.png){kind=small}
An incredibly rainy Belgian Grand Prix is in the books for the 2025 season, and what a race it was. After a delayed start due to heavy rain, the action around Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps was nothing short of thrilling.
In the end, it was Oscar Piastri who took the win after a stellar overtake on his teammate Lando Norris on the opening lap. The McLarens were miles ahead of the field once again, getting yet another 1-2 finish. But it was the third spot on the podium that proved to be a bigger challenge. In the end, it was Charles Leclerc who completed the top three, getting his fifth podium of the season.
For all the details, here is our full race report:
Pre-Race
Prior to the start of the race, it was announced that Lewis Hamilton, Kimi Antonelli, Fernando Alonso and Carlos Sainz would be taking a pitlane start. Hamilton, Antonelli and Alonso were eliminated in Q1of qualifying yesterday, and all opted to take new power unit components. Sainz made changes to his car setup between qualifying and the race start.
The Belgian Grand Prix was also the first time that Pirelli opted to try something new with race tire options. Instead of bringing three consecutive compounds, they opted to bring the C4 and C3 and skip a step, going to the C1 as the hardest option. This was intended to open up more strategic options for teams, but the weather threw a very Belgium-esque wrench into things. Rain started really coming down around the race start, forcing everyone to start on intermediates and throwing any initial slick-based strategies out the window.
Race Start
With the rain coming down as much as it was, the initial formation lap was done under a safety car. The weather, however, proved to be too much for safe racing conditions and the race start was delayed as an even heavier downpour rolled in.
Around 4pm local time the sun finally broke through, and one hour and 20 minutes after the original start time, cars set off for four grueling laps behind the safety car to assess track conditions. And with the visibility much better this time around and the track drying quickly, we got back to racing under a rolling start.
Despite controlling the pace of the start, Norris could not hang on, and Piastri took over the lead by turn five of the first racing lap.
Race
Behind the two McLarens sprint winner Max Verstappen stayed tight behind Leclerc, keeping him under significant pressure for several laps. The two came to many close calls, with Verstappen attacking and Leclerc defending expertly to maintain position.
Further back, the other Ferrari of Hamilton picked his way through the backmarkers, climbing his way up from P18 to P13 by lap 10. Hamilton led the charge into the pit for slick tires of lap 12, a decision that proved to be the right call as the field responded instantly and followed suit. After the first round of tire changes, Hamilton was sitting comfortably in P7.
Interestingly, while most of the field chose to go on mediums, Norris dived into the pits on the 14th lap for a set of hard tires. The team’s thought process was that this would allow him to go for a long stint to the end of the race, while everyone else would need to pit once more. Yet just a few laps later, Norris’s engineer came on radio to let him know that both McLarens will try to last the race without making another pit stop.
With Piastri on mediums, he was expected to do some tire management, giving Norris an opportunity to take back the lead. Piastri himself expressed concern about the call, already feeling the degradation on his tires halfway through the race.
Further back in the field, it was a mixed bag of experiences. Isack Hadjar, who got into Q3 on Saturday, struggled after a late pit stop for slicks and tumbled to the very back of the pack. He was overtaken by both Sainz and Lance Stroll, who seemed to be having a much better time today than yesterday, as he made headway through the field to pass Franco Colapinto a few laps later.
A DRS train formed in the midfield, trapping Pierre Gasly, Yuki Tsunoda, Oliver Bearman, Alonso and Antonelli in a line-up. Antonelli was the only one who broke through, passing Alonso after several laps of fighting.
As the lap numbers ticked by, the order in the front had yet to change. Leclerc suffered a bad front lock-up allowing Verstappen to close the gap between them.
Checkered Flag
In the end, the medium tires held on across the field. Piastri seized his sixth victory of the 2025 season, adding another win to his record and extending his lead over Norris in the Drivers Championship. After a snap on the penultimate lap, Norris finished a solid second, and took his first podium in Belgium. And despite some last minute trouble, Leclerc managed to maintain the lead over Verstappen to complete the podium.
The full race results can be found below:
%20(1).webp)
.webp)
.webp)
