F1 News: Oscar Piastri Shows Champion Pace In Successful Sprint - "A Day I Won't Forget"

It's P2 for the McLaren driver after a mega showing of skill at Spa.

The young rookie McLaren driver Oscar Piastri led his first race today at the Belgian Grand Prix after a wet start saw half the grid pit for intermediates immediately. While he was eventually overtaken by the dominant Max Verstappen, the Australian driver was excited to show the world of F1 what he is capable of - pace of a future champion.

With rain covering the Spa track, but a dry racing line starting to appear after a number of laps behind a safety car, it was no surprise to see ten of the twenty cars pit for intermediates. Piastri was the first to come in, starting in P2 with the Red Bull driver opting to continue on full wets for a single lap.

Once Verstappen's RB19 was fitted with inters, he quickly made short work of the McLaren after a brief safety car appearance. But despite this, Piastri was proud of the accomplishment he made on just the 12th F1 race of his career. 

"Very, very happy," he said in a post-race interview with Naomi Schiff. "We tried our best. We boxed when the safety car came in. Led a few laps tried my best...

"But yeah, we were no match for max. Nice to be up there in P2 I think apart from Max our pace was really strong. So full credit to the team again. 

"The last three weekends we've had, it's been pretty special compared to where we have been so I can't thank them enough for the car. 

"We're still going a little bit of work to do clearly to get right to the top but, it's a lot nicer to be up there. So my first laps was a day I won't forget."

Piastri's papaya racing car quickly lost grip in its tyres as they struggled with overheating, and this quickly led to Verstappen dispatching the 22 year old. 

"I thought the safety car was going to be in my favour - meant less laps to try and hold him behind. But I looked out of turn 1 and I feel like I got a decent restart. I looked at the top of Eau Rouge and he was basically on top of me already so yeah, I couldn't keep him behind on the straight.

"Clearly we have a little bit more work to do but I'm very happy to get the good points. First. I would say podium but I don't really know what this is. 

"So first, top three and sort of race. Say I'll enjoy it and hopefully we can have a good race tomorrow."

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