Max Verstappen took a predictable win for Red Bull in Saturday's sprint race at Spa-Francorchamps, overcoming some minor setbacks to take victory by over six seconds from Oscar Piastri in a rain-hit 11-lap event.
Verstappen had claimed pole for the sprint by just 0.011s from the McLaren, and duly led the field away from the grid after a half hour delay caused by heavy rain soaking the track.
Race control opted to run the first four laps behind the safety car, which meant that all 20 cars were obliged to start on full wet weather tyres.
But by the time the safety car came in, the skies had cleared and the track had started to drain off meaning that intermediates tyres were very much an option before the green flag got things fully underway
Verstappen decided not to pit, but Piastri and approximately half the field did dive in to change to the inters. Verstappen and the rest of the field were in next time around, but a hold-up on a crowded pit lane cost him vital seconds.
It meant Piastri was in the lead by 1.7s , but a new safety car minutes later for Fernando Alonso spinning out closed up the field and made it easy for Verstappen to pass Piastri down the Kemmel Straight at the restart on lap 6.
"I think it was just a safer call," Verstappen said when asked whether he felt hs should have pitted on the previous lap. "I could have come in first but then I might have been blocked by other cars.
"There might have been a safety car and then you would lose out massively," he continued. "So I didn't mind staying out.
"We lost one position, but we knew we were quick. You could see that when we put the inters on - we were flying, so it was okay."
Verstappen was able to take a good look at Piastri's tyres behind the second safety car and agreed with the Red Bull pit wall that the McLaren was already suffering degradation: "I'm not surprised, he's drifting everywhere."
Verstappen himself complained he was finding it hard to "wake up" his brakes in the cooler conditions late on.
"We were just trying to get an even split on the brakes, but it was all under control," he explained. "The car was quick, the tyres were holding on, so just tiny little issues."
Whether there was anything to learn from today's short run that could be os used in tomorrow's Belgian Grand Prix remains to be seen, and depends on whether rain is once again a factor.
Despite being quickest in qualifying by eighth tenths of a second, Verstappen will start from sixth on the grid because of a penalty for taking an additional gearbox this weekend.
But that's nothing compared to P14 where he started the race last year after a slew of engine penalties but was in the lead by lap 12. No wonder that he's confident of challenging for victory tomorrow.
"Everything is always very tricky there, so as long as we stay out of trouble I think we'll have a quick car.
"I need to pass a few cars," Verstappen acknowledged. "I think the biggest risk is just lap one, turn 1 - all these kinds of things.
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