In a chaotic sprint race in Belgium, Max Verstappen managed to hold off a mighty effort from McLaren driver Oscar Piastri to take his sixth pole position of the season. With a rain-soaked Spa-Francorchamps circuit providing an action packed session which thoroughly tested the drivers.
After Verstappen took pole position in the sprint shootout earlier this afternoon, the Dutchman held on in difficult conditions to secure the front grid spot for the Belgian Grand Prix.
Piastri took second place after a stellar performance from the McLaren driver in only his twelfth race in Formula One. Pierre Gasly rounded off the podium after a stellar performance saw him hold off the charging pack to secure a huge result for Alpine.
Ferrari rounded off the top five, with Carlos Sainz getting the better of his teammate Charles Leclerc to take fourth place, as the Monegasque driver had to settle for fifth place.
Lando Norris managed to sneak sixth place, as Lewis Hamilton finished in seventh despite him crossing the line in fourth place. This was due to the British driver receiving a five-second penalty for causing a collision with Sergio Perez, who ultimately had to retire from the sprint race.
Fernando Alonso also joined the Red Bull driver in the 'did not finish' section, after the Spanish driver slid off the track and into the barriers on lap four, bringing out the safety car.
Story of the race
The sprint began under safety car conditions after a large spell of rain meant the sprint start was delayed by over 30 minutes. Once the race did begin through a rolling start behind the safety car, a few drivers made the bold call to switch out the mandatory wet weather tyres for the intermediate tyre.
One of the drivers who did this was McLaren driver Piastri. This risk paid off for the Australian rookie driver, who managed to take a surprise lead on the second lap of the sprint.
After initially holding off Verstappen for the first couple laps, Piastri was struggling for grip with his rear tyres. However, Verstappen could not initially take advantage as the safety car was called out after Alonso's spin into the barriers on lap four.
As the safety car came in, Verstappen was finally able to pass Piastri down the Kemmel Straight, as the Red Bull's fantastic straight line speed made it rather easy for Verstappen to finally overhaul Piastri.
Gasly managed to hold on to third, as the two challengers behind him, Hamilton and Perez made contact while battling it out for fourth place, leaving Perez with damage to his sidepod .
Perez' damage made him extremely vunerable to the pack behind him, with the two Ferrari's taking advantage of this and passing the Mexican driver before Perez ended up in the gravel at Stavelot, with that being the final straw for the Red Bull team as they pulled Perez into the pits to retire the car.
Perez' incident saw Norris promoted to seventh place and it also saw newly returning driver Daniel Ricciardo guide his Alpha Tauri car into the top ten.
Verstappen managed to make full use of the clear track ahead of him, pulling an over six second lead on Piastri to win the sprint and claim the maximum of eight points. Piastri held his own fantastically to secure second place.
Gasly managed to hold on to the final podium spot, fending off Hamilton who crossed the line in 4th place but was demoted down to seventh after he received a five second penalty for causing a collision with Perez.
This penalty saw Sainz, Leclerc and Norris all promoted one position, as Hamilton's teammate George Russell made a late charge through the grid to secure eighth place and deny Esteban Ocon and Daniel RIcciardo the final point on offer.
Lance Stroll managed to climb to 11th place after his sprint shootout session had ended in the barriers, as Zhou Guanyu and Kevin Magnussen moved up one position after Williams driver Logan Sargeant was penalised with a five-second penalty for speeding in the pit lane.
Verstappen will be a very happy man however, as he looks to further extend his Championship lead by securing maximum points from the front of the grid on Sunday.
