Calm Verstappen takes yet another victory in the Sprint
Max Verstappen pulled off a smart victory to beat McLaren’s Oscar Piastri whilst Alpine’s Pierre Gasly rounded out a very happy top 3.
Eventually Good
The Sprint, which was delayed earlier due to the FIA taking too long to send cars out on track in the Sprint Shootout, was also delayed after it started raining just minutes before the start of the race. The race was delayed for about 25/30 minutes or so and we also then got 5 Formation Laps which meant the Sprint was shortened to an 11 Lap race which is kind of cool considering I used to do 11 Lap races around Spa on the F1 Game. Anyway, when the Safety Car went back into the pits, so did half of the field as they went to change over from Wets to Intermediates. This benefited the likes of Oscar Piastri and Pierre Gasly, but it hindered Carlos Sainz who got held up waiting for the other cars to go by. The following lap then saw the other 10 drivers pit including Double World Champion Max Verstappen and it resulted in the Dutchman coming out behind Oscar Piastri. The Rookie looked right at home at the front, but his hopes were hurt a little when the Safety Car was brought out due to Fernando Alonso crashing. A very uncharacteristic mistake from the Birthday Boy. On the restart, Max was easily able to pass Oscar before, a little bit later around the lap, Sergio Perez and Lewis Hamilton resulting in Checo picking up some damage and Lewis eventually got given a 5-second time penalty which I still think is incredibly harsh. Checo then went completely off and into the gravel the following lap which pretty much ended his race. Max Verstappen then cruised home to take victory by 6.6 seconds whilst George Russell missed out on beating his teammate Lewis Hamilton by just 65 thousandths of a second (after Lewis’ penalty).
The Highs and Lows of the Sprint
I’ve given out three 10’s for today’s Sprint and the first one is obviously for Max Verstappen. Max is unbeatable right now, mainly because he knows he can win whatever the situation. The second driver I’ve given a 10 to is Oscar Piastri who is really starting to show that he’s the real deal. Does this count as Oscar’s first-ever F1 Podium? It certainly counts as his first Sprint Podium. The final driver I’ve given maximum points to is Pierre Gasly and fair play to him because he was fantastic today and got a result that everyone at Alpine needed. I also thought that Carlos Sainz and Daniel Ricciardo had really positive afternoons.
In terms of the lowest possible grade, I’ve given out three 1’s for today’s Sprint, and the first one is for Nico Hulkenberg. It’s been a really terrible weekend for the Hulk and I can’t really understand how he’s only finished 17th. The second driver I’ve given a 1 to is Yuki Tsunoda who just completely fell down the order at the Safety Car restart. It feels like Yuki has to have a much better day tomorrow. The final driver I’ve given the lowest possible grade to is Fernando Alonso and I still can’t quite believe that Fernando crashed because that’s so unlike him. I also thought Logan Sargeant was pretty slow and Sergio Perez had a terrible day whether he had damage or not whilst Zhou Guanyu just seemed to struggle for pace a bit again.
Overall Sprint Race Results and My Ratings
Max Verstappen: 10
Oscar Piastri: 10
Pierre Gasly: 10
Carlos Sainz: 8
Charles Leclerc: 6
Lando Norris: 6
Lewis Hamilton: 7
George Russell: 5
Esteban Ocon: 6
Daniel Ricciardo: 8
Lance Stroll: 4
Alex Albon: 6
Valtteri Bottas: 5
Kevin Magnussen: 4
Zhou Guanyu: 3
Logan Sargeant: 2
Nico Hulkenberg: 1
Yuki Tsunoda: 1
Sergio Perez: 2 (DNF)
Fernando Alonso: 1 (DNF)
My Predictions for the 2023 Belgian Grand Prix
Max Verstappen
Carlos Sainz
Oscar Piastri
Charles Leclerc
Lewis Hamilton
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