Piastri repeats his trick and is now even faster than Verstappen

Piastri does it again at Spa-Francorchamps

After Saturday's qualifying, Oscar Piastri's performance was already standing out. Although the Australian 'only' qualified sixth, he made a big impression in sector two. Even then, the McLaren driver was the only one able to keep up with Verstappen in the latter's fastest sector two. Whereas Verstappen took it a little easier in that sector on Saturday, Piastri is the fastest of all this time.

Piastri set the fastest second sector time of all on Saturday with 47.471. Lando Norris is number two on the list, but his rookie teammate gains almost four-tenths in just that sector (47.816). Over the entire lap, Norris ends up losing more than three-tenths. Verstappen revealed afterwards that he did not take any risks in sector two. His time, which is a lot slower than yesterday, confirms those statements: 48.169. 

The difference between Verstappen and Piastri

Telemetry Max Verstappen (white) versus Oscar Piastri (red)

Compared to Verstappen, Piastri does not make the difference at Les Combes this time. Indeed, Verstappen gains again after having already gained nicely on Kemmel Straight with more top speed. From Bruxelles (Turn 11) through to Stavelot (Turn 15), however, Piastri gains so much ground that he is virtually faster than Verstappen at that point.

At Pouhon, for instance, Verstappen slams on his brakes while Piastri stays off his brakes and eases off the gas only slightly. Also, at Campus/Stavelot, Verstappen steps on his brakes, and Piastri keeps going full speed. He takes a lot of speed in both sections, which is visible in the telemetry. In the end, Verstappen still takes pole for the sprint race as he runs away again on the final straight.

Track map Oscar Piastri (red) versus Max Verstappen (white)

Once again, the argument for a different setup from Norris doesn't stand up. Indeed, the difference in top speed is even smaller than the day before. Norris was still a kilometre per hour faster on Friday, but the gap is now just 0.3 km/h at the Speed Trap (304.8 to 304.5 km/h). With 10th and 11th placings in the Speed Trap, it will be interesting to see how this setup translates into the race.

For the second day in a row, Piastri impresses. For some time now, he has shown himself a potential world champion in the shadow of Lando Norris. So far, it has not fallen his way, but Piastri simply pulls it towards him this weekend. Doing it once at the weekend is one thing; being able to do it two days in a row is special. Norris will have seen the data from Friday but could not close the gap on Saturday. The fact that Piastri can show this in his first F1 season is impressive.