Belgian GP Race Report
The Belgian GP saw Oscar Piastri take a crucial step towards beating his McLaren team mate Lando Norris to the 2025 World Championship as their intense battle continued.
However the weekend was dominated by off-track news centred on Red Bull Racing. Spa was the first race since the sacking of team principal Christian Horner a couple of weeks earlier, and thus the first without him on site for some 21 years.
New boss Laurent Mekies slipped quietly into his new role having moved sideways from the sister Racing Bulls camp, while the man who ultimately made the call – Red Bull’s boss Oliver Minztlaff – came along to see how it all worked out.
Meanwhile there was a huge focus on Max Verstappen, who has been linked with a move to Mercedes.
However as the weekend went on it became apparent that the Dutchman will stay put for 2026 after all, while leaving himself the flexibility to potentially move on in 2027 having seen who has the best package under the new rules.
On track Red Bull was a supporting act to McLaren, although Verstappen had a surprise starring role in the sprint. Some updates appeared to improve the car, and Verstappen managed to qualify second for the sprint, behind Piastri.
He was able to draft his way past on the first lap and stay there for the duration to give Mekies his first win as boss.
However with rain forecast for Sunday’s GP he added downforce and could only qualify fourth – and with the wet conditions last for only a few laps in the race he stayed there for the duration. What the result did was ensure he will be in the top three at mid-season, and thus the contract clause that would have allowed him to walk won’t be triggered.
A low-key run to fourth wasn’t what the many Dutch fans wanted to see, and it’s now also clear that any hopes that there might have been a couple of races ago that Verstappen could somehow stay in the title fight have now faded.
It’s all about Piastri v Norris, and after the massive frustration of the penalty that created a 14-point swing between the pair at Silverstone the Aussie fought back on style. He gained a point by finishing ahead of Norris as they took second and third in the sprint, but then narrowly lost pole for the main event as Norris had the edge.
Second is not a bad place to start at Spa, and as Verstappen proved in the sprint there’s always a good chance to draft past on the long run up the straight on the first lap. When action finally got underway after a long delay and four laps of safety car running on a wet by drying track Piastri pulled off a great move to get by.
The change from intermediates to slicks gave Norris a glimmer of hope. Piastri stopped first and like everyone else in the field, took mediums – Norris came in a lap later and was given the option of taking the more durable hard tyres, and thus the possibility that he could outrace and pass his team mate.
In the end a couple of mistakes cost him momentum, while Piastri drove brilliantly to keep his tyres alive and hang on in front.
With 13 of 24 races down there’s still a long way to go, but Piastri is starting to stake his claim for the title with his lead now at 16 points.
Spa proved to be a solid weekend for Ferrari. Suspension updates appeared to improve the SF-25, and having started and finished fourth in the sprint Charles Leclerc ran third throughout the Grand Prix, He not only held off Verstappen, but he was also within a respectable 20 seconds of the winner at the flag. Still not good enough, but at least it was his fifth podium of the season.
Lewis Hamilton had a poor start to the weekend as he came to terms with new parts. Like others he added downforce for the predicted wet race, and some early overtaking moves and an early switch to slicks propelled him from an initial 18th to seventh at the flag. Is he starting to get accustomed to the Ferrari, or was it another false dawn? Only time will tell.
Mercedes had a lacklustre weekend with the fourth fastest car. It wasn’t even that good in the sprint, when George Russell could manage only 12th, but the Englishman qualified P6 for the main race and had a solid run to fifth. Kimi Antonelli had another difficult weekend, the rookie failing to score in either race. Both men could at least take some comfort from the fact that they now appear to be secure for 2026, with Verstappen seemingly staying put.
Meanwhile the team’s reserve driver Valtteri Bottas appeared to have already agreed a deal with Cadillac for 2026, although there’s been no sign of an announcement.
An update helped to give Williams a boost after recent frustrations, and P6 for Alex Albon in the Grand Prix and the same position for Carlos Sainz in the sprint provided welcome points that helped to consolidate the team’s fifth place in the championship after a run of good scores for chasing rivals.
With Mekies gone Racing Bulls enjoyed its first race under newly promoted boss Alan Permane. Liam Lawson had a solid run to eighth in the GP, while Isack Hadjar was again a star in qualifying and should have made the point, but fell down the order with car issues.
Sauber’s run of points scores continued, showing that the team has made a genuine step forward as the Audi era gets ever closer. This time it was rookie Gabriel Bortoleto who led the way, qualifying in the top 10 for both the sprint and main race, and finishing ninth in the latter. Silverstone star Nico Hulkenberg had to settle for 12th after an extra tyre stop dropped him back.
One of the best drives of the main race came from Pierre Gasly, who hung onto P10 for Alpine with a queue of cars behind him after an early stop for slicks gave him a boost. Lacklustre team mate Franco Colapinto was again way off Gasly, and his future must be in question.
Haas enjoyed a decent weekend with points for both Esteban Ocon and Ollie Bearman in the sprint, although both men had issues in the main race, and didn’t make the top 10.
It was a disastrous weekend for Aston Martin, with Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll well off the pace. A move to an older spec floor to cope with ride height issues associated with the compression at Eau Rouge clearly didn’t pay off, and they struggled throughout.
Action now moves to Hungary, where the tight and slow nature means downforce is piled on and the formbook could look a little different compared to Belgium.
