Verstappen delivers Mekies a winning start in Spa Sprint

Max Verstappen held off both McLarens to claim his 12th career Sprint win at Spa, delivering new Red Bull Team Principal Laurent Mekies a maiden triumph in charge after a closely fought dash at the front.

It may have been just 15 laps, but the Sprint at the Belgium Grand Prix packed enough punch to prove good things really do come in small packages for a victorious Verstappen.

All but one driver opted for the medium compound tyre at lights out, with Franco Colapinto the lone exception starting from the pitlane on softs after a rear wing change under parc fermé — setting the tone for a surprisingly restrained start in Spa.

An unusually clean run into the first braking zone kicked off the Sprint action, with almost every driver on track holding position through the iconic climb up to the Kemmel Straight, before the dominance of the slipstream advantage shone through. 

Clinging to the rear of the lead McLaren, Verstappen forged a successful overtake on Piastri into Les Combes, stealing the lead off the Australian before putting six-tenths between the two drivers when the first lap came to a close.

Mirroring the Dutchman’s effort, Charles Leclerc also disposed of a McLaren through Turn 5 to temporarily move into the top three, however, Lando Norris quickly worked to recover from his Lap 1 loss, reclaiming third place just three laps later.

The fight for the lead continued to unfold, with the #81 unrelenting in his mission for Sprint glory, though dipping a wheel in the gravel didn’t do Piastri any favours while he reported his tyres were just “okay” in the early stages.

Without any further movement on the timesheets and with the Sprint ticking past the halfway mark, the margin between Verstappen and Piastri held stagnant at five-tenths, allowing Norris to claw his way back into a three-way fight for victory.

By Lap 10 of 15, the driver looking to rack up a third consecutive Grand Prix victory tomorrow had this teammate within touching distance, with Norris gaining on Piastri with the assistance of DRS and more battery power at his disposal to complete a top three separated by just 1.3 seconds. 

Deploying said advantages against the Australian, Norris drew Piastri’s attention away from the fight for the lead, but with just three laps remaining, it wasn’t enough to reverse the McLaren duo.

Max Verstappen had six-tenths of leeway as he crossed the line to start the final lap of the Sprint, extending his leading interval to 0.753s as the chequered flag waved in Spa, signalling Red Bull’s newly appointed Team Principal, Laurent Mekies’ first triumph with the team, and Verstappen’s twelfth career Sprint victory to date.

Aside from the lead change and Isack Hadjar inheriting a position due to Pierre Gasly’s late water leak complications, which forced the Alpine driver to start the Sprint two laps down, the top eight remained unchanged from yesterday’s Sprint Qualifying results.

Charles Leclerc took the chequered flag 8.7 seconds behind the top three’s marginal battle, with Esteban Ocon, Carlos Sainz, Ollie Bearman and the RB driver each adding points to their tight constructors’ championship campaigns on Saturday.

The Monegasque’s Ferrari teammate failed to pick his way through the pack, ending the 15 laps of racing in P15 after completing a late overtake on Alex Albon.

Starting from the back of the grid, Kimi Antonelli was also unable to recover from a disappointing Sprint Qualifying, with the upcoming Grand Prix Qualifying session a welcome reset from his final position in P17.

Putting the highs and lows of the short race behind them, the grid will have a short break before taking on the hour shootout, with the fight to determine the grid for tomorrow’s Belgian Grand Prix kicking off at 00:00 AEST.

Image: Zak Mauger/LAT Images // Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool.

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