McLaren Dominates Practice, Sprint Qualifying Session Of Belgian Grand Prix

After a two-week break, F1 drivers returned to the grid, and the McLaren duo is back in the business of dominating the track, with Oscar Piastri leading both the practice session and the Sprint qualifying session of the Belgian Grand Prix. 

Initially, the McLaren pair were leading the pack until Max Verstappen jumped in between them to finish in second place behind Piastri, who led the practice session in pole. While Lando Norris was third, Pierre Gasly made his finest front row appearance in sixth, and Lewis Hamilton was seventh. 

The Sprint Qualifying session was dramatic for Ferrari as Hamilton failed to finish in the top 10 following a mishap at Turn 18, where he spun over the curb and a yellow fag was deployed. Kimi Antonelli was another incidental driver as he ran into the gravel and could not finish the lap of SQ1. 

Piastri narrowly escaped elimination in SQ2 for finishing in 10th while Norris poleed. George Russell struggled in this session, despite making efforts to finish out of the top 10, and he dropped out in SQ2. With the F1 Championship leader barely making the list, there were many upsets in the final sector, among which was Gasly in P5, but he later dropped to P7 as Norris improved from P11 to lead in P1. 

The Australian driver, Piastri, regained his pace in SQ3 and was dominant, leading the session by four-tenths of a second (1:40.510s) earlier than Verstappen, who split the McLaren duo with Norris finishing in third. Ferrari's Charles Leclerc finished in fourth, and Esteban Ocon made the top five in fifth