Oscar Piastri: Good starting position for the Belgian GP despite technical issues

For Oscar Piastri, the start to the weekend at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps proved more difficult than expected. Towards the end of the first free practice session, the McLaren team discovered a hydraulic leak, which kept the Woking-based team busy during the break before the second session. The Australian got off to a late start in the second practice session; having completed 21 laps in the first session, he managed a further eleven laps on the historic circuit. He finished the day in sixth place.

Afterwards, Piastri summed it up: “The day went quite well. Unfortunately, the start of the second practice session was delayed because the team was working to fix the cause of the hydraulic leak that had occurred towards the end of the first session. The team deserves a big thank you for all the hard work they put in.”

“We were able to make good progress in the second practice session despite the limited track time, and we showed decent pace. We’re on the right track and in a good position to make further progress ahead of the third practice session and qualifying,” added the Melbourne-born driver.

Technical Director Neil Houldey also confirmed: “We’re quite pleased with the pace shown today and feel that we’re in a slightly better position compared to the usual status quo of recent race weekends. Lando Norris has done an excellent job and got the most out of the car; he seems happy with the set-up for Saturday.”

“However, the day didn’t go entirely smoothly for us. The hydraulic issue that occurred on Oscar’s car at the end of the first free practice session unfortunately cost him valuable track time in the second free practice, as the team continued to work on it during the second session after replacing the gearbox. The team worked very hard to complete the necessary work as quickly as possible – many thanks to everyone,” added the Briton.

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Spa-Francorchamps: Qualifying

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18.07.2026 - 15:30