Lando Norris beats Oscar Piastri in Belgian Grand Prix qualifying after Australian edges sprint race

Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri opened up on the inter-team rivalry fuelling both of their world title charges after another one-two finish at qualifying for the Belgian Grand Prix.

Lando Norris said he had not lost any confidence in his ability to outpace McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri after he bounced back on Saturday to claim pole position for the Belgian Grand Prix.

The 25-year-old Briton, who was beaten by series leader Piastri in Friday’s sprint qualifying, said it was tough for both McLaren drivers as they battle for supremacy in their intra-team rivalry – and slug it out for the drivers’ world championship.

After 12 of this year’s 24 races, Piastri leads with 241 points and five wins ahead of Norris on 232 and four wins. Defending four-time champion Max Verstappen of Red Bull is third on 173 after two Grand Prix wins.

Norris, who is chasing a third consecutive Grand Prix win on Sunday to overhaul the 24-year-old Australian, admitted he was aware that “everyone was worried” after Friday when he was three-tenths slower.

“I wasn’t that far off, but there were a couple of little issues and everyone was pretty worried,” he said. “But I was confident after yesterday and I was confident coming into today so it’s nice to see that I could get back to the top.”

Asked where his improvement came from, he said: “Three-tenths is just slipstream and not being the first out of the pit-lane.

“It was nothing to worry about, but people like to make a lot of things up.

“I felt good and the car has been flying all weekend.”
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The front three on the grid for the Belgian Grand Prix. Picture: Dimitar Dilkoff/AFP

Norris has been accused of mental fragility and being over-sensitive to his own high expectations and media criticism.

He said that it was intense and challenging for both McLaren drivers to maintain a strong relationship as teammates while fighting for the drivers’ title.

“Oscar has been doing a good job all weekend and we’ve been pushing each other a lot,” said Norris.

“It’s tough because you see where your strengths and weaknesses are clearly – and then you learn from each other quickly. It’s good, but it’s a tough battle that we have at the minute.”

Piastri agreed that maintaining a balanced approach was difficult.

“We’re a good teammate pairing and we learn a lot from each other each weekend. That’s what makes us a good team, but it also makes it difficult to fight each other.”

Norris said he wanted Sunday’s race to be run in dry conditions, despite forecast heavy rain for the Ardennes.

“I prefer it to stay dry honestly. For the fans! I think it’s rained here for the last 10 years or something so it would be nice to have a dry Sunday.”

Verstappen wins sprint race as Red Bull start new era

Max Verstappen welcomed new Red Bull boss Laurent Mekies to the race team on Saturday with an immaculate gift-wrapped triumph in the sprint race at the Belgian Grand Prix.

The 27-year-old Dutchman, who started from second on the grid, seized the lead on the opening lap and then resisted all threats from series leader Oscar Piastri who had to defend attacks from McLaren teammate Lando Norris who finished third.

It was a consummate performance from Verstappen who ran with a low downforce set-up to give him a straight-line speed advantage – for which he was congratulated by Mekies, appointed on July 9 to replace Red Bull’s former boss Christian Horner who was dismissed unexpectedly after 20 years at the helm.

“That worked out really well,” said a delighted Verstappen after thanking Mekies on the team radio.

“We got an opportunity at turn five and took it and then it was tough to keep those two behind.

“It was cat and mouse with battery usage and I couldn’t afford to make any mistakes, although I had one lock-up – it is so difficult to keep faster cars behind so it was all really at the limit. Not easy! But we did it.”

Mekies was equally satisfied.

“Max was brilliant and all the guys did a great job,” said the former boss of Reb Bull’s ‘B’ team Racing Bulls.

“He was under massive pressure and he made almost no mistakes and the team extracted everything from the car and the tyres.” – Hamilton misery –

The leading trio were separated by only 1.4 seconds at the finish, leaving Charles Leclerc a distant fourth for Ferrari, 10 seconds adrift, ahead of Haas’s Esteban Ocon and Carlos Sainz of Williams.

Sprint winner Max Verstappen between second placed Oscar Piastri third placed Lando Norris. Picture: Rudy Carezzevoli/Getty Images

Piastri said: “I tried my best to snake through on the straight and not give too much tow (on the opening lap) but I didn’t have enough straight-line speed. Still, this is a good result, good points and it’s only the sprint. Yeah, but it’s annoying I couldn’t get past him.

Norris said: “There wasn’t a lot going on after, obviously, a bit of fun at the start and maybe I could have positioned myself a little better. But it was too difficult to get past Max. He drove a good race.”

Piastri’s success in beating Norris, who on Sunday will seek a third consecutive Grand Prix win, extended his lead in the title race from eight points to nine.

Piastri made a good start from pole position, but Verstappen showed he had greater straight-line speed with his ‘skinny’ rear wing set-up and after pulling alongside into Raidillon, he powered into the lead at Les Combes.

Lewis Hamilton’s miserable weekend continued as he toiled to advance after starting from 18th, following his spin at the chicane in Friday’s sprint qualifying.

On lap 12, Piastri moved within 0.3 seconds of Verstappen, but he was unable to execute a move on the run uphill from La Source while behind him Norris forced him to defend vigorously against his teammate.

McLaren’s intra-team tussle did little to help either driver haul in Verstappen and he was in charge as he delivered his 12th sprint win to mark new boss Mekies’ maiden race with Red Bull following Horner’s exit.

Originally published as Lando Norris beats Oscar Piastri in Belgian Grand Prix qualifying after Australian edges sprint race