Oscar Piastri suffered the highs and the lows of Formula 1 at Spa Francorchamps over a weekend that will forever be remembered as his first FIA Formula 1 World Championship podium finish.  
 
In what has been a solid month for the Victorian and the McLaren team, Piastri qualified in an impressive sixth place for Sunday’s main race before having a memorable Saturday at one of the world's most popular circuits.  
 
The 22-year-old came out firing in the Sprint Shootout session earlier on in the day, taking advantage of the wet conditions that heavily favoured his McLaren’s high-downforce setup – ultimately putting in a stellar lap to qualify on the front row, only 11-hundredths of a second behind championship leader, Max Verstappen.  
 
A smart strategy, excellent driving and impressive tyre management from Piastri in the afternoon’s Sprint Race saw enjoy the lead throughout, making him the first rookie driver to lead a Formula 1 race since 2013 in the process, before eventually crossing the line in second place behind only Verstappen and with his first career podium.  

 
Unfortunately, the celebrations were premature as the McLaren rookie was forced into an early summer break after being squeezed into the wall at turn one on Sunday's main race by Carlos Sainz – ending his weekend on the opening lap as a result.  
 
After a season-best 10th place finish in the Sprint Race on Saturday, Daniel Ricciardo was unable to work his way back through the grid on Sunday and had to settle for 16th place. 

The fan-favourite was bound to make it through the first qualifying session on Friday for the second race weekend in a row before a deleted lap time shot him to the back of the grid for Sunday's race.   


In what was still a fabulous drive from the West Australian, he will have to wait that little bit longer for his first points finish of the year. 
 
Another driver enjoying a solid run of form was Jack Doohan, with the Alpine Academy driver charging to a second consecutive FIA Formula 2 World Championship feature race win after starting from 11th on the grid.  
 
In what was a dramatic start to the race, Doohan avoided the chaos to move up into ninth through the first safety car intervention, then opting to go the long run on a set of soft tyres.  
 
Come lap 17, Doohan massively benefited from another safety car intervention after being the only driver in the top 10 not to have made his mandatory pit stop – coming out of the pits in second place behind Theo Pourchaire on fresher tyres for a final push to the flag.  

After a patient display of racing, Doohan would ultimately make the move on Pourchaire for the race lead with just two laps to go to then cruise to what was his second feature race win in a row.  
 
Doohan wasn’t the only Australian at Spa Francorchamps who would charge through the grid for a podium appearance - a tyre gamble for Christian Mansell paying off in the FIA Formula 3 Championship. 
 
Opting to start the race on wet tyres in 23rd place, Mansell flew past the dry-tyre runners to find himself in an incredible fifth place by the end of the first lap alone.  
 
His charge to the front of the grid continued throughout the race, finding himself in second before battling for the race lead with Taylor Barnard in the dying stages.  
 
Mansell would make a move for the lead but contact between the two forced Mansell to take the escape road and settle for second place.  


Despite missing out on the race win, this was his best result of the season after a disappointing 19th place finish in the weekend's opening race.  
 
Hugh Barter also showed some promise across the weekend with a sixth-place finish in race one before falling to 22nd in the second outing, while Tommy Smith finished in 24th and 18th respectively.  
 
Harri Jones has continued his impressive rookie year in the premier Porsche Supercup category with another seventh place finish.  
 
The result would also ensure Jones walks away with second place among the rookie runners, an impressive feat considering a handful of small mistakes he made throughout the weekend.  
 
All four categories will now enter their summer break before kicking off the second half of the season at the Formula 1 Heineken Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort on 25-27 August.