Oscar Piastri halted McLaren teammate Lando Norris’s current cost with victory in a heavily-delayed, wet-dry Belgian Grand Prix to take again momentum within the F1 2025 title battle.
Listed here are our greatest winners and losers from F1’s newest dash weekend at Spa-Francorchamps…
Winner – Oscar Piastri
After being left annoyed to have missed out on pole place in qualifying, Piastri turned in one among his most spectacular drives of the season to this point to safe his sixth win of 2025 and reclaim some much-needed momentum.
Piastri had been defeated by Norris on the final two occasions and was decided to not make it a 3rd. The Australian overtook Norris on the first try when the rain delayed race obtained underway on Lap 5, bravely blasting previous off-line within the spray alongside the Kemmel Straight with a decisive transfer.
From there, Piastri managed proceedings and pulled away from Norris to attain an vital victory which strikes him 16 factors clear on the earth championship.
Oscar Piastri
Loser – Kimi Antonelli
A brutal weekend for younger Kimi Antonelli. Having spun out of SQ1, the 18-year-old may solely end fifteenth within the dash race earlier than struggling one other early elimination in common qualifying, leaving him near tears.
Antonelli will not be having a great time in F1 for the time being, and is missing confidence behind the wheel of his Mercedes automobile. This was underlined by a troublesome grand prix through which he may solely take sixteenth.
Winner – Charles Leclerc
Charles Leclerc thrived in his upgraded Ferrari to say his fifth podium of 2025.
After taking fourth in dash qualifying and the shortened race, Leclerc improved to 3rd in Saturday’s common qualifying as he pipped Max Verstappen by simply 0.003s with an outstanding lap in Q3.
The Monegasque impressively transformed that into the ultimate spot on the rostrum by holding off Verstappen’s Pink Bull all through the 44-lap race at Spa, extracting the utmost doable end result for Ferrari.
Charles Leclerc
Loser – Lewis Hamilton
There couldn’t have been a starker distinction between the Ferrari drivers in Belgium.
Though Hamilton produced a formidable cost from the pitlane to salvage seventh in Sunday’s grand prix, it was in any other case a weekend to neglect for the seven-time world champion.
Whereas Leclerc shined, Hamilton did not progress from the primary stage of qualifying twice in two days, and took the blame for the observe limits violation which left him solely sixteenth and eradicated in Q1 on Saturday.
Hamilton considerably saved his blushes together with his aggressive restoration on Sunday, however we will’t overlook the struggles which plagued the remainder of what was in the end a nightmare weekend.
Winner – Max Verstappen and Pink Bull
Verstappen kicked off Pink Bull’s post-Christian Horner period within the good approach with a superb victory to beat Piastri within the Belgium dash race after splitting the McLarens in dash qualifying.
Whereas he will probably be annoyed to have been pipped to 3rd in qualifying, and been unable to discover a well past Leclerc to achieve the rostrum, it was a greater displaying from Pink Bull in each moist and dry circumstances at Spa.
For Pink Bull, an improve package deal yielded positive aspects each when it comes to efficiency and serving to remedy stability points, whereas Yuki Tsunoda appeared to show a nook – regardless of lacking out on factors within the grand prix – underneath the brand new management of Laurent Mekies.
Max Verstappen
Loser – Lando Norris
Norris let a chance to nearly erode Piastri’s championship lead slip by way of his fingers at Spa as he missed out on a hat-trick of wins that would have turned the tide within the F1 2025 title battle.
The Briton’s excellent pole lap was undone by being caught out by Piastri on the primary lap, earlier than he then harm his personal probabilities of a fightback with sloppy errors which price him essential lap time. This was a missed alternative for Norris.
Winner – Alex Albon
Alex Albon extracted all the things out of his upgraded Williams to say a surprising fifth on the grid – forward of George Russell’s Mercedes – in qualifying, which paved the best way for his wonderful end result on Sunday.
Regardless of dropping out to Russell early on within the race, Albon secured a robust sixth place with a robust and mistake-free drive which was capped off by resisting heavy strain from Hamilton’s Ferrari.
Loser – Carlos Sainz
It was a story of contrasting fortunes at Williams, with Carlos Sainz’s weekend ending on a disappointing notice. After taking a robust sixth within the dash race, issues went drastically downhill for Sainz, who may solely qualify fifteenth for the grand prix, and went on to complete a lowly 18th.
Winner – Gabriel Bortoleto
After watching teammate Nico Hulkenberg seize the headlines together with his beautiful podium end at Silverstone, it was Gabriel Bortoleto’s flip to take the limelight at Sauber in Belgium.
The Brazilian reached Q3 for the second time this season with an eye catching efficiency in qualifying, earlier than pulling off a faultless drive to ninth and his second factors end in F1.
Loser – Franco Colapinto
Franco Colapinto
On a weekend teammate Pierre Gasly as soon as once more put in a formidable efficiency to attain factors, it was one other disappointing displaying from Franco Colapinto.
The under-pressure Argentine was within the backside 5 in each qualifying periods at Spa and his struggles continued in each the dash race and fundamental grand prix, the place he laboured house to nineteenth place.
