Piastri had demonstrated how troublesome it’s for the driving force on pole to guide by the tip of the primary lap at Spa by dropping the dash race win to Purple Bull’s Max Verstappen.
The Dutchman slipstreamed previous Piastri up the hill to Les Combes, after which held the McLaren at bay for 15 laps, whereas Norris adopted intently in third.
Within the grand prix, it was Norris in entrance, with Piastri in second and Piastri had been enthusiastic about the chance this introduced him since dropping out on pole the day earlier than.
McLaren workforce boss Andrea Stella stated: “This weekend, Oscar, if something, the one inaccuracy was in qualifying, the place his laps weren’t excellent.
“On the identical time, we now have to say that after the dash qualifying, he stated, ‘Yeah, I am in pole place, however perhaps this isn’t the precise place to be in pole place.’
“And as a joke, after the qualifying yesterday, he stated, ‘That was not my finest lap in Q3, however maybe that is the very best place to not have the very best lap in Q3.'”
Positive sufficient, Piastri took the lead on lap one of many grand prix, simply as Verstappen had the day earlier than.
“I had a superb run out of Flip One,” he stated, “after which tried to be as courageous as I might by Eau Rouge and was in a position to keep fairly shut. After that, the slipstream did the remainder for me.
“After I watched the onboard again, it did not look fairly as scary because it felt within the automobile. I knew that I needed to be very dedicated to drag that off.”
The talent and braveness concerned right here shouldn’t be underestimated. Eau Rouge is what they name ‘simple flat’ within the dry – it may be taken with out lifting off the throttle effectively inside the automobile’s capabilities, regardless of speeds being within the area of 180mph.
Within the moist, it’s not simple or flat. A driver has to decide on how a lot pace he desires to take, and anticipate whether or not that may nonetheless enable him to remain on observe.
Get it proper, as Piastri did, and the rewards are important. Get it flawed, carry slightly an excessive amount of pace, and an almighty accident awaits you at arguably essentially the most harmful piece of observe in F1.
However Norris had didn’t construct himself a spot over the end line by arguably going too early on the restart. Then he made a mistake at La Supply, which allowed Piastri to be proper on his tail approaching Eau Rouge.
“I did not have the very best Flip One,” Norris stated. “So it is exhausting to know the way a lot that performed a component. On the identical time, Oscar got here previous me fairly simply. So even when I had a greater Flip One, his run and the slipstream in all probability nonetheless would have gotten me.”
Stella stated: “It will have at all times been very troublesome for Lando to maintain the place beginning first on the security automobile restart. On the identical time, I feel Lando did not assist himself by not having a terrific hole on the end line.”
