Max Verstappen won an entertaining sprint race in Belgium, but had to pass rising Australian star Oscar Piastri to maintain his all-conquering run.

The double world champion's victory in drying conditions at a previously rain-splattered Spa extended his title advantage to 118 points. McLaren's Piastri finished second with Pierre Gasly third for crisis-hit Alpine.

The race was delayed by 30 minutes as a result of inclement weather – on top of the 35-minute delay imposed when the sprint qualifying had being postponed earlier.

The safety car led the formation lap – or, more accurately and more absurdly, five 'formation' laps. The intention was to clear the spray, which rather implied that wet weather running is not in vogue, at least at a track as dangerous as Spa.

To add to the absurdity both Verstappen and George Russell were calling for intermediate tyres even before the safety car withdrew. Yet, still, the race did not begin in earnest.

When it did so, albeit with a rolling start, half the field peeled in to be reshod on intermediates as soon as possible. Verstappen, from pole, didn't. He couldn't really afford to gamble given his track position.

Piastri, who started second, was one of those who did. It gave the 22-year-old rookie the lead when Verstappen came in a lap later – a margin of 1.5seconds on the Dutchman's re-emergence.

There were manic scenes in the pit straight as cars tumbled in. Red Bull released Verstappen right on the tail of McLaren's Lando Norris, who finished sixth, an accident just avoided.

Fernando Alonso pranged his Aston Martin on his 42nd birthday during lap three at left-hander Turn 11 and revolved into the pebbles. The safety car came out again. 

With the formation laps having eaten into the race duration, reducing the contest from a 15-lap contest to an 11-lap one, any further incursion was particularly unwelcome.

After a two-lap hiatus, the action resumed. Piastro's mettle was immediately tested by Verstappen's onslaught on the restart. The championship leader tracked his prey up Eau Rouge and blasted past coming on to the Kemmel Straight.

Fighting for fourth, Hamilton went toe-to-toe with Red Bull's Sergio Perez. The two touched. Hamilton seemed to move in on the Mexican, who later retired with the damage, before making the move stick on the outside of La Source.

Hamilton was handed a five-second penalty for his indiscretion. That relegated him from fourth to seventh. Mercedes team-mate Russell finished eighth, one-tenth back. Daniel Ricciardo finished 10th to maintain his good early form for AlphaTauri, narrowly missing out on a point.