Max Verstappen won a delayed wet sprint at the Belgian Grand Prix while teammate Sergio Perez retired following contact with Lewis Hamilton.
Oscar Piastri threatened to ruin Red Bull’s perfect season for a spell as he led after pit stops but had to settle for second, with Pierre Gasly holding off Hamilton for third on the road even before a penalty was applied to the Mercedes driver.
The sprint had already been pushed back by 35 minutes due to weather-induced delays to the Sprint Shootout, and then race control had to do the same as two heavy showers approached just prior to the sprint start.
The first downpour occurred just when the grid would have begun the formation lap, and then a further delay was announced for a second heavy shower before the field headed off behind the safety car 30 minutes later than originally planned.
After four additional formation laps to reduce spray, the race began with a rolling start and Verstappen stayed out despite most drivers reporting the conditions were good enough for intermediate tires. Piastri and Carlos Sainz came in from second and third respectively, as each team chose to pit one car each immediately.
Aside from the McLaren and Ferrari drivers, Gasly, Hamilton, Perez, Daniel Ricciardo, Alex Albon, Lance Stroll, Valtteri Bottas and Nico Hulkenberg all got the first stop for their teams, with the remainder all coming in at the end of the first lap.
A rare error from Fernando Alonso brought out the safety car on lap 3 as the Aston Martin driver — bottled up behind Hulkenberg — got onto the exit curb at Pouhon and lost the rear, spinning multiple times as he ended up beached in the gravel. It took two full laps to recover his car, resuming racing at the end of lap 5 with Verstappen having been told Piastri was struggling with his left-side tires.
“Yeah, I’m not surprised, he’s sliding everywhere,” came the reply.
When racing resumed, Verstappen duly cleared Piastri by breezing past in a straight line before Les Combes and pulled away to win comfortably, but his Red Bull team-mate was having a tougher afternoon.
On lap 6, Hamilton tried to overtake Perez at Stavelot and the pair made contact through the following corner, leaving the Mexican’s Red Bull with a hole in its sidepod. Hamilton was forced to slot in behind but then overtook into La Source on the next lap, with Perez dropping through the field and sliding off track at Stavelot a lap later before retiring.
Despite the contact being light as the pair fought in wet conditions, Hamilton was handed a five-second time penalty for causing a collision and duly slipped to seventh in the final standings having crossed the line in fourth.
Hamilton has been handed a five-second penalty for causing a collision in that battle with Perez
The Mexican has been told by his team to pit and retire the car #BelgianGP #F1Sprint pic.twitter.com/P4E9IlTbmg
— Formula 1 (@F1) July 29, 2023
Hamilton had been putting pressure on Gasly but the Frenchman held him off to the tune of a second to secure his first top-three finish for Alpine.
Hamilton’s penalty promoted Sainz and Charles Leclerc after both Ferraris dropped out in the pits, with Lando Norris also benefiting in sixth but unable to find a way past Leclerc ahead.
Daniel Ricciardo had delivered a strong drive but having climbed into eighth place, he saw his chance of a first point since returning with AlphaTauri taken away by George Russell starting the penultimate lap. Ricciardo was also then passed by Esteban Ocon in the final sector to end up 10th, with only the top eight scoring.