By Robert Haile

A delayed wait to the Sprint Race at Spa proved worth the wait as McLaren’s Oscar Piastri almost sprung a surprise on eventual winner Max Verstappen.

After the earlier qualifying session the rain came in and with a delay of half an hour to the start the teams all were on the wet tyre as the formation lap and race started under the Safety Car.

When the race eventually started after several laps under the Safety Car teams had a choice to make as the track had dried significantly, pit now and change or wait.

With the race now running at 11 laps Oscar Piastri, Carlos Sainz, Pierre Gasly, Lewis Hamilton, Sergio Perez, Daniel Ricciardo, Alex Albon, Lance Stroll, Valtteri Bottas and Nico Hulkenberg made the call to pit for Intermediate tyres.

Eventual race winner Verstappen stayed out but came in a lap later as Piastri flew into the lead setting up an interesting race.

Fernando Alonso’s race came to an early end as the Aston Martin ended up in the gravel bringing out a Safety Car.

Not wasting any time Verstappen quickly over hauled Piastri to retake the lead as the McLaren driver had to settle for second with Pierre Gasly taking third for Alpine.

The battle for fourth ended with Hamilton getting a penalty as he clashed with Perez, who would end up not finishing due to a damaged side pod, dropping the Brit to seventh.

Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc were promoted to fourth and fifth with McLaren’s Lando Norris in sixth.

Mercedes George Russell took the final point in eighth with Alpine’s Esteban Ocon and AlphaTauri’s Daniel Ricciardo missing out in ninth and tenth.

Max Verstappen’s lead is increased to 118 points ahead of his teammate Sergio Perez in the Drivers Championship with Fernando Alonso 32 points off Perez in third.

The scene is now set for the Belgian Grand Prix on Sunday, July 30.