Oscar Piastri is heading into Formula One's summer break confident his McLaren team are making inroads after another podium finish.
The 23-year-old Australian was promoted to second after finishing third behind Mercedes pair George Russell and Lewis Hamilton in the Belgian Grand Prix on Sunday.
Russell was disqualified hours after the race for having an underweight car, with Hamilton handed the win - a record-extending 105th of his career.
Piastri gave his reaction to his post-race promotion on social media: "Well that was unexpected but we'll take it," he posted on X.
The second placing came after Piastri claimed his maiden grand prix victory in Hungary a week earlier in a McLaren 1-2 finish with teammate Lando Norris.
After 14 of the season's 24 races, he sits fourth on the driver standings on 167 points, behind Red Bull's Max Verstappen (277), Norris (199) and Ferrari's Charles Leclerc (177).
Piastri said he felt hopeful of catching Russell and Hamilton as he progressed after starting from fifth on the grid in Sunday's race before finishing 1.173s behind.
He got past Norris early and overtook Sergio Perez and Leclerc before targeting the Mercedes frontrunners.
"Honestly yes, I thought I could (get them)," said Piastri.
"Clean air was such a big difference today - once I got a little bit of clean air in the middle stint I picked up a lot of pace."
Asked what he was lacking to prevent a win, Piastri said: "I think just not quite enough speed, it took me a couple of laps to get past Charles and I really overheated the tyres doing that."
Formula One now takes a rest before the Dutch Grand Prix from August 23-25.
"It's been a really good couple of weeks for myself and the whole team of course – a lot of points," Piastri said. "We still made inroads on Red Bull today and that's a really positive thing going into the break.
"I think everyone's looking forward to a bit of a break - I know I am so I can heal up a little bit – but it's been a fun couple of weeks and (I'm) looking forward to some time relaxing and coming back stronger in the second half."
Norris ruined his race when he ran wide in the first corner and put two wheels into the gravel, dropping to seventh spot.
He spent the second half stuck behind championship leader Verstappen who had climbed to 11th after an engine penalty. The Dutchman took fourth place with Norris fifth.
"I just tried to avoid any contact with the people on the inside and I misjudged the kerb," said Norris.
"Then I bottomed out on the kerb and I went off, so I felt a bit stupid honestly, almost embarrassing – it actually was embarrassing."
