00:00We begin the formation lap for the Belgian Grand Prix sprint.
00:04We are about to run 15 laps minus whatever we do beyond the formation lap behind the safety car.
00:11Everyone's going to want to get rid of those wet tyres and get onto the Inters as soon as possible.
00:18The third sprint of the year is about to get underway, but will it get underway in the pit lane?
00:24Yes, okay, Verstappen goes through, he goes on, so then does Charles Leclerc, late call for Pierre Gasly.
00:31Ocon is sent round, and so there's a total mix now, but all of the action, as expected, is in
00:36the pit lane.
00:37I'm surprised Verstappen stayed out. All the lead drivers then have come in.
00:40The second drivers haven't chosen to queue, so you've got a load of drivers coming in.
00:44There is even going to be a little bit of queuing, I think, for some teams.
00:48Piastri gets away cleanly, and he's got a bid for the lead of the race here.
00:51That is a huge moment. There is a tight moment for the Alpine of Gasly into the path of Fernando
00:57Alonso.
00:58Loads of action as we came into the pits. I think it was the bottom half, so it's about 10
01:03cars who came in.
01:06On board with the man putting pressure on Max Verstappen.
01:09He's 1.7 seconds quicker than Max in the middle sector. This should be done.
01:13Verstappen peels in. What can Piastri do? So long as he's clean through the final sector, he will lead the
01:17sprint.
01:18Piastri has got past Joe Guan Yu on the wet tire as well. Piastri is having to pick his way
01:22past cars who haven't pitted.
01:24Surely the rest will. 10 laps to go. Oscar Piastri, who has never been in the top three in Formula
01:29One.
01:29Oh, is that going to be tight? Very tight between Max Verstappen into the path of the second McLaren to
01:35pit.
01:35And wait for it. Wait for it. Because going through now, Oscar Piastri. Oh, that's tight.
01:40That's so tight between them. Oscar Piastri roars past. Oscar Piastri takes the lead with Max Verstappen on pit exit.
01:48And that gamble for intermediate tyres works for the Australian driver. And he's got P1 in the race.
01:53It was always going to. I can't believe Verstappen didn't come in on that first lap.
01:58Piastri leads. Verstappen is still second in his game on at the front. Look behind. Gasly's third.
02:03Perez's fourth. Hamilton's fifth. Sainte's sixth. Even though they lost out, they're still ahead of everyone else that stayed out
02:08on the full wear.
02:12Alonso. Fernando Alonso off the road into the gravel and out of the sprint to bring out the safety car
02:18at Spa-Francorchamps.
02:20Oh, the car just got loose. And then he got on the kerb and then just brushes the wall. But
02:26there shouldn't be any damage.
02:27They're just beached in the gravel, I think. So that was on the tail of Mika Holkenberg. And the car
02:31was getting loose already.
02:32Then he touched the kerb. Or maybe it was just the right rear touched that painted surface,
02:36which is always slippery in these conditions on the outside of Pouin.
02:41Oscar Piastri has Max Verstappen to deal with. Perez very nearly into the back of Gasly under braking there.
02:48He's looking racy. They're all looking racy as we go back. What an entertaining sprint we've had.
02:52The yellow flag is out in sector three already. I'm hearing in my ear that Yuki Tsunoda has gone round
02:58before we even got to the restart.
03:00That was 17th place, Yuki Tsunoda. As Perez is a little bit wide, Hamilton might try and come towards him
03:06down to O'Rouge.
03:07Big run now for Max Verstappen, trying to reclaim the lead that he lost. And Oscar Piastri goes through O
03:12'Rouge.
03:13We climb the hill through Radion Corner. It's going to be very tight between the two of them.
03:17Checking the left-hand mirror is Oscar Piastri. Look at the momentum. Look at the speed that Max Verstappen's got.
03:22And he roars through to retake the lead. Piastri ducks in to the slipstream, but Max Verstappen does the job
03:29and retakes P1.
03:31Look at this. Tucked in behind. Full commitment. That's outrageous on a restart lap. What a fine way to take
03:38it through.
03:41We know that Verstappen is in a vein of form rarely seen in Formula One. Tomorrow in the Grand Prix,
03:46he tries to win eight in a row.
03:48Hamilton to the inside at Stavolo Corner. He's got a hint. They'll go wheel to wheel and they collide. They
03:54collide.
03:54Perez and Hamilton making contact. Hamilton got a great run through Stavolo Corner and then he banging wheels again.
04:01As they make their way through Perez without the momentum. Hamilton all over the back of him and they came
04:06together.
04:07Hamilton suddenly slowed a little bit down towards Blanchema. I think he was just giving Perez a bit of space
04:13before that fast left-hander.
04:14I think they've got away with it, but Perez is struggling at the moment. One Red Bull's flying, the other
04:19one's struggling and Hamilton and now Sainz are right with him.
04:21It's very nearly a three-car battle for fourth position. Perez in the Navy Red Bull, Hamilton in a black
04:26Mercedes and Sainz in the background just waits for his opportunity to come out of the source and put pressure
04:32on as well.
04:33No grip for Sergio Perez, who's lost the place to Hamilton. We go side by side to Eau Rouge Corner.
04:40Sainz trying to take fifth place and he's got by.
04:43Perez has got no grip at all. The way that Hamilton came alongside into Stavolo is a very strange place
04:48to try and make a move, but Perez is just struggling and now Leclerc is going to have a run.
04:52Checo's still looking at Carlos Sainz. This is the battle for fifth. This is the battle for sixth. Is the
04:57second Ferrari going to go through? Is the room for all of them to make their way through the corner?
05:01Charles Leclerc with a tidy pass as well. Fine move for sixth position. But Hamilton with that wheelbanging moment with
05:09Sergio Perez, Hamilton given the five-second penalty and that's going to ruin his race.
05:16And he's struggling so much. Norris is right with him coming down towards Fania. So difficult to make a move
05:21here, but he's offline everywhere. Struggling to get the car turned. Struggling to find any exits.
05:26Got no confidence in the car as well. And now we ride on board with Lando and Perez.
05:30Oh, he's off the road. He's off the road. The lack of grip tells and he's off into the gravel
05:35trap. Sergio Perez rejoins, but he'll rejoin out of the points paying positions.
05:40Norris up to seventh. Daniel Ricciardo back in Formula One and currently back in the points on the penultimate tour
05:48then.
05:49And that is a wide moment for Daniel Ricciardo. George Russell all over the back of the Alfa Tauri now.
05:55And it appears that George Russell's got much superior grip on the intermediate tyres and it's going to take Ricciardo
06:00with a late lunge.
06:02He's got no way to respond. And George Russell takes his place in the points, fighting his way back through.
06:07And Ricciardo is dropped down to ninth position. No way to respond.
06:13Max Verstappen ticks the final boxes on the last corners of the last lap and Max Verstappen wins the sprint
06:21in Belgium.
06:22But what a story from the 22 year old Australian who scores his best results in any Formula One race
06:30in the sprint.
06:30P2 for McLaren. It's P3 for Alpine and Pierre Gasly. Hamilton came home in fourth.
06:37But when you apply the penalty it signs in fourth. Leclerc in fifth.
06:41Then Lando Norris and the Mercedes the last two point scorers seventh and eighth.
06:47Max Verstappen taking his second sprint win of the year.
06:50Oscar Piastri his best result in any Formula One race of any description all time.
06:55Pierre Gasly's first top three in Formula One of any race since the Azerbaijan Grand Prix a couple of years
07:00ago.
07:02Feat hanging.lonal
07:06Represessen. I hope.
07:06I hope I'm
07:07You haven't already heard
07:07of me right here. Yes. If you go
07:07or benefit the fall. Enter and going this side
07:07You won't be.
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