Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, Sunday, 28 July

Hear from McLaren Formula 1 drivers Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris, as well as Team Principal Andrea Stella, after the Belgian Grand Prix.

As it happened

• Oscar gains fourth at the start as Lando drops to seventh, running wide out of La Source
• Lando dusts himself down and starts to chase down Sainz, but the Ferrari driver holds on to sixth as Verstappen emerges in their rear-view mirror 
• Oscar enters a three-way fight with Perez and Russell for third, but all three retain their positions 
• Oscar switches to the Hard tyres on Lap 11 and comes out in ninth, which becomes fourth when those ahead of him pit. Lando extends his stint and follows four laps later, taking on the Hards and rejoining in seventh
• Lando and Oscar box for a second time on Laps 29 and 30 and return in fourth and sixth  
• Oscar overtakes Leclerc at the chicane to move into the podium places and begins to hunt down Hamilton and Russell, who are battling over the lead 
• Oscar runs out of laps, crossing the Chequered Flag in third for his fourth podium of 2024. Lando, meanwhile, retains fifth at the flag
• Russell is disqualified after the race and Oscar and Lando are promoted to P2 and P5, respectively

Started	5th [due to Verstappen's penalty]
Finished	2nd [due to Russell’s disqualification]
Fastest Lap	1m45.840s on Lap 32 (+1.139s, 3rd)
Pit stops	2, Lap 11 [Medium/Hard] (2.0s) and Lap 30 [Hard/Hard] (4.4s)

“I’m happy with the result. I think we managed the race very well and I don’t think we could have done much more today. We did a lot of things right and gave ourselves the best opportunities, but in the end, it wasn’t quite enough.  

“It’s been a really good couple of weeks for myself and the whole team. We’ve scored a lot of points and made inroads again today into Red Bull’s lead at the top of the Constructors’ Championship. That’s a big positive going into the summer break. I think everyone’s looking forward to it – I know I am – and having a chance to relax before coming back stronger in the second half.” 

Started	4th [due to Verstappen’s penalty]
Finished	5th [due to Russell’s disqualification]
Fastest Lap	1m45.563s on Lap 31 (+0.862s, 2nd)
Pit stops	2, Lap 15 [Medium/Hard] (2.4s) and Lap 29 [Hard/Hard] (2.4s)

“A disappointing race today. I went off in Turn 1 and it cost me a good position, which was difficult to recover with the lack of overtaking opportunities. The pace of the car was good, and the team have done a great job so far this season. We’ll go into the break, reset, and come back stronger to fight at the front in Zandvoort next month.” 

“We close the first part of the season with another tight and great race for Formula 1, with multiple cars in contention for the victory until the last lap. Today, tyre degradation was lower than projected, and overtaking was more difficult than anticipated, which made the race interesting in terms of an option for a one-stop strategy. 

“For us, with the positions we lost at the start with Lando, and the fact that we didn't qualify ahead on the grid yesterday, it was always going to be a bit difficult to recover.  

“Oscar drove a very determined race. I think it’s quite impressive that he managed to be there at the end. The race was very clean, except for the last stop where he was long in the pit box, and we lost time. For Lando, it was even more difficult to recover, because he was in traffic for most of the race, and even if we stretched the first stint, there wasn’t much to gain in having fresher tyres for the following part of the race.  

“Overall, a very strong first part of the season for McLaren. We are even closer to the top in terms of Constructors’ Championship, and we look forward to the second part of the season.”