F1 Sprint results: Max Verstappen delivers a win in Laurent Mekies’ Red Bull debut

Oscar Piastri began in pole place for the F1 Dash on the Belgian Grand Prix.

However Method 1’s king of sprints took the lead on the opening lap and held on to offer his new Staff Principal a victory in his debut.

Piastri obtained off to an ideal begin when the lights went out and held onto the lead, however Max Verstappen caught him at Flip 5 to take the lead, holding on over the remainder of the F1 Dash race as each Piastri and Lando Norris put growing stress on the Purple Bull driver.

Right here is the second Verstappen took the lead from Piastri:

Piastri completed second whereas Norris, who misplaced P3 for a second to Charles Leclerc, took the place again to safe third.

Verstappen’s win gave new Purple Bull Staff Principal Laurent Mekies a victory in his debut in that new position, after the staff dismissed Christian Horner from that place following the British Grand Prix.

“Yeah. It labored out very well. That’s the one actual alternative you’re going to get towards them and we obtained it into Flip 5. Then I knew it was going to be very robust to maintain them behind,” mentioned Verstappen trackside after the race. “It was simply taking part in cat and mouse, DRS, battery utilization. The entire race was inside seven tenths. I couldn’t actually afford to make huge errors. I had one tiny lock-up within the final nook however other than that it was an ideal consequence to maintain them behind and to have a win right here in Spa. After all it’s a Dash win however it nonetheless counts and I’m very pleased with what we did on the market.”

It was additionally a productive session for Haas, as each Esteban Ocon and Oliver Bearman completed within the factors. Ocon completed fifth, whereas Bearman completed in seventh, to safe six factors for the staff.

Pierre Gasly certified eighth for the F1 Dash race, however didn’t begin the race as a result of an issue along with his A525. He finally took to the observe to finish 12 laps, information that Alpine will hope to place to make use of in qualifying later at present.

However the session belonged to Verstappen, and his new boss.

“So, it’s actually early days, however thus far, he’s very eager and really motivated, and that’s precisely what you need additionally,” mentioned Verstappen about Mekies throughout the FIA Press Convention. “I obtained on very nicely with him. So, yeah, it’s been an excellent begin. And in addition with Simon [Rennie, who stepped in as Verstappen’s Race Engineer as Gianpiero Lambiase is away from the track due to a personal matter], he has a number of racing expertise already. He’s been a part of the staff for a really very long time. The previous couple of years, not anymore in a race engineer position, however he steps in and he’s instantly on it. So once more, very pleasant to work with Simon.”

Listed below are the complete outcomes from the F1 Dash race on the Belgian Grand Prix: