In hindsight, Oscar Piastri’s wry smile was indicative of the events that followed. Sitting on pole for Saturday’s sprint race, the Australian was powerless to stop Max Verstappen storming past him on the first racing lap.

F1 world championship leader Oscar Piastri extends his title lead over Lando Norris to 16 points with his sixth win of the season; Charles Leclerc beats Max Verstappen to third, as Lewis Hamilton recovers from 18th to seventh;

Max Verstappen and Lando Norris were in opposition to one another before Sunday's Belgian Grand Prix was even allowed to get underway due to safety concerns over the rain

He won in Australia at the start of the season when it hammered down. He won at Silverstone last time out when it also poured with rain. Now Lando Norris is hoping to make it a hat-trick of wet weather wins for the year after claiming pole position at a Spa circuit which is braced for its traditional race-day monsoon.

Oscar Piastri won a rain-affected Belgian Grand Prix to extend his lead at the top of the drivers’ standings to 16 points over McLaren teammate Lando Norris, who finished second after starting on pole.

Lando Norris said he had not lost any confidence in his ability to outpace McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri after he bounced back on Saturday to claim pole position for the Belgian Grand Prix.

Red Bull driver Max Verstappen shockingly managed to split the two McLaren drivers during the sprint race qualifying for the Belgium Grand Prix