Oracle Red Bull Racing driver Max Verstappen of the Netherlands. Photo: PHOTOSPORT
Formula One champion Max Verstappen won a "cat and mouse" Belgian Grand Prix sprint in Red Bull's first race under the leadership of Laurent Mekies following Christian Horner's dismissal, while New Zealand's Liam Lawson posted a 10th-placed finish.
McLaren's championship leader Oscar Piastri finished second, after taking a dominant pole position for the 100km race, with the Australian increasing his advantage over teammate Lando Norris to nine points.
Norris ended up where he started, in third place on a bright afternoon at the longest and second fastest track on the calendar.
New Zealand driver Lawson produced a solid drive in the middle of the field, in a race that offered few opportunities.
New Zealand driver Liam Lawson of Racing Bulls. Photo: ANTONIN VINCENT / PHOTOSPORT
With only the top eight finishers picking up points for their team, Lawson added nothing for Racing Bulls but his team-mate Isack Hadjar managed an eighth-placed finish.
Charles Leclerc was fourth for Ferrari with Haas's Esteban Ocon fifth and Carlos Sainz sixth for Williams.
"Well done Max. Very, very impressive defence, very well controlled. You didn't leave anything on the table there," Mekies told Verstappen over the team radio after the Dutch driver took the chequered flag.
Verstappen, starting second, used straightline speed to slipstream into the lead at les Combes on lap one and held off Piastri for the remaining 14, with the Australian 0.753 seconds behind at the flag.
The win was Verstappen's first, in either a sprint or grand prix, since Imola in May and it was knife-edge all the way.
"I knew of course it was going to be very tough to keep them behind. So it's just playing like cat and mouse, DRS, battery usage," he said as the large contingent of Dutch fans celebrated.
"The whole race was within seven tenths, so I couldn't afford to make big mistakes. I had one tiny lockup in the last corner, but apart from that it was, for us, a great result to keep them behind.
"You have to drive over the limit of what's possible. Tyre management goes out of the window. I did 15 qualifying laps to keep them behind on a track where tyre management is important."
Main race qualifying
Norris edged out title rival Oscar Piastri to take pole position for what could be a wet and chaotic main race at Spa-Francorchamps.
McLaren team-mates Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, 2025. Photo: PHOTOSPORT
The Briton blasted around the long circuit in a best time of one minute 40.562 seconds on Saturday, with Piastri 0.085 slower, to secure his fourth pole in 13 races and 13th of his career.
Norris will be chasing his third win in a row to cut the Australian's nine-point lead.
"The car has been flying all weekend, Oscar's been doing a good job all weekend so we're pushing each other a lot," said Norris, who was third in the earlier sprint race with Piastri second.
"It's tough because you kind of see where your strengths and weaknesses are. And you learn from each other quickly. It's a good but tough battle that we have at the minute."
Norris said he was expecting rain and drizzle on Sunday and possibly a chaotic race.
Lawson was ninth-quickest, one spot behind Hadjar.
Liam Lawson. Photo: Josh McErlean Rallying/Facebook
"It was a good session for the team having both cars reach Q3, but it's tough when you see P5 was so close," Lawson said.
"The speed was building and we were learning throughout the session, but a moment at the end of the lap meant we lost some time, so with such close margins it's frustrating.
"Regardless of the conditions tomorrow, we need to try and have a clean race while extracting everything out of the car."
Leclerc will start third and Verstappen fourth.
- Reuters
