Belgian Grand Prix Sprint

Date & Time
Sat 29th July 2023 5:05pm Local
Sat 29th July 2023 3:05pm UTC

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League
Formula 1

Season
2023

Round
13

Status

Location
Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps

Video Highlights

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Event Statistics

Description

The sprint was held on 29 July 2023, and was scheduled at 16:30 local time (UTC+2), but was delayed by one hour and five minutes due to the delay of the sprint shootout and rain.

Sprint report
The sprint began with all cars under full wets after four formation laps behind the safety car. When it went into the pits, with the race now running to 11 laps, Oscar Piastri, Carlos Sainz Jr., Pierre Gasly, Lewis Hamilton, Sergio Pérez, Daniel Ricciardo, Alexander Albon, Lance Stroll, Valtteri Bottas, and Nico Hülkenberg pitted to switch to intermediate tires. Max Verstappen then led until the second lap, when he and everyone else who chose not to pit after the formation lap switched to intermediates. This meant Piastri led a race for the first time in his Formula One career.

On lap 3, Fernando Alonso lost control of his car on the curb of turn 12 and spun into the gravel. He could not recover the car, prompting his first retirement of the season and a safety car period to recover Alonso's car. It went in just before lap 6 started, and Verstappen finally passed Piastri down the Kemmel Straight after turn 4. Verstappen would keep the lead, which he extended to six seconds as he crossed the line.

Hamilton and Pérez banged wheels through turn 17 while fighting for the fourth position, leaving Hamilton ahead after Pérez suffered damage to his sidepod. After Pérez was overtaken by Sainz and Charles Leclerc, he ran into the gravel on the next lap at turn 15 and tumbled down the order before eventually retiring.

Max Verstappen, Oscar Piastri, and Pierre Gasly rounded out the top three. This is Gasly's first top-three finish since the 2021 Azerbaijan Grand Prix, and Piastri's first top-three finish in his Formula One career. Lewis Hamilton crossed the line in fourth but was dropped to seventh after a five-second time penalty for causing a collision with Pérez. This promoted Sainz to fourth, Leclerc to fifth, and Norris to sixth. Russell grabbed the final points-scoring position.

Reports

Result List

01	Max Verstappen	Oracle Red Bull Racing	24:58.433
02	Oscar Piastri	McLaren Formula 1 Team	+6.677s
03	Pierre Gasly	BWT Alpine Formula One Team	+10.733s
04	Carlos Sainz Jr	Scuderia Ferrari HP	+12.648s
05	Charles Leclerc	Scuderia Ferrari HP	+15.016s
06	Lando Norris	McLaren Formula 1 Team	+16.052s
07	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS Formula One Team	+16.757s
08	George Russell	Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS Formula One Team	+16.822s
09	Esteban Ocon	BWT Alpine Formula One Team	+22.410s
10	Daniel Ricciardo	Visa Cash App Racing Bulls Formula One Team	+22.806s
11	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin Aramco Formula One Team	+25.007s
12	Alexander Albon	Williams Racing	+26.303s
13	Valtteri Bottas	Audi Revolut F1 Team	+27.006s
14	Kevin Magnussen	MoneyGram Haas F1 Team	+32.986s
15	Guanyu Zhou	Audi Revolut F1 Team	+36.342s
16	Logan Sargeant	Williams Racing	+37.571s
17	Nico Hulkenberg	MoneyGram Haas F1 Team	+37.827s
18	Yuki Tsunoda	Visa Cash App Racing Bulls Formula One Team	+39.267s