The McLaren driver started Saturday’s sprint from the front of the grid, but his hopes of converting pole into victory were dashed when Max Verstappen used the slipstream down the Kemmel Straight to take the lead on the opening lap.
Despite running within a second of Verstappen for the entire 15-lap sprint, Piastri was unable to retake the position, with McLaren’s higher-downforce setup — designed to improve cornering speed — leaving him exposed on the straights, even with DRS assistance.
“Spa’s probably one of the worst places to have pole position! It is what it is,” Piastri admitted after the sprint. “I tried my best to snake my way through the straights and not give too much of a tow. But I didn’t have enough straight-line speed and then obviously didn’t have enough straight-line speed for the next 15 laps either.”
Piastri qualified second for Sunday’s race, just behind teammate Lando Norris, and quipped that the result may work in his favour.
“After the sprint I was aiming for P2,” he joked. “I don’t know what the weather will hold tomorrow, I think it’s going to be quite different,” before responding with a hopeful “I hope so” when asked if he could pull off the same move Verstappen made on him during the sprint.
Piastri’s comments are supported by the stats: only 35% of Belgian GP winners have started from pole position, with Spa-Francorchamps notorious for its long straights and challenging corners, where track position is crucial but doesn’t always guarantee victory.
McLaren team principal Andrea Stella echoed Piastri’s sentiment, noting how vulnerable the leader can be on Spa’s long flat-out sections.
“It’s actually quite difficult in Spa, not necessarily you want to be the first car leading in corner one and then having to stay full throttle for 17 seconds,” Stella explained. “You become a bit exposed to the car behind.”
He added that Piastri struggled to fight back not only due to Red Bull’s straight-line advantage, but also because the McLaren couldn’t stay close enough through the technical second sector.
“This is a bit of a peculiarity of the maturity that this cars have achieved from an aerodynamic point of view. Now the slipstream effect starts to be important.”
Looking ahead to Sunday, Stella said race strategy and tyre degradation would add new layers to the contest.
“At times during the sprint I actually thought what is the best position. We want to qualify P1 & P2 certainly. It won’t be easy, but we will try,” he said.
“I think in the race also we have to remember that there are more options from a strategic point of view. Tyre degradation will be more important, so definitely we are here to try and win this race.”
With changing weather and tight competition, Piastri’s belief that second might be the better starting spot adds a fascinating twist ahead of Sunday’s showdown at Spa.
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