Verstappen Dominates 2023 Belgian Sprint

Roundup of Sprint Saturday at 2023 Belgian Grand Prix, as Max Verstappen dominated proceedings.

Verstappen comfortably dominated a wet-to-dry Sprint Shootout to take pole for the Sprint which saw similar conditions, yet he overcame a pit stop strategy gamble to clinch victory and extend his title lead.

McLaren’s Oscar Piastri meanwhile sprung a huge surprise as he qualified second and even managed to lead the race briefly until a Safety Car period undid his efforts but managed to clinch his highest F1 race finish yet.

Now, here is a roundup of 2023 Belgian Sprint Shootout and the Sprint Race.

 

Sprint Shootuout

SS1

Following torrential rainfall during the break after F3’s Sprint Race, stewards opted to delay F1’s Sprint Shootout by 35 minutes in order to allow the track to drain and dry out enough for intermediate tyre running.

Like in Qualifying, Mercedes sent Lewis Hamilton and George Russell to the pit exit eight minutes early in order to gain track position, which enabled Hamilton to set a benchmark time of 2m 02.297 but Charles Leclerc, Piastri, Max Verstappen and Carlos Sainz quickly displaced the Brit.

Several drivers opted to run multiple laps on one set of intermediate tyres which left the following drivers at risk of elimination with two minutes left; Lando Norris, Lance Stroll, Logan Sargeant, Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hulkenberg.

As the checkered flag fell, Hulkenberg failed to reach the line in time to start his only flying lap which left him last on the grid, as Guanyu Zhou joined him on the back row.

Yuki Tsunoda, Valtteri Bottas and Kevin Magnussen meanwhile qualified in 16, 17 and 18th positions whilst Verstappen finished fastest with 1m 58.135 on his final flier.

 

SS2

Daniel Ricciardo was first out on track and set the benchmark time of 1m 57.687 in the fifth minute but was displaced by Norris, as times tumbled with Verstappen sat quickest with 1m 55.200 ahead of Hamilton.

Alex Albon, Sargeant, Stroll and Fernando Alonso meanwhile hadn’t set a lap time with two minutes to go, with Stroll boldly attempting a medium slick tyre flier on his sole attempt.

His last-gasp gamble however backfired as he lost control upon entry at Turn 11 and slid into the outside barriers, which prevented any further improvement as the red flag came out with just 29 seconds left on the clock.

Ricciardo consequently was eliminated in 11th position as Russell scraped through by 0.294s, whilst Albon lined up 12th ahead of Sargeant, Stroll and Alonso.

 

SS3

Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz were first out on track as everyone opted for soft-tyre running, and the Monegasque proceeded to set the benchmark lap time of 1m 52.525 in the fifth minute.

Norris however went 0.979s faster but was displaced by Hamilton who went 0.348s quicker, with Verstappen slotting in between the British pair just 0.088s off Hamilton’s effort.

Piastri, Sainz, Russell, Sergio Perez, Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon rounded out the top ten ahead of final runs.

Whilst warming up ahead of his final flier, Verstappen spun which dropped him down the order and left him last over the line.

Up front, Perez lowered the benchmark time to 1m 50.303 as the checkered flag fell which led to a series of drivers taking provisional pole briefly, as Gasly, Sainz and Piastri all briefly went quickest until Verstappen produced 1m 49.056 to take his second Sprint pole of the season.

Piastri settled for second and just 0.011s shy for his first front-row start in F1, ahead of Sainz and Leclerc in a Ferrari second-row lockout as Norris, Gasly, Hamilton, Perez, Ocon and Russell rounded out the top ten.

Position	Driver	Team	Time
1	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	1m 49.056
2	Oscar Piastri	McLaren	+ 0.011
3	Carlos Sainz	Ferrari	+ 0.025
4	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	+ 0.196
5	Lando Norris	McLaren	+ 0.333
6	Pierre Gasly	Alpine	+ 0.644
7	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	+ 0.844
8	Sergio Perez	Red Bull	+ 0.905
9	Esteban Ocon	Alpine	+ 1.438
10	George Russell	Mercedes	+ 6.686
11	Daniel Ricciardo	AlphaTauri	1m 57.687
12	Alex Albon	Williams	No Time
13	Logan Sargeant	Williams	No Time
14	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin	No Time
15	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin	No Time
16	Yuki Tsunoda	AlphaTauri	2m 00.568
17	Valtteri Bottas	Alfa Romeo	+ 0.383
18	Kevin Magnussen	Haas	+ 0.511
19	Guanyu Zhou	Alfa Romeo	+ 0.862
20	Nico Hulkenberg	Haas	No Time

 

Sprint Race

The delayed Sprint Shootout impacted the start of the Sprint which was delayed 35 minutes but torrential showers caused a further delay, which necessitated a Safety Car start 65 minutes after the original start time for five formation laps.

Once the Safety Car pitted, Piastri led the half of the field in immediately pitting which paid off as he took the lead at the start of Lap 2 once Verstappen and the other half of the field pitted and quickly bridged a 1.5 second gap to Verstappen with Gasly sat third ahead of Perez and Hamilton.

Alonso however spun out at Pouhon on Lap 3 to cause the Safety Car to be deployed until the end of Lap 5, which proved fateful as Verstappen cleared Piastri upon the restart on the Kemmel Straight to take a comfortable victory.

Piastri meanwhile settled for second as Gasly clung onto third after Perez and Hamilton made contact on the exit of Stavelot on Lap 6, which resulted in damage for Hamilton and race-ending damage for Perez who retired on Lap 9.

Hamilton subsequently was handed a five-second time penalty which demoted him to seventh at the checkered flag, and elevated Sainz, Leclerc and Norris up to fourth, fifth and sixth respectively.

Russell meanwhile recovered from 12th on the restart to take eighth after clearing Albon, Ricciardo and Ocon in the closing laps.

In the drivers’ standings, Verstappen extended his lead over Perez to 118 points whilst Alonso’s lead over fourth-placed Hamilton in their fight for third was trimmed to four points.

Position	Driver	Team	Laps	Time
1	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	11	24m 58.433
2	Oscar Piastri	McLaren	11	+ 6.677
3	Pierre Gasly	Alpine	11	+ 10.733
4	Carlos Sainz	Ferrari	11	+ 12.648
5	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	11	+ 15.016
6	Lando Norris	Lando Norris	11	+ 16.052
7	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	11	+ 16.757
8	George Russell	Mercedes	11	+ 16.822
9	Esteban Ocon	Alpine	11	+ 22.410
10	Daniel Ricciardo	AlphaTauri	11	+ 22.806
11	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin	11	+ 25.007
12	Alex Albon	Williams	11	+ 26.303
13	Valtteri Bottas	Alfa Romeo	11	+ 27.006
14	Kevin Magnussen	Haas	11	+ 32.986
15	Guanyu Zhou	Alfa Romeo	11	+ 36.342
16	Logan Sargeant	Williams	11	+ 37.571
17	Nico Hulkenberg	Haas	11	+ 37.827
18	Yuki Tsunoda	AlphaTauri	11	+ 39.267
RET	Sergio Perez	Red Bull	8	Damage
RET	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin	2	Spin