Max Verstappen was made to overtake Oscar Piastri to triumph in a rain-affected Sprint Race on Saturday at the Belgian Grand Prix.
Piastri was able to maintain second to the end, ahead of Alpine’s Pierre Gasly, who held off Lewis Hamilton through the closing laps to complete the top three.
A sudden downpour just moments before the 15-lap dash was due to get underway saw the start delayed by over half an hour before proceedings got underway.
As mandated by the regulations, all the drivers embarked on the formation lap behind the Safety Car on Pirelli’s full-wet weather compound. It was swiftly confirmed that the Safety Car would bring the pack around for four laps before withdrawing to the pits to commence a rolling start.
Once the lights on the Safety Car went out, Verstappen led the field single-file onto the first green-flag lap of a revised 11 ahead of Piastri and the two Ferraris.
With conditions having improved drastically throughout the elongated delay, several drivers rapidly filtered into the pits to transition onto the Intermediate tyre.
Piastri was the first of those, ahead of Gasly, Sergio Perez and Hamilton, who had all leapfrogged Carlos Sainz.
The next time around the rest, including Verstappen, followed suit but Piastri emerged in front of the Red Bull to take the lead of a Formula 1 race for the first time.
Right as Verstappen was beginning to apply pressure onto the McLaren, Fernando Alonso compounded a miserable Sprint Saturday by causing the Safety Car to reappear.
The two-time World Champion was trailing in the wake of Nico Hulkenberg when he got onto the outside kerb at Pouhon and spun his Aston Martin off into the gravel.
With the racing continuing on Lap 6, Verstappen immediately blasted past Piastri down the Kemmel Straight to assume his place at the front of the field.
While the World Champion was successfully applying pressure, Red Bull team-mate Sergio Perez was struggling increasingly to hold off the advances of Hamilton.
After the pair almost collided at the backend of the circuit, Hamilton then utilised the superior traction of his Mercedes to get ahead on the exit of the La Source hairpin.
Perez, who complained about a lack of grip, was then mugged by both Ferraris and Lando Norris before the Mexican trailed into the gravel and dropped into retirement.
George Russell was one of many drivers to be compromised by a late stop but the Brit overhauled Esteban Ocon and then Daniel Ricciardo to take the final point.
While Russell moved up, Hamilton was hit with a five-second penalty after the stewards deemed he was predominantly to blame for the incident with Perez.
The top three were classified in the same order they took the chequered flag, but Hamilton’s penalty dropped him below Sainz, Leclerc and Norris down to seventh.
Verstappen’s victory marks his second Sprint victory of the season, having previously done so in similar conditions at the Austrian Grand Prix earlier this month.
The Dutchman also took pole position for Sunday’s race. However, he will not start there after taking a five-place grid penalty for exceeding his yearly gearbox allocation.
Instead, Leclerc will slot his Ferrari into position at the sharp end of the grid, with Perez alongside on the front row.
Lights out for the 2023 Belgian Grand Prix is scheduled for 15:00 local time tomorrow.
