Whether you believe in momentum or not, Lando Norris was on a bit of a roll after a deserved win in Austria and a somewhat fortuitous home triumph at Silverstone, closing the gap with Oscar Piastri to just eight points to effectively reset the 2025 title fight at the halfway mark.
Norris could have gone for a hat-trick in his other home country of Belgium after taking a convincing pole yesterday, but a slip out of La Source on the first lap after the safety car peeled off gave Piastri an opportunity to strike. What followed was a gutsy move from the young Australian as he tucked up behind Norris through Eau Rouge and up the Raidillon, being rewarded for his unwavering commitment with a powerful slipstream to slingshot past.
Should Norris have done better? Absolutely. But Piastri showed once again he is an ice cold assassin, sniping his opponent with pinpoint precision, an attribute he already displayed in Saudi Arabia against Max Verstappen and several other occasions.
Piastri then didn’t put a wheel wrong as he tried to match Norris’ times while nursing the more brittle medium tyres to the finish, while Norris overcompensated for having to wring lap time out of the slower hard tyres with a few small errors.
The end result is Piastri has doubled his lead over Spa’s sprint weekend as the pair heads to Hungary, where the Australian took his maiden win just 12 months ago. Life really is moving fast for Piastri, whose grand prix win tally is now up to eight.
Loser: Max Verstappen, Red Bull
Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing
Photo by: Yves Herman / Pool / AFP via Getty Images
Arguably, only Max Verstappen could have won Saturday’s sprint against faster McLarens, using his superior top speed to pass Piastri before hanging on for dear life as his tyres fell off. But even Verstappen was powerless to repeat those heroics on Sunday as Red Bull anticipated a full wet race by moving to a set-up with much more downforce, only for the majority of the race to be held in the dry.
The reigning world champion was stuck behind Charles Leclerc’s more slippery Ferrari for the entire race, which goes some way towards explaining his frustration after the race, blaming his peers for urging race control to delay the start due to the lack of visibility.
You can understand why Verstappen and Red Bull felt aggrieved. At Silverstone, the squad found itself in the opposite scenario as Verstappen fell down the order with a low downforce set-up in a proper wet race, a painful lesson which undoubtedly played on Red Bull’s collective minds as it nailed down its race set-up going into Saturday qualifying.
This time race control exercised more caution than in Britain, something which race director Rui Marques informed drivers about in advance, which meant teams that decided to go for wet-weather levels of downforce were actually punished for it. Race control could have restarted the race earlier, but given the tragic recent history of Spa-Francorchamps, it felt a bit on the nose for Verstappen to suggest drivers who were worried about visibility should just lift instead, even if it was just his frustration pouring out.
The same set-up choice affected Yuki Tsunoda, who couldn’t convert his best qualifying result for the squad in seventh with points. Due to miscommunication the Japanese driver was left out at least one lap too long on intermediates as well, relegating him to finishing 13th. But there does appear to be steady progress for Tsunoda after a bleak period, which is encouraging to see.
Charles Leclerc, Ferrari
Photo by: Steven Tee / LAT Images via Getty Images
On the opposite side of the spectrum, Leclerc saw a lower downforce set-up rewarded with a podium, holding off Verstappen just like the Dutchman fended off Piastri a day prior. But it would be wrong to just put down Leclerc’s performance down to wing levels and race control’s decision making, as the Monegasque driver put in a tenacious drive in a Ferrari that clearly wasn’t kind on its intermediate tyres, before resisting a late challenge from the Dutchman in the dry.
As a fierce competitor Leclerc continues being in two minds about this season. He’s grateful Ferrari’s upgrades are working but frustrated that they are not bringing it much closer to McLaren. Schrodinger’s progress. But the reality is that McLaren has sailed off into the distance and the Scuderia’s real fight is with Mercedes and Red Bull.
In that regard Ferrari’s latest batch of upgrades, including a rear suspension geometry change that should help with ride heights and set-up windows, seems to be working while Mercedes is sliding backwards. Spa was a decent step for Maranello towards the runner-up spot in the championship, especially as we are heading to some warmer climates soon that Mercedes doesn’t excel in.
Lewis Hamilton also deserves credit for a flawless comeback drive and strategy, being the only pitlane starter to significantly move up the order. In no small part Hamilton’s rush was thanks to a decisive move to be the first to pit for slicks, but he passed more cars than anyone else on track as well. But while he was unlucky to be hit with a track limits infringement in qualifying, there is some work to do on Hamilton’s side to sort out the issues that led to him missing a beat in sprint qualifying.
Mercedes’ Italian driver Kimi Antonelli looks on inside the cockpit of his car ahead of a delayed start of the Formula One Belgian Grand Prix after a red flag due to visibility at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit in Spa, on July 27, 2025. (Photo by YVES HERMAN / POOL / AFP) (Photo by YVES HERMAN/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
Photo by: Yves Herman / Pool / AFP via Getty Images
Mercedes’ patchy form has also affected F1’s youngest driver, as Andrea Kimi Antonelli appears to be bereft of confidence after a tough run that started at home in Imola, in May. Antonelli particularly struggles to gel with his Mercedes on the very limit of adhesion in qualifying, which is such a crucial part of the game when one or two tenths can make the difference between advancing to Q3 or being unceremoniously dumped out in Q1.
Antonelli fared better in the race, but from his pitlane start he wasn’t able to follow his vastly more experienced Mercedes predecessor Hamilton through the ranks. In other circumstances, with bigger gaps between teams, Antonelli would have paid less of a price for his rookie lessons, but now the stark difference in results with George Russell appears to be affecting him.
But for the 18-year-old who just finished high school, the bigger picture is that 2025 is one long master year at F1’s university, a crash course in becoming a well-rounded F1 driver. The tough spell he is going through now will one day stand him in good stead.
Driver turned pundit Nico Rosberg fended for Antonelli and said Mercedes should go ahead and renew his deal for 2026 to lift a weight off his young shoulders. The 2016 world champion says a lot of things, some more considered than others, but in this instance it’s hard to disagree. If a Verstappen move isn’t going to happen for next year, then maybe’s it’s the right time to give the Italian a welcome vote of confidence.
George Russell, Mercedes, Alexander Albon, Williams
Photo by: Steven Tee / LAT Images via Getty Images
Albon found a way into the top six once more thanks to an outstanding qualifying performance, and at a crucial time for Williams, too. Williams’ once cushy lead in the battle for fifth started evaporating in recent weeks as the team misfired with reliability issues, while being out-developed by its direct rivals due to its well documented focus on 2026.
Sauber particularly impressed with its upgrades, but in Belgium Williams struck back with a sizeable, one-off update package that included a tweaked floor. Sainz picked up points in the sprint, while in the hands of Albon the Williams was able to hold off a charging Hamilton on Sunday. That’s giving Williams a much-needed boost as it heads to a Hungaroring circuit that will be much more challenging for its car, both in terms of layout and cooling requirements.
Loser: Haas
Esteban Ocon, Haas F1 Team, Oliver Bearman, Haas F1 Team
Photo by: Sam Bloxham / LAT Images via Getty Images
Haas may not quite have had enough for Williams, but after a great showing in the sprint the American team really should have scored points on Sunday. Both Esteban Ocon and Oliver Bearman looked quick enough to do it, but strategy decisions undid their bid for another double points finish.
Ocon in particular will have been wondering why he was left out so long on intermediates when he was being passed by drivers who had already pitted for slicks. Bearman also pitted too late, but his biggest problem was his engine going into limp mode after the pitstop, he explained, which saw him get passed by Gasly, Alonso and Tsunoda.
The tenacious 2025 midfield battle is one of seizing your opportunities, and while there were no shock podiums up for grabs like in Silverstone with Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg, this was still a big one for Haas. Other than an underperforming Aston Martin, its other direct rivals did pick up points.
Gabriel Bortoleto, Sauber
Photo by: Sam Bloxham / LAT Images via Getty Images
Nico Hulkenberg rightly received his plaudits after a wonderful and long overdue grand prix podium in Britain. It left Gabriel Bortoleto full of admiration for his experienced team-mate, but also with a touch of envy. And the young Brazilian somehow managed to put that to good use as he looked the quickest Sauber driver throughout the Spa sprint weekend, both in the wet and the dry.
Hulkenberg had no complaints when being asked to move over for Bortoleto in the race, after the German’s undercut saw him catapult up the order. And while the reigning F2 champion didn’t find a way past Racing Bulls driver Liam Lawson either, he comfortably secured his second-ever points finish in ninth. That’s called being good value for your result, for a man whose modest equipment has meant his performances aren’t talked about enough. Well, we are certainly talking about him now…
Loser: Aston Martin
Lance Stroll, Aston Martin Racing, Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin Racing
Photo by: Andy Hone / LAT Images via Getty Images
Much like Sauber, Aston Martin looked to have turned around a frustrating campaign with solid upgrades that allowed Fernando Alonso to string together a run of four consecutive points finishes and also helped Lance Stroll take seventh in Silverstone.
It was therefore a bit of a surprise to see the Silverstone team struggle so much in Spa, with a lack of qualifying pace the biggest culprit that set up an underwhelming weekend. Its race pace seemed better in theory, but the squad seems to fall flat on ‘variety circuits’ that require both high top speeds and strong medium to high-speed corner grip, forcing teams to make compromises.
Stroll failed to move up the order and gained just two places from 16th, while pitlane starter Alonso definitely never looked like going anywhere. Like Verstappen, his side of the garage had fully committed to a wet race set-up that didn’t end up being what was required. But if Aston is going to qualify this poorly, even the right set-up wouldn’t have worked wonders anyway.
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