing positions to Sainz and Leclerc shortly after. Shortly after that, Perez crashed into some gravel at Stavelot, falling down the order, advancing Norris to eighth and Daniel Ricciardo into the points.
After passing Piastri, Verstappen unleashed the full potential of his RB19 to extend his lead. Verstappen completed the remaining laps with a lead of more than six seconds, earning the maximum eight points that were available.
Gasly maintained his cool to give the reorganised Alpine squad a morale-boosting podium, while Hamilton finished fourth but plummeted all the way to seventh after receiving a five-second time penalty for colliding with Perez, who had to withdraw from the race.
George Russell made a last-second pass on Ocon and Ricciardo to secure the final point, narrowly missing out on a reward as he keeps up his strong F1 comeback. Sainz, Leclerc, and Norris were all moved up by Hamilton's penalty, with Sainz moving up to fourth, Leclerc to fifth, and Norris dropping to sixth.
Prior to Albon and Bottas, Stroll emerged from his Shootout crash to finish 11th. Kevin Magnussen and Zhou Guanyu gained positions as a result of Logan Sargeant's five-second time penalty for speeding in the pit lane. Perez and Alonso sat on the sidelines as Hulkenberg and Yuki Tsunoda crossed the finish line.
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