It\u2019s only Friday, and it\u2019s only sprint qualifying, but the tone has been set.<\/p>\n
Piastri is the man to beat, but so far he\u2019s looked unbeatable.<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n
PIT TALK PODCAST: Is the Briton in the ascendancy, or can the Aussie make a statement heading into the midseason break? Listen to Pit Talk below.<\/p>\n
PIASTRI IN DOMINANT FORM<\/p>\n
Piastri hasn\u2019t hit the ground running; he\u2019s in a full-blown sprint from the moment his feet touched the hallowed Spa-Francorchamps surface.<\/p>\n
The only moment at which the Australian has looked even remotely touchable was when he had his quickest lap in SQ2 deleted for track limits, after which he spiralled precipitously towards the knockout zone as several midfielders capitalised on improving conditions to break into the top 10.<\/p>\n
He staved off elimination by just 0.041 seconds. That was the only moment at which anyone could dream of beating him to sprint pole.<\/p>\n
In the single-lap shootout of SQ3, with just eight minutes to circulate the 7004-metre circuit, Piastri gapped the field by 0.477 seconds on his way to a new track record of 1 minute 40.510 seconds.<\/p>\n
He beat the previous best time \u2014 set by Lewis Hamilton in 2020 \u2014 by 0.742 seconds.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was a good lap,\u201d he said understatedly but clearly pleased with himself. \u201cA little scary in SQ2 with the lap deletion.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe car\u2019s been mega all day. I feel like I\u2019ve been able to put in a lot of good laps. Thanks to the team. The car\u2019s been great.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a track I love. It\u2019s my favourite one of the year. Maybe that gave me a couple of extra tenths.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s always good fun around here, and when the car\u2019s handling as good as it is today, it\u2019s better.\u201d<\/p>\n
While it\u2019s only sprint qualifying, with only more important sessions to come, it was a perfect response to the disappointment of consecutive losses to Norris in Austria and Great Britain.<\/p>\n
At both circuits he had good race pace \u2014 he was equal to Norris at the Red Bull Racing and a step ahead in Silverstone \u2014 but from both came away with his championship advantage reduced.<\/p>\n
While no points were paid out on Friday, if his sizzling form continues, it\u2019s difficult to see how he leaves Belgium without a points boost<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel like the last few weekends have been good from a pace perspective but not from a results perspective,\u201d he said. \u201cIt was nice to get a result today.\u201d<\/p>\n
Piastri pole after setting new record | 01:26<\/p>\n
NORRIS ON THE BACK FOOT AFTER PIASTRI OBLITERATION<\/p>\n
Lando Norris has worked hard to dispense with his error-prone reputation, with qualifying mistakes having played a significant role in his championship deficit to Piastri through the year.<\/p>\n
But in sprint qualifying he was obliterated by a whopping 0.618 seconds \u2014 enough for Max Verstappen to split him from his teammate.<\/p>\n
It was a significant regression, even accounting for Piastri\u2019s long-established superiority in Belgium. It was comfortably the biggest margin between them in any qualifying session all year.<\/p>\n
After 12 grands prix Norris\u2019s average qualifying deficit stood at 100.07 per cent \u2014 which is 0.053 seconds over an average 80-second lap.<\/p>\n
Normalising the lap time is important given Spa-Francorchamps is the calendar\u2019s longest circuit.<\/p>\n
But the margin is still significant even if we correct for its 7.004-kilometre distance.<\/p>\n
Norris was 100.61 per cent slower than Piastri \u2014 0.492 seconds if we normalise to 80 seconds.<\/p>\n
Piastri was the quicker McLaren driver at almost every part of the circuit.<\/p>\n
The first turn, La Source, set him up immediately, giving him a 0.14-second advantage by the end of the Kemmel straight.<\/p>\n
Norris was faster through Les Combes and Malmedy \u2014 the only place he had a marginal advantage \u2014 but his gains were immediately wiped out through Bruxelles and Speakers Corner.<\/p>\n
Piastri\u2019s keeps pulling away through the double-left Pouhon and then deals significant damage into the Fagnes chicane, Campus and Stavelot.<\/p>\n
The gap between them is already half a second on the long blast through Blanchimont, while a better run through the Bus Stop chicane blows that out to more than 0.6 seconds.<\/p>\n
There are some mitigating circumstances behind the margin.<\/p>\n
Norris had to go faster than ideal on his out-lap because Red Bull Racing tactically sent Verstappen out directly behind him to try to benefit from his slipstream. Norris had to break that tow, which resulted in less than ideal preparation of the delicate soft tyre.<\/p>\n
Piastri also will have gained a little from setting his lap last among the top three, benefiting from track evolution.<\/p>\n
But even combined these aren\u2019t enough to account for the disparity.<\/p>\n
Norris was calm about the margin, pointing out it\u2019s only the second session of the weekend. Drivers \u2014 and their points tallies \u2014 care little for sprints, with the grand prix still the main focus.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not too disappointed,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s third, it\u2019s for the sprint, so not the biggest worry.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s just Friday, so I\u2019m not too fussed. I\u2019m not the happiest of course \u2014 I would have liked to have been a bit quicker than I was today \u2014 but it\u2019s the way it is, and I just have to do some more work tonight, that\u2019s all.\u201d<\/p>\n
But there\u2019s no doubt Norris starts the weekend on the back foot and faces a halting of the momentum he seemed to be building before the mini break.<\/p>\n
VERSTAPPEN\u2019S VICTORY SHOT WITH SET-UP GAMBLE<\/p>\n
Verstappen got the Laurent Mekies era of Red Bull Racing off to a bright start, qualifying second in a car that\u2019s clearly had to adopt an extreme set-up to have any hope of being competitive.<\/p>\n
The Dutchman was around 0.1 quicker than Piastri in the first sector, which is flat out except for La Source, demonstrating how little wing Red Bull Racing is running to try to keep up with the efficient McLaren car.<\/p>\n
That set-up also paid dividends in the final sector, where Verstappen was only around 0.1 seconds slower that the pacesetter.<\/p>\n
But it meant the Dutchman could only hope for a mistake to bring him into range in the twisty middle sector, which is dominated by medium- and high-speed turns.<\/p>\n
Verstappen kept the pace daringly all the way to the exit of Pouhon, the fast downhill double left that requires only a brief lift in a modern Formula 1 car.<\/p>\n
But he was destroyed through the final part of the middle sector, with Piastri piling on almost his entire half-second advantage through the four corners comprising Fagnes, Campus and Stavelot.<\/p>\n
Spa-Francorchamps is a good technical challenge because cars can be set up in different ways to achieve similar lap time \u2014 either by being fast down the straights or fast through the corners.<\/p>\n
McLaren, however \u2014 which brought more upgrades this weekend, as did Red Bull Racing \u2014 has the best of both worlds, with a car capable of producing good downforce but without too much drag to slow it down the straights.<\/p>\n
It\u2019ll be particularly interesting to see how these car differences play out in the sprint.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Red Bulls are very quick in a straight line,\u201d Piastri noted. \u201cThat makes life difficult, and Spa is probably the worst track to have pole position at.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pole is difficult to retain at Spa because the following driver just needs a better exit from La Source to capitalise on the slipstream and enjoy a massive top speed boost down the Kemmel straight, with passes sometimes a formality into Les Combes even without DRS.<\/p>\n
Overtaking is then very difficult through the parts of the track where the McLaren is quickest.<\/p>\n
The move will have to come early, before Piastri can open too big a gap.<\/p>\n
It puts the pressure on both drivers at the start to make what could be the sprint-winning defensive or offensive move.<\/p>\n
FERRARI FLOPS AFTER UPGRADE PUSH<\/p>\n
Ferrari\u2019s first outing with its much-hyped upgraded rear suspension was mixed, to say the least.<\/p>\n
Both Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton warned that the team was unlikely to see peak benefit from the new parts this weekend, with the single hour of practice not enough time to hone the car.<\/p>\n
But even so, the result was underwhelming.<\/p>\n
Leclerc was the faster Ferrari driver, but he was a stunning 0.768 seconds slower than Piastri on his way to fourth on the grid.<\/p>\n
Hamilton didn\u2019t even make it out of SQ1, with mistakes on both laps dumping him out of qualifying in 18th.<\/p>\n
You can try to massage the numbers a little bit. Ferrari surely never truly thought it would become a McLaren match overnight, especially with the championship-leading team also bringing upgrades to this circuit.<\/p>\n
In the battle for second Leclerc was only 0.291 seconds slower than Verstappen. But then again, that\u2019s roughly on par with the team\u2019s average deficit over the course of the year when correcting for the length of the lap.<\/p>\n
It left Leclerc ambivalent about the result.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe feeling was pretty good, which is a mixed feeling,\u201d he said. \u201cOn one side, I\u2019m happy that the car feels better. On the other, even if the car feels actually pretty good, we are still 0.7 seconds off, which is a huge amount of time.<\/p>\n
\u201cI felt the changes, but the thing is that today the gap is huge. I\u2019m sure we did a step forward, but for some reason the McLaren seems to be even faster than usual around this track, so it\u2019s a bit disappointing on that side of things.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of work to be done, for sure. We just need to add grip to this car at the end of the day. I don\u2019t think we did anything particularly wrong, but we just need more grip that we don\u2019t seem to have for now.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut I think what we were searching for with those upgrades, we had it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sprint qualifying and the sprint race will undoubtedly teach Ferrari more about its upgrade package, and it wouldn\u2019t be surprising to see gains in time for grand prix qualifying.<\/p>\n
But Hamilton will start even that session on the back foot, having got little representative qualifying mileage out of his error-prone Friday.<\/p>\n
His first mistake was to run wide and onto the gravel at Stavelot. His second lap was on track to see him through to SQ2 until the final chicane, when his rear axle suddenly locked under brakes, sending him spinning into the run-off zone.<\/p>\n
\u201cFirst time, I think, in my career,\u201d Hamilton said, summing up the second incident. \u201cIt\u2019s not great. There\u2019s not really a lot to say.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Briton might take solace in the fact it\u2019s still early in the weekend, with plenty of time to rebound.<\/p>\n
But it\u2019s a disastrous start to the weekend that could have turned his and the team\u2019s year around.<\/p>\n
\u201cObviously I\u2019m massively frustrated,\u201d he said. \u201cA lot of work has gone in, and to be there is not really great, so hopefully tomorrow will be better.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Early morning fog cleared into a glorious Friday afternoon at Spa-Francorchamps in time for Oscar Piastri to put…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":22637,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[573],"tags":[2620,64,63,18503,3159,22776,22761,22487,2071,22759,22783,22786,22777,13275,22757,22768,2057,22765,817,22766,22773,22756,813,816,22781,18901,14211,22763,1737,22762,22488,21772,22780,825,18896,22775,22778,22769,22774,2119,22770,16280,13777,21749,22782,22785,22767,22772,22485,85,22784,22301,22764,18920,7663,18911,22779,22771,22291,22760,22758,2062],"class_list":["post-22636","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-formula-1","tag-agence-france-presse","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australian-driver","tag-austria","tag-average-qualifying-deficit","tag-back-foot","tag-belgian-sprint","tag-belgium","tag-car-differences","tag-championship-advantage","tag-championship-deficit","tag-championship-leader","tag-charles-leclerc","tag-dominant-form","tag-dominant-mood","tag-europe","tag-extreme-set-up","tag-f1","tag-final-chicane","tag-final-part","tag-final-sector","tag-formula-1","tag-formula1","tag-full-blown-sprint","tag-grand-prix-qualifying","tag-grands-prix","tag-ideal-preparation","tag-lando-norris","tag-lap-deletion","tag-lap-record","tag-lap-time","tag-laps-dumping","tag-max-verstappen","tag-midseason-break","tag-mini-break","tag-mitigating-circumstances","tag-morning-fog","tag-offensive-move","tag-pit-talk","tag-points-boost","tag-pole-position","tag-qualifying-session","tag-race-pace","tag-representative-qualifying-mileage","tag-results-perspective","tag-sad-career","tag-single-lap-shootout","tag-spa-record","tag-sports","tag-sprint-pole","tag-sprint-qualifying","tag-sprint-race","tag-statement-heading","tag-talking-points","tag-title-momentum","tag-title-rival","tag-track-evolution","tag-track-limits","tag-track-record","tag-untouchable-lap","tag-western-europe"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22636","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22636"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22636\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22637"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22636"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22636"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22636"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}