Piastri wins from Norris in a delayed Belgian Grand Prix

Meghana Sree
Jul 27
8 min read

Written by Meghana Sree

Oscar Piastri sailed past Lando Norris to take a commanding sixth victory of 2025 in a delayed Belgian Grand Prix. McLaren's third straight 1-2 was joined by Charles Leclerc in third after a race-long defence against Max Verstappen.

Oscar Piastri win Belgian Grand Prix — Oscar Piastri extends his championship lead to 16 points | Credit: Formula One

After a quick mid-July break, Formula One heads to Belgium, resuming the European leg of the 2025 season. We return to Spa-Francorchamps, the circuit of famed corners like Raidillon and Eau Rouge, wrapped around the lush Ardennes hills and ready to provide another unforgettable Grand Prix.

Following a dry Sprint won by Max Verstappen, race day turned out to be a much wetter affair. With dark clouds looming over the longest circuit on the 2025 calendar, a Spa wet-weather classic was on the cards once more. The grid was headed by Lando Norris on pole, Oscar Piastri ready to seize the lead just behind him and Charles Leclerc lining up third.

The only change to this top three was made by a decisive move from Piastri on Norris just as the race commenced with a rolling start, promoting the Australian driver to the race lead and the eventual win.

After having to wait for it, here's how the Belgian Grand Prix played out in 2025.

Race Report

The pit lane was packed even before the delayed start, with Lewis Hamilton, Fernando Alonso, Kimi Antonelli and Carlos Sainz all lining up to start from the pit lane, the Ferrari and Mercedes drivers on new power units.

Right off the bat, normal proceedings were hindered as the formation lap set off behind the Safety Car with the rain still falling. Just as drivers like Yuki Tsunoda and Norris remarked that visibility was the main issue, Race Control announced that the starting procedure was suspended.

The red flags were out while Race Control anticipated a heavier downpour on the horizon, leading to a nearly 90-minute delay in proceedings.

Verstappen was critical of the decision, quipping over the radio: "Well that's a bit silly, I mean you should just run a few laps. They're way too cautious, now the heavy rain is coming, and then it's going to be a three hour delay."

The ten-minute warning was eventually released, indicating a race start behind the Safety Car at 15:20pm BST.

As the cars trundled out of the pit lane on the intermediate tyres, the opening four laps were led by the Safety Car, just as Hamilton noted that the track was “drying pretty quick.”

Delayed Belgian Grand Prix — A delayed Belgian Grand Prix kicked off behind the Safety Car | Credit: Formula One

While fans and drivers alike were eager to get the race up to speed, a rolling start was issued by the FIA, no doubt to the relief of Norris.

Though Piastri might have rued missing an opportunity to jump his teammate while launching off the grid, he quickly refocused and made a statement move on Norris through Eau Rouge to take the lead of the race on Lap 5, the first green flagged lap of the race.

Making the move stick, it was steady sailing from thereon for Piastri as Norris was unable to close the gap to the lead.

Behind the Papaya pair, Leclerc was doing well to keep a charging Verstappen behind. Under threat from the wet-weather master, Leclerc was able to maintain traction and keep the Red Bull at bay.

The childhood rivals put on a show on Lap 12 through La Source and Eau Rouge, as Verstappen nearly made the move but couldn’t make it stick.

While Leclerc was on the defence, his teammate Hamilton was on the attack after starting from the pit lane and clawing his way up to 16th by Lap 8. Pulling off experienced moves on Nico Hülkenberg through the Bus Stop chicane, completing the job from Silverstone, and later a classy overtake on Pierre Gasly out of Stavelot, Hamilton was on a roll in the opening laps of the wet-dry race.

Lewis Hamilton at Spa — Lewis Hamilton stormed up the field and switched to slicks ahead of the rest | Credit: Formula One

Tired of being stuck on the intermediate tyres that hindered his upward charge, Hamilton was the first to slip into the pits for slicks, followed by the bottom five including Gasly, Hülkenberg and Alonso.

Seeing the medium tyres gain good grip on the backmarkers, the frontrunners were soon tempted to bolt on slicks too, causing a melee of action in the pit lane on Lap 12.

While several teams executed doublestacks, action in the pit lane was also provided by a narrowly unsafe release from Leclerc's garage that compromised Alex Albon's stop. The gamble for slicks was clearly popular as the track rapidly dried up.

Meanwhile, Norris stopped a lap later than the rest, as did Tsunoda and Isack Hadjar. While for Norris this meant a bigger gap to the lead, for the Red Bull family pair, it meant that they plummeted down the order and fell out of their points-paying starting positions.

Crucially for Norris, he had opted for the hard tyre while the entire field was on mediums. Going for a bold alternative strategy, at the time, his camp was hoping that the hards would go on till the end of the race while the medium runners fronted by Piastri would have to make a second stop; giving Norris a shot at the win.

Lap 13 saw the DRS (Drag Reduction System) enabled, while on-track pace began to fire up once more. Hamilton was pumping in fastest lap after fastest lap, hoping to reverse his dismal weekend. By Lap 14, the Briton found himself in seventh behind Albon, who had dropped down a place after George Russell took fifth early in the race.

While the battle for the podium positions had lost steam, the bottom of the pack was lighting up the circuit with overtakes up and down the order. Antonelli managed to make his way past fellow rookie Hadjar, while Stroll made a move on Franco Colapinto, thriving in the mixed conditions.

Colapinto in 15th was quickly passed again, this time by Antonelli down the Kemmel Straight. Further ahead in P9 and P10, the Sauber pair of Hülkenberg and Gabriel Bortoleto found themselves held up behind Liam Lawson.

Bortoleto called for team orders on Lap 20, believing his pace to be better than the driver who claimed his maiden podium two weeks ago, but was ultimately unable to get past the Racing Bulls driver.

As the race approached the halfway point, a DRS train began to form behind Gasly in 11th, with Tsunoda, Ollie Bearman, Alonso and Antonelli all eyeing the Alpine's position just outside the points.

Eventually, Antonelli managed to break out of the train and jumped past Alonso with 16 laps to go.

While this tight formation snaked along the circuit, at the front end of the field, Piastri was enjoying an eight-second gap to his teammate in second. No doubt managing his tyres and gunning for a one-stop to take his mediums to the end of the race, Piastri maintained his composure to keep Norris out of striking distance.

Oscar Piastri vs Lando Norris — Piastri kept calm in the face of potential pressure from Norris | Credit: Formula One

Although Norris was the fastest driver on track by Lap 25, the following lap saw a dicey moment through Pouhon for the Briton, as he lost a whole second to Piastri. The eight-second gap remained, Norris' attempts to chip away at it coming undone.

With around ten laps to go, several drivers decided to take fresher rubber for the final stint, reflecting Sainz's claim that the medium tyres were "degrading quickly.”

Despite this, the frontrunners were happy to nurse the mediums home. While drivers like Alonso, Antonelli and Hülkenberg pitted –the Sauber driver giving up tenth– Piastri, Leclerc and the others in points understandably opted for track position over fresher tyres.

As the laps ticked down, Norris' chances of challenging his teammate for the win swiftly faded, with another punishing mistake that saw him run deep into La Source.

Meanwhile, the battle for the podium was coming back to life, with Leclerc hustling his Ferrari through Spa's demanding turns and almost inviting Verstappen to swoop into third after a front lock-up at Turn 18.

In spite of some close calls, Leclerc managed to keep the Saturday Sprint winner at bay, and took home another podium for the Scuderia this season – the win remaining elusive for them in 2025.

The McLarens crossed the flag to claim a third consecutive 1-2, with Piastri's confident early move paying off with a sixth victory in 2025.

Oscar Piastri wins at Spa — Piastri nursed his medium tyres home ahead of Norris on the hards | Credit: Formula One

Russell completed the top five, followed by Albon in sixth who managed to fend off the charging Ferrari of Hamilton. While this is the first time Hamilton finishes outside the top four in Spa, it was a hard fought uphill climb from the pit lane to seventh, earning him the Driver of the Day accolade.

Lawson took four points for Racing Bulls, while Bortoleto and Gasly rounded out the top ten.

Bearman missed out on the points by four tenths, while Hülkenberg's late strategy call for fresher mediums meant he lost out on a potential double points finish for Sauber.

It was a tricky Sunday for Tsunoda too, who was keen to deliver points after starting seventh but had to settle for 13th after the late pitstop. Stroll and Esteban Ocon followed, after treating audiences to exciting overtakes throughout the Grand Prix.

Antonelli finished in 16th bringing his downcast weekend to a close, earlier remarking that he's struggling for confidence over the course of the last few rounds.

Alonso, Sainz, Colapinto and Hadjar completed the finishing order, with zero retirements this race.

Championship Standings

Piastri has extended his championship lead to 16 points, after Norris' back-to-back victories in Austria and Silverstone. Bouncing back from a controversial penalty last round, the Australian driver has delivered a solid weekend by finishing ahead of Norris in both the Sprint and Sunday's race.

In the Constructors' Championship, Ferrari remains ahead of Mercedes, extending the gap to 28 points courtesy of Leclerc's podium and Hamilton's masterful drive to seventh.

Sixth place for Albon sees Williams add more points to the board and cement their fifth place in the standings, with 70 points compared to Sauber's 43 points in sixth.

The midfield remains tighter than ever with Racing Bulls two points away from Sauber. Not far behind, Aston Martin and Haas are separated by just one point.

Key Quotes

Piastri jumped out of the car, elated with his win in Spa, notably claimed by him as one of his most favourite tracks.

Speaking of his race-defining move in Eau Rouge, the winner shared: "I knew that Lap 1 was going to be probably my best chance of winning the race, and I got a good exit out of Turn 1 and lifted as little as I dared through Eau Rouge, and then it was enough.

"The rest of the race we managed really well, struggling a little bit at the end. Maybe the medium [tyre] wasn’t the best for the last five or six laps, but we had it mostly under control which is what I wanted.

"I was pretty disappointed with myself after yesterday, but turns out starting second at Spa is not too bad after all."

Norris, losing the win on the first racing lap and unable to reclaim it despite the alternative tyre choice, shared: "Oscar [Piastri] just did a good job, nothing more to say. Committed more through Eau Rouge, got the slipstream and the run. That was it, nothing else I could do at that point. Oscar deserved it today."