Belgian Grand Prix winner Oscar Piastri feared the rolling start was going to rob him of a chance to pass team-mate Lando Norris at the start of the race.
Championship leader Piastri, starting second on the grid, took a commanding victory after overtaking pole-sitter Norris on the Kemmel straight once the race started.
The original start was delayed by over an hour because of the poor weather conditions, and when the race did finally get going, it included four laps behind the safety car and a rolling start instead of a standing one.
But that didn’t affect Piastri’s plans, as the Australian got very close to Norris through Eau Rouge and used his slipstream to move into the lead before the Les Combes chicane.
“To be honest, I was a bit disappointed it was a rolling start because I thought that was going to take away some opportunity,” Piastri admitted after crossing the finish line 3.5 seconds ahead of Norris.
“But I got a good exit out of Turn 1, was able to stay close and then, when I was that close, I knew I was just going to lift a little bit less than Lando did and try and keep it on the track.
“[It was] a bit lively up over the hill, but I managed to make it stick, and then from there the tow helped me out.”
The lap 1 move proved key as it allowed Piastri to pit first when the track dried up, the championship leader switching to medium tyres at the perfect time.
Norris was running too close to Piastri to complete a double-stack pitstop without losing too much time, and so the Briton completed another lap before pitting.
The British GP winner made a last-second decision to switch to hards in the hope that the degradation of the medium tyres would eventually pay off.
However, it didn’t, and Piastri managed to keep Norris at bay.
Norris was the only driver to switch to hard tyres
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The Australian admitted his plan was always going to be to use medium tyres regardless of his team-mate’s strategy.
“I kind of had the same plan if I was going to be second,” said Piastri. “I kind of knew that [the hard tyre] was going to be a likely decision for him.
“I think for me, the medium was the safest tyre to be on at that point. You never know if someone’s going to crash and there’s a safety car and then at that point you want a medium for the restart.
Championship leader Piastri took a controlled victory over Norris in a rain-delayed Belgian GP
By
Pablo Elizalde
“And also, the medium seemed pretty good in the sprint yesterday. So, yeah, think it didn’t make too much difference.”
Norris made a couple of mistakes on his way to second place and conceded his team-mate simply deserved to win.
“Oscar just did a good job, nothing more to say,” said Norris, the winner of the previous two races. “He committed a bit more through Eau Rouge and had the slipstream, and he got the run.
“So yeah, nothing to complain of. He did a better job in the beginning and that was it. Nothing more I could do after that point.
“I would love to be up top but Oscar deserved it today.”
Asked if victory would have been possible without his mistake, Norris added: “It’s shoulda, woulda, coulda so I’m not going to… Oscar deserved it.”
The result means Piastri now has a 16-point lead over Norris going into next weekend’s Hungarian Grand Prix, the final race before the summer break.
