Formula 1 in Belgium: Verstappen wins sprint – first starting place for Norris

The surprising sprint victory was followed by a little disappointment. After Max Verstappen had brought the new Red Bull team boss Laurent Mekies the first success in his direction, the Formula 1 world champion had to be satisfied with fourth place in the qualification for the Grand Prix. “This is really bad,” the Dutch sparked his team after losing time due to a driving mistake and giving all chances of a better result.

For the Grand Prix on Sunday (3:00 p.m./RTL and Sky), the WM second Lando Norris raced to pole position. In Spa-Francorchamps, the British McLaren driver prevailed in front of his team-mate Oscar Piatri. The World Cup leader was only 0.085 seconds behind. “I didn’t get it great when it counted. I’m a bit disappointed,” said Piatri.

Piatri frustrated after missed pole

Actually, the Australian was the favorite on the poles, but Norris drove the best round in 1: 40.562 minutes on the traditional course in the Ardennes. “It was very decent, I’m happy. It’s nice to see that I’m back up again,” said the Briton Norris. Third came to Charles Leclerc in Ferrari, who at the end was repressed in Verstappen.

Norris and Piatri have the superior car, in the sprint at noon they still had to give up in Verstappen. “I knew it would be difficult to keep her behind me, but luckily it worked out. I am very happy about what we succeeded today,” said Verstappen. Piatri, who was beaten by 0.7 seconds, said: “They are good points and it is a good result. Nevertheless, I am a bit frustrated that I couldn’t get by in the end.”

In the overall ranking, however, Verstappen only picked up one point and is still third with 68 points behind Piatri. Verstappen won under the new boss Mekies on the first opportunity. He had replaced predecessors Christian Horner in office two weeks ago after over 20 years ago and is responsible for the racing team for the first time in Belgium.

Verstappen overtakes Piatri in the first round

Piatri only briefly defended his first start place before Verstappen took the lead in the first round. The demanding course in the Ardennes is the favorite route of Verstappen, which was born in Belgium, but has always been driving with a Dutch license. In the only 100 kilometer race, he quickly had to defend himself against Piatri, who put pressure from behind and kept the gap consistently at less than a second.

Verstappen had won the Grand Prix of Belgium three times in the past, but he had great effort against the stronger McLaren. However, Piatri also made minor driving mistakes and could not pass by. Norris, too, did not make it forward from third place.

Hülkenberg and Hamilton weak

After his sensational third place in Silverstone, Nico Hülkenberg had no reason to be happy in the sprint. Beyond the World Cup points, the 37-year-old only took 18th place in the clean. In the Grand Prix there is already a chance for the Rhinelander to do better. However, Hülkenberg only goes on the route as 14th.

Record world champion Lewis Hamilton experiences an even worse weekend. In his Ferrari, the 40-year-old initially became a chance in the sprint and did not get out of place in the qualification either. The Briton got too far from the slopes, so its fastest lap was canceled afterwards. In the previous year, Hamilton had won in Belgium in Mercedes.