F1 Belgian GP live commentary and updates - sprint race

Verstappen: "Cat and mouse" fight with McLarens

Max Verstappen, on winning the Belgian GP sprint: "It worked out really well! That's the only opportunity you're going to get the move and then we got it. I knew it would be tough to keep them behind and it was playing cat-and-mouse with DRS, battery usage.

"I couldn't afford to make too many mistakes, I had one lock-up in the final corner. Apart from that, it was a great result to keep them behind, and to have a win here in Spa for me - it's a sprint race, but it still counts for me.

"You're keeping faster cars behind, so you have to drive over the limit. Tyre management goes out of the window. I was just doing 15 qualifying laps."

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing

Photo by: Zak Mauger / LAT Images via Getty Images

Piastri "frustrated" by Verstappen ahead

Oscar Piastri, second in the Belgian GP sprint: "Pretty much, I tried my best to snake my way through the straight and not give too much of a tow, but yeah, I didn't have enough straightline speed and not enough straightline speed for the next 15 laps either.

"Still, a good result, still good points, it's only the sprint and the main points are tomorrow. Just frustrated I couldn't get past."

"It looks pretty bad tomorrow which means you don't want to take off too much wing, but I don't want a repeat of the sprint we've just had. We'll have a look and see what we can do."

Norris: Red Bull too quick

Lando Norris, third in the Belgian GP sprint: "Yeah, not a lot going on, a bit of fun at the start with fighting with Charles. Perhaps I could have positioned myself better.

"Otherwise, a bit too difficult to get past Max, he drove a good race, and I wouldn't get past anyone if Oscar didn't get past Max. They both did good races. It's tough, I hope for a bit of battling or something but the Red Bull was too quick in the straight. Maybe some tweaks for us to make in qualifying, I don't know."

"Not quite enough straightline speed to get Verstappen," engineer Tom Stallard says to Piastri. 

The question is, now parc ferme opens, what do many of the teams do? Will McLaren need to trim out, or will Red Bull need to add a bit more load for the rain/tyre preservation?

Lap 15

Piastri tries to expend all of his battery energy and DRS, but can't make a move into Les Combes as Verstappen is too far ahead.

An excellent drive from Verstappen here, he oversaw everything.

Lap 14

The McLarens have fallen off a little bit on this lap, perhaps to charge up and press on; they have one more opportunity after this tour.

Ocon has cleared DRS range from Sainz for now, although it was largely irrelevant as the Haas was more than capable of defending.

Lap 13

Norris has a run on Piastri here, has a small peek down the inside, but there's not enough top-end difference to make things happen.

All of which will be music to the ears of Verstappen, who is maintaining his vigil at the front of the pack.

Lap 12

Piastri gets DRS again, but there's a 0.3s forcefield between he and Verstappen. He will need all of his tools and a perfect exit out of La Source to make a move happen, but Verstappen surely has this sealed.

Norris may be set to threaten if Piastri can't make the move happen.

Lap 11

Piastri actually jockeys for a move this time, as Verstappen got a bit of a slow exit out of La Source and Piastri follows him up the hill. But Verstappen held the inside and Piastri couldn't get the purchase to make a move into Les Combes.

"I can't brake on the peak," Verstappen says, as he's struggling a bit for bite.

Lap 10

Very close at the front now; Piastri is less than 0.7s behind Verstappen, and Norris is about the same behind him.

Leclerc's 3.8s behind Norris, so he's definitely not involved in this scrap. It all feels quite...tentative so far. No great strides from anyone, and Antonelli's earlier progress stalled out too.

Lap 9

Piastri stalks Verstappen up the hill, and gets to within 0.25s by the braking zone for Les Combes, but it's still not enough. Norris got out of the slipstream, choosing not to get involved for the time being.

It's spacing out in the top 10; Sainz is in Ocon's DRS range, while Isack Hadjar is still trying to grab seventh off Bearman.

Lap 8

Piastri is just about clinging on with DRS, as Norris now has the fastest lap and gets to within a second of Piastri.

The plot thickens.

Lap 7

Verstappen gets a good run out of La Source, extending the gap to 0.7s out front. Piastri seems to be probing, and working out where to sink his battery to help him catch the Red Bull. Norris is catching the pair.

"I've got no rear already," 16th-placed Hamilton reports. 

Lap 6

"How's the tyre doing?" Piastri is asked, he reports that they're okay. He had a moment on the previous lap by running slightly wide at Stavelot.

Hadjar's closing on Bearman as the Haas driver is out of Sainz's DRS range, but the Racing Bulls is struggling to break down the lower-drag car. For now, at least.

Lap 5

Piastri remains within 0.6s of Verstappen at the start of the lap. DRS is giving Piastri about 0.3-0.4s back on the straight, but it's not enough to close Verstappen yet.

Antonelli enacts a recovery with a move on Hulkenberg. Hamilton's next on his list.

Very DRS-trainy, so far.

Lap 4

Norris gets a run on Leclerc with DRS and reclaims third place, and the clean air means he can make more use of the McLaren's pace in the middle sector.

Can Ocon catch Leclerc now? The Haas is very trimmed out, so there's a chance for him to do some damage...

Lap 3

Verstappen's wing level is negating Piastri's DRS, so Red Bull have got the trade-off right here in these early stages. McLaren will be hoping to see the Red Bull driver's tyres start to drop, because he won't find a way through at the top of the circuit.

He's hanging on in DRS range, though, as Leclerc has fallen behind the lead duo.

Lap 2

On the replay, you can see Verstappen get a great run out of Eau Rouge and grabs a slipstream from Piastri. 

Piastri now has DRS on Verstappen, however, and this will help the Australian enact a potential fightback. 

No major changes of position beyond the top four, as Ocon, Sainz, and Bearman hold onto fifth, sixth, and seventh.

Piastri lines up on pole, joined by Verstappen on the front row - long old formation lap. Colapinto brings up the rear, and he'll dive straight into the pits.

Five minutes to go!

The sprint race will be under way very soon -  five minutes until the formation lap opens for business.

Can Piastri lead away off the start, or can Verstappen steal a march along the back straight? What about Norris? Leclerc? Ocon? Gasl...no, wait, not him. Sorry, Gasly fans.

Gasly to DNS with water leak

Pierre Gasly took eighth on the grid for the sprint race, but it has emerged that his Alpine has chosen Spa to spring a leak. 

He will not start the sprint race - a great shame for the Frenchman, following his good run in qualifying yesterday.

Pierre Gasly, Alpine

Photo by: Mario Renzi - Formula 1 - Getty Images

Hamilton's SQ1 brake lock: no apparent technical issues

Interestingly, Naomi Schiff spoke on Sky Sports about the apparent rear locking issues that Hamilton faced under braking at the chicane yesterday. 

No technical issues were apparent in the overnight data trawl, and she said: "they'd looked at the data, analysed everything they could, and they haven't been able to come up with any technical issues, so they've ruled that out.

"We speculated yesterday that maybe there was a bit of locking on the rear because of the gearbox, the down shifts, but they've ruled that out.

"But you’ve got to say that it is very uncharacteristic, especially in those dry conditions to have rear locking. I mean, it is possible that Lewis didn't adjust the brake bias."

Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari

Photo by: Dimitar Dilkoff / AFP via Getty Images

Weather at Spa, temperatures, and lap count

It's currently 21C ambient temperature at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit, and 37C on-track. Today is expected to remain dry, with rain expected tomorrow.

We'll have 15 laps in this sprint race. 

(Under) 30 minutes to go

The cars are taking their positions on the grid, doing the usual recon laps before the sprint gets under way.

Not long to go now! Just a short run into La Source, but a long run follows - with the chance to make up plenty of ground along the Kemmel Straight.

Colapinto to start from pitlane

Alpine has taken Franco Colapinto's car out of parc ferme ahead of the sprint, so the Argentine will start from the pitlane - not 19th on the grid. 

Antonelli, who endured a miserable sprint qualifying session, now starts from 19th.

Franco Colapinto, Alpine

Photo by: Zak Mauger / LAT Images via Getty Images

Full sprint race grid

Main Information Additional Data Driver Info

1

 - 

3

Main Information Additional Data 1  -  2
Cla	Driver	#		Chassis	Engine	Time	Tyres	km/h
1	O. Piastri McLaren	81		McLaren	Mercedes	1'40.510		250.864
2	M. Verstappen Red Bull Racing	1		Red Bull	Red Bull	+0.477 1'40.987		249.679
3	L. Norris McLaren	4		McLaren	Mercedes	+0.618 1'41.128		249.331
4	C. Leclerc Ferrari	16		Ferrari	Ferrari	+0.768 1'41.278		248.962
5	E. Ocon Haas F1 Team	31		Haas	Ferrari	+1.055 1'41.565		248.258
6	C. Sainz Williams	55		Williams	Mercedes	+1.251 1'41.761		247.780
7	O. Bearman Haas F1 Team	87		Haas	Ferrari	+1.347 1'41.857		247.547
8	P. Gasly Alpine	10		Alpine	Renault	+1.449 1'41.959		247.299
9	I. Hadjar RB	6		RB	Honda	+1.461 1'41.971		247.270
10	G. Bortoleto Sauber	5		Sauber	Ferrari	+1.666 1'42.176		246.774
11	L. Lawson RB	30		RB	Honda	+1.659 1'42.169		246.791
12	Y. Tsunoda Red Bull Racing	22		Red Bull	Red Bull	+1.674 1'42.184		246.754
13	G. Russell Mercedes	63		Mercedes	Mercedes	+1.820 1'42.330		246.402
14	F. Alonso Aston Martin Racing	14		Aston Martin	Mercedes	+1.943 1'42.453		246.106
15	L. Stroll Aston Martin Racing	18		Aston Martin	Mercedes	+2.322 1'42.832		245.199
16	A. Albon Williams	23		Williams	Mercedes	+2.702 1'43.212		244.297
17	N. Hulkenberg Sauber	27		Sauber	Ferrari	+2.707 1'43.217		244.285
18	L. Hamilton Ferrari	44		Ferrari	Ferrari	+2.898 1'43.408		243.834
19	F. Colapinto Alpine	43		Alpine	Renault	+3.077 1'43.587		243.412
20	A. Antonelli Mercedes	12		Mercedes	Mercedes	+4.884 1'45.394		239.239
View full results

Sprint qualifying recap

Oscar Piastri took a decisive sprint pole by almost half a second over Max Verstappen, as Lando Norris was third on the grid. 

There were surprises throughout the order, as both Haas drivers made SQ3, as did Pierre Gasly and Gabriel Bortoleto; both Mercedes drivers were out in SQ1 and 2 respectively, as Lewis Hamilton was also turfed out in the opening stage.

The reason? Track evolution, and the almost one-shot nature of the shorter sessions as teams left it late to do just one run.

Oscar Piastri, McLaren

Photo by: Simon Wohlfahrt / AFP via Getty Images

F1 Belgian GP sprint coming soon

Good morning, and welcome to our live text feed of events as they unfold in F1's Spa-Francorchamps sprint race.

The race will begin at 12pm local (11am UK), so just an hour away!