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Max Verstappen relished the opportunity of going up against ‘fresh blood’ in Oscar Piastri for the first time as the Australian maintained his upward curve in Formula 1.
McLaren driver Piastri finished a superb runner-up to Verstappen in the Belgian sprint, capping his best day in F1 to date after missing out on pole position to the two-time F1 champion by just 0.011s in the shootout.
Following a safety car start due to heavy rainfall prior to the 15-lap race, McLaren immediately brought in Piastri for a change from full-wet tyres to intermediates, whilst Verstappen remained on track.
Piastri then leapfrogged Verstappen once the Dutchman made his stop and initially managed to hold off the Red Bull before the safety car returned after Fernando Alonso spun off at Pouhon and into the gravel.
Once the race resumed, however, Verstappen comfortably breezed past Piastri out of Raidillon and onto the Kemmel Straight, going on to beat the 22-year-old by six seconds.
Assessing the challenges from what was effectively another easy victory, Verstappen said: “I just think to make the call when to pit. I said to the team, I know we can pit straight away.
“But it’s very risky in case of having all the cars come in as well, who would then pit behind me, and then, of course, you have to hold your car.
“Or (there might be) a safety car on lap one, you never know. That can happen quite often in these kinds of conditions.
“So we just took the safer option to at least do one lap. Maybe there would be a safety car and you’re unlucky. There wasn’t a safety car so I knew I would lose out because the extreme tyres are a lot slower around here than an inter.
“We did the pit stop, I had a little wait as well for the Ferrari, and I came out behind Oscar. Then, of course, I knew I had to get by him at some point. I could see that within two laps he was already struggling a lot more with the tyres.”
Asked as to the feeling of racing ‘someone new, some fresh blood’ in Piastri, turning to the Australian, Verstappen said: “First time?”
After Piastri nodded, Verstappen then said: “It’s always good. I’ve been in that position as well, where the younger guy comes in.
“It’s nice, and it’s great, too. Oscar is having a very strong season, in general, but I also think this weekend he has been really on it.
“It’s always nice, for the first time, to basically race.”
For Sunday’s grand prix, Verstappen will start from sixth on the grid after taking a five-place penalty for a gearbox change beyond the allotted number allowed for a season.
After winning from 14th last season, the expectation is Verstappen will again sail past those in front of him in polesitter Charles Leclerc in his Ferrari, Red Bull team-mate Sergio Perez, Lewis Hamilton in his Mercedes, the second Ferrari of Carlos Sainz, and again Piastri, who starts fifth.
With the RB19 on another level and Verstappen’s confidence soaring after a run of eight consecutive wins – six grands prix and two sprints.
“We already knew over one lap we were not bad anyway, but also in the (sprint) race it seemed like we were quite good in keeping the tyres alive,” said Verstappen.
“Hopefully, we can do the same (in the grand prix) if it’s dry. Of course, I’m starting a bit further back.
“I need to be careful to not have any damage on the car, and as long as I have a clean lap one, from there onwards, we can move forwards.”
