The race for the Formula 1 drivers’ title took another twist at in Spa as the winners and losers at the 2025 F1 Belgian Grand Prix emerged from a wet, tactical, and high-stakes race in the Ardennes.
Oscar Piastri extended his advantage over McLaren teammate Lando Norris with victory at Spa-Francorchamps. The Australian started behind Norris but capitalised on a poor rolling start from the Briton to get ahead at the start and take control of proceedings, though both drivers finished well ahead of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc in third.
Max Verstappen won the sprint race on Saturday to give Laurent Mekies a winning start to life at Red Bull, while big names struggled across the event.
2025 Belgian Grand Prix Winners and Losers
With a title fight now tighter than ever and new storylines emerging, here is a look at the key F1 winners and losers from 2025 Belgian Grand Prix.
Winner – Oscar Piastri / Loser – Lando Norris
The big question heading into the weekend was ‘how would Piastri respond to his British Grand Prix disappointment?’. It was the first mental test for him at the top of the championship, given his error took away a comfortable win at Silverstone.
Up until qualifying for the main race, Piastri had the upper hand on Norris at Spa, finishing ahead in the sprint qualifying and shortened race itself, only for the latter to clinch pole position late on Saturday.
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But in the race the calmness of Piastri shone through, pouncing on a slide from Norris at La Source on the first racing lap and ensuring he took the lead on the run to Les Combes. This would prove critical as it gave Piastri the strategic high ground when it came to switching from intermediate tyres to slicks some 10 laps later.
The extra lap Norris spent circulating – given the duo was too close to each other for McLaren to double stack when the crossover point came – saw him emerge around eight seconds down on Piastri, albeit on hard tyres compared to his rival’s medium selection.
Piastri had to eke his tyres to the end and that gave Norris an opportunity to use his more durable rubber to close the gap, but three separate mistakes during his chase allowed Piastri to breathe and the fact the eventual winner set two personal bests in the final two laps was proof enough that there was life left in the mediums anyway.
The result means the gap returns to 16 points between the McLaren pair heading to the last race before the summer break in Hungary, with Piastri impressive in bouncing back from what could have been a huge turning point at Silverstone.
For Norris, the three mistakes while chasing were understandable in tricky conditions while pulling qualifying lap after qualifying lap out to try and cut the gap. The major error came at the start and losing that tactical advantage, which again puts a spotlight on his title hopes.
Winner – Alex Albon
Williams had been on a horrid run of form and luck in the races leading up to Belgium but Alex Albon managed to put that right with a stellar performance on Saturday and Sunday.
After Carlos Sainz picked up points in the sprint race, Albon set a blistering qualifying lap to start fifth and ahead of Mercedes’ George Russell.
While Russell made his way through in the race, Albon was able to hold back the charging Lewis Hamilton – the Ferrari driver recovering from a pitlane start – to secure sixth with an inch-perfect drive. It was the type of performance we saw from the Thai-Briton across the opening quarter of the season that had largely disappeared in recent times.
It reopens the buffer to Sauber in the race for fifth in the constructors’ after strong form for the Hinwil-based outfit since Spain, something that team principal James Vowles will be thrilled with before the summer break.
Loser – Kimi Antonelli
If Canada was a welcome part for Kimi Antonelli as he clinched a maiden F1 podium, then the races since then have been a hefty bump back on Earth’s floor. Belgium was no different.
An error at Stavelot ruined his sprint event – out in SQ1 with no hope of points in Saturday’s race – and his efforts in qualifying proper left a lot to be desired as more mistakes crept in.
Hamilton was reported to have visited Mercedes on Sunday morning to offer his support for the youngest driver on the grid – an arm he may well need given the recent struggles. In fairness, this form is to be expected for someone who began the season as a teenager – Verstappen’s first season wasn’t all roses.
It leaves a test for Toto Wolff and the rest of Mercedes’ management to ensure the support network is there for the young Italian. The talent is there, now it is about unlocking that talent consistently and limiting the errors that are currently plaguing his race weekends.
Winner – Gabriel Bortoleto
Gabriel Bortoleto has shown glimpses of his F2-winning talent this season with little luck to show for it and his performances have been largely overshadowed by team-mate Nico Hulkenberg. But after picking up his first points in Austria, confidence has been unlocked and the Brazilian underlined his prowess behind the wheel across the Spa weekend.
Twice reaching the final stage of qualifying, he went ahead of his more experienced team-mate in the qualifying head-to-head.
Bortoleto then added to his points tally with ninth at the end of Sunday’s event, continuing Sauber’s incredible purple patch. Outside of the Australian and British GPs held in difficult conditions, he has hardly put a foot wrong and, with everything clicking in Austria and Belgium, the reward for his performances are slowly beginning to show.
It’s crucial that this continues now as Bortoleto tries to ensure his worth for Audi as the German giant enters F1 next season.
Loser – Wet tyres
What is the point of the extreme wet tyres?
The formation lap only reached Pouhon before red flags were thrown and the start procedure was aborted, with visibility issues ensuring racing could get underway.
In fairness to the race director, it was the correct decision, as was the caution in restarting the race when conditions had improved. While criticism was levelled at Rui Marques for the decision-making, it’s easy to forget that it is a case of ‘damned if you do, damned if you don’t’ for the FIA in this situation.
Isack Hadjar had a frightful crash at Silverstone when unsighted behind Antonelli in the spray, while we remember the life of Danilo van ‘t Hoff who died in treacherous conditions at Spa two years ago.
So the caution from the FIA was fine and wholly justified. But the visibility issues on the initial formation lap came with all cars on intermediate tyres. So that begs the question asked at the start of this entry – what is the point in extreme wet tyres?
With F1 and Pirelli’s sustainability initiatives, would it now be more prudent to stop producing the blue-sidewalled rubber to save emissions and money? It could be something to look at moving forward.
