The Pit Debrief Driver Rankings for the 2025 F1 Belgian GP are now available to read. Both front runners and midfield drivers delivered at Spa.
1 | Charles Leclerc
Following one of his worst races in F1 on a tough weekend at the British GP, Charles Leclerc was back to his best at Spa.
Qualifying P4 for the Sprint, he finished there. Leclerc passed Norris on the first lap into turn 5, but the Brit would get back ahead later thanks to DRS on the Kemmel straight. P4 was the best he could achieve.
In Grand Prix qualifying, a fantastic lap saw him pip Max Verstappen by 0.003s in Q3 for P3. That was an overachievement by a spot.
On the inters in the Grand Prix itself, he was hanging on gamely against the Dutchman. When it transitioned to dry tyres, the 27-year-old had just enough pace to fend off his former karting rival.
One small lock-up at the Bus Stop cost him about a bit of time but did not allow the Red Bull driver in DRS.
P3 was the absolute maximum and he delivered that. Encouragingly for Ferrari, the race pace was strong as they introduced a new rear suspension at the F1 Belgian GP.
Charles Leclerc performed at the level of a World Championship contender once again at Spa. For now, though, he continues to seriously impress in a car that cannot fight for wins on outright pace.
2 | Oscar Piastri
Victories for Lando Norris at the Red Bull Ring and Silverstone saw the World Championship gap close to 8 points heading to the F1 Belgian GP. Oscar Piastri delivered a great weekend to extend it back out to 16.
In Sprint qualifying the Aussie put almost half a second into the field. The most impressive thing was the gap to his teammate in SQ3, however: 0.6s was the gap. Norris was only 3rd. That was a hammering.
Nonetheless, he had a very lucky escape in SQ2. After losing his best time to track limits, his second lap was only good enough for P10. Track evolution at the end almost saw him get bumped.
Unfortunately for Piastri, he was a sitting duck on the opening lap of the Sprint as Verstappen used his low downforce rear wing to breeze by on the Kemmel straight. From there he had no real chance of passing.
In Grand Prix qualifying, the 24-year-old did 2 average laps and lost out on pole to teammate Lando Norris. Piastri quickly reclaimed the high ground as he made light work of the Brit on the rolling start yesterday using the slipstream.
From there he drove a pretty much perfect race, managing the mediums well and taking a critical victory. It was a big bounce back after the Safety Car incident at Silverstone. He holds a solid points lead heading into Hungary this weekend.
Even if it helped him on the rolling start by qualifying P2, his Q3 underperformance and a messy SQ2 costs him P1 in our rankings.
3 | Pierre Gasly
Speaking on Thursday in a print media session, Pierre Gasly spoke about the mixed emotions of coming to Spa. While it is a wonderful circuit, the loss of his good Anthoine Hubert in 2019 at the venue certainly casts a shadow over this event for many. At the weekend, Gasly paid the perfect tribute to him with exceptional performances on the circuit his friend lost his life on.
A superb lap in SQ2 saw the Frenchman ultimately qualify P8 in the final segment on Friday. Unfortunately, however, a water leak meant he was pushed off the grid and could not get a chance to secure a point.
The limitations of the Alpine on power sensitive tracks hit hard in Grand Prix qualifying as Gasly was P13. To beat Hülkenberg in a Sauber and Sainz in the Williams was impressive, nonetheless.
On inters, he struggled for pace. Hamilton passed him and was under pressure from Hülkenberg.
However, Alpine and Gasly nailed the lap to pit. Although he had a slow stop of 3.9s that allowed the German in the Sauber to get ahead, Gasly undercut the Haas duo, a limping Hadjar, and Yuki Tsunoda. It put him P11.
From there he took 10th as Nico Hülkenberg cooked his front tyres, forcing him into a second stop. Gasly fended off Tsunoda and Bearman for over 25 laps to take P10. A very, very low downforce rear wing was key. No mistakes in the process was critical.
He might have only scored a single point at the weekend. The 2020 Italian GP winner was magnificent, though.
4 | Max Verstappen
A master of Spa, Max Verstappen added another victory to his name.
Following a great lap in SQ3 to split the McLarens, he used his low downforce rear wing to sweep past Piastri on the first lap of the Sprint. From there he drove an almost flawless 15 laps to win. There was one mistake at the Bus Stop. The straight-line speed he had was enough for it not to cost him, nonetheless.
Then in Grand Prix qualifying, the four-time consecutive Drivers’ World Champion did not maximise his car. A huge amount of wheelspin out of La Source on his final run cost him 3rd. On race day, he had a very good view of Charles Leclerc’s rear wing for the 40 racing laps because of that qualifying mistake.
The balance issues of the RB21 continue to hurt the Dutch driver. A Sprint victory against the faster McLarens showed his quality yet again. He left a podium behind in the main event, however.
5 | Gabriel Bortoleto
Since the Sauber update brought Spain, it has allowed Gabriel Bortoleto to thrive and show his quality. Last year’s F2 champion was superb at the F1 Belgian GP.
With teammate Nico Hülkenberg getting bumped out in SQ1, the Brazilian did an outstanding lap in SQ2 to make it through to the final segment. In the Sprint itself, he did not quite have the pace of Isack Hadjar to fight for the last point.
On Saturday afternoon in Grand Prix qualifying, he had a fortunate escape. He looked set to be out in Q1. That was until Lewis Hamilton had his time deleted for track limits.
Bortoleto did not waste the reprieve he was given. He found 0.6s between Q1 and Q2, booking his spot in Q3. The rookie was almost 0.4s faster than Hülkenberg.
In the main race, he pitted a lap later than his teammate who managed to pass him on warmer dry tyres. The Brazilian driver admitted he wanted to be cautious after crashing on dries in tricky conditions at Silverstone. Nonetheless, he had better pace ultimately and the cars got swapped.
Racing Bulls just a smidge more pace than Sauber and Bortoleto brought his car home in P9 for a couple of valuable points.
While he might only have 6 points to his name for now, his rookie campaign continues to get better and better.
6 | Alex Albon
The Sprint part of the weekend was basically written off for Alex Albon. A deployment issue left him out in SQ1. In the 15-lap race itself, a DRS train limited him to P16.
In the Grand Prix part at the F1 Belgian GP, he was absolutely outstanding. After narrowly advancing into Q3, the best lap of the final session saw him take P5, beating George Russell on merit.
Although the Mercedes driver overtook him in the wet conditions, the Thai fended off Lewis Hamilton after everyone switched to dries. In the end he finished a fantastic P6, ending up just over 5s behind Russell at the flag.
2025 is showing that Alex Albon is a very quick driver. His performances against a 4-time Grand Prix winning teammate are seriously impressive.
7 | George Russell
The recent performance decline by Mercedes has been drastic. Ever since the win and P3 in Canada, their pace has been pretty shocking. Although it was not Austria levels of a lack of speed, Spa was very difficult.
Floor damage in SQ1 thanks to hitting stones of gravel after the spin of teammate Kimi Antonelli in front, it meant Russell was out in SQ2. In the Sprint, he was P12 as Yuki Tsunoda fended him off all the way through.
In Grand Prix qualifying, Russell was pipped to 5th by Albon. He was 0.006s slower than his Q2 time as the limit was reached early in the tricky W16.
After passing Albon in the wet, he had a very lonely race to P5. He was 13s adrift of Max Verstappen at the flag.
It’s a very frustrating time for George Russell. Although he is driving very well and performing consistently this year, his car is simply not up to par since that very strong opening part of the season in the main.
The ground effect era has been hugely disappointing for Mercedes.
8 | Lando Norris
This was not a good weekend for Lando Norris. A lot of his F1 Belgian GP performance left a lot to be desired following the momentum of winning in Austria, and then at his home round.
From FP1 he looked on the back foot. By SQ3 he was 0.6s slower than his teammate Oscar Piastri. With such close gaps in modern F1 between drivers in the same car, that was a striking difference.
After losing out to Leclerc on the opening lap of the Spint, he got it back with DRS a few laps later. He ran behind Piastri and Verstappen in the closing laps to finish P3.
Pole position in Grand Prix qualifying was a good effort considering how far away he was on Friday. He did laps that would be categorised as good but not great. His teammate left time on the table in Q3.
At the start, he was easily overtaken by Oscar Piastri on the Kemmel straight. A battery issue did not help, and it remains to be seen how costly that was. More info will likely be shared on it in Hungary.
Aside from that potentially unlucky scenario, it meant Norris had to go an extra lap as the track dried. It lost him around 6-7 seconds. From there he closed a 9s to just under 4s.
However, any chance he had of at least putting pressure on Oscar Piastri came to zero with 2 mistakes at La Source, and going off the track at Pouhon. As Nico Rosberg pointed out on Sky Sports, Lewis Hamilton would not make those mistakes chasing someone. The same applies to Verstappen, Alonso and all the greats.
It was a very disappointing showing by the British driver. In a title race of fine margins at present, he cannot afford to be making unforced errors. It’s been a common theme since last year, unfortunately for him.
Despite a pretty average weekend, losing only 8 points is not a disaster.
He has shown very strong race pace in Hungary the last couple of years. Norris needs to deliver it again to keep the title fight very close going into the summer break.
9 | Liam Lawson
The recent improvements from Liam Lawson continued at Spa as he finished a very strong P8 in the F1 Belgian GP.
He missed out on SQ3 by 8 hundredths as stablemate Isack Hadjar just had that little bit extra when it counted. The Sprint itself was pretty much a parade for him as he finished 10th.
Once again it was fine margins in Grand Prix qualifying. Lawson was 0.018s slower than Hadjar in Q3, placing 9th in the end. A problem for the French driver from early in the race handed the New Zealander a place as they swapped positions.
A lap too late to the dries, he dropped behind Lewis Hamilton. However, Yuki Tsunoda went a lap further and it meant Lawson stayed in P8. He drove a good, clean race from there to finish 4s ahead of Gabriel Bortoleto.
After a very tough start to his first full season in the sport, Lawson has delivered some good performances recently. Consistently doing it is the next task.
10 | Esteban Ocon
The Sprint part of the weekend was a dream for Esteban Ocon and Haas. He was best of the rest in SQ3 behind Piastri, Verstappen, Norris and Leclerc. In the race itself, his low downforce rear wing meant he held off Carlos Sainz for 4 valuable points.
Having missed out on Q3 in Grand Prix qualifying by finishing P11, the race itself was a disaster for the French driver.
Ollie Bearman got ahead in the wet conditions as Ocon revealed he let the Brit go. The 20-year-old was running with more downforce.
To finish it off for Ocon, he was left out 2 laps too long on inters and had no chance of points from there.
He held off the two-stopping Antonelli and Alonso for 15th. However, that could not cover the disappointment of another poorly executed race by Haas in mixed conditions.
11 | Ollie Bearman
Bearman backed up Ocon in the Sprint segment of the weekend. He qualified and finished P7, bringing home 2 points for Haas. However, he looked a fraction behind his teammate and lacked the same confidence on the very skinny rear wing.
Going into Grand Prix qualifying, he went with more downforce on the rear wing. A horrible turn 1 in Q2 cost him a chance to make Q3. Yuki Tsunoda (also preparing a lap) passed him into the Bus Stop ahead of the final runs. His tyres were left very cold.
After Ocon let him by, he also was out on track too long. Hülkenberg managed to undercut; Gasly, Tsunoda and Alonso all passed him on track. The Brit revealed afterwards his engine went into limp mode at the end of his first lap on dry tyres, hence the loss of the 3 places.
For almost the rest of the race he was staring at Tsunoda’s rear wing until the last couple of laps. At the end he was right behind Gasly for P10 but did not have the straight-line speed to pass. For a fourth Grand Prix in a row, he was P11.
Like his teammate, more was on the table. Haas left points behind once again.
12 | Isack Hadjar
On pace, Isack Hadjar would have been a comfortable top 10 in the rankings from the weekend. We will never find out if he could have kept it error free under pressure on this day in history.
In the Sprint, he qualified P9. The water leak for Pierre Gasly basically meant he was P8 on the grid. He kept that until the end in the latest Sprint parade.
In Grand Prix qualifying, he went one better with P8. Early on he kept that until issues Racing Bulls are yet to reveal ruined his race. They also went 2 laps too long with him on the inters.
Nonetheless, that would have made no difference with his lack of pace because of a gremlin in the car. He was extremely unfortunate and deserved points.
His strong rookie season continues, though.
13 | Lewis Hamilton
Not for the first time in 2025, Lewis Hamilton had very poor qualifying performances. Unfortunately for him, it happened twice at Spa.
In SQ1, rear locking ended his day very early as he spun at the Bus Stop. He finished 15th in the Sprint itself as points were never on the cards from his lowly grid spot.
Grand Prix qualifying saw a Q1 exit, too. He cut the kerb too much at Raidillon and had his time deleted. It was completely unnecessary as well because he had more than enough pace for Q2 and beyond.
Starting from pit lane, Hamilton put on a clinic to pass 5 cars on inters. A great call to go to the dry tyres first allowed him to gain 6 more spots through the undercut, passing Lawson on track as well.
From there he could not find a way past Alex Albon. Making up 11 spots was a fine effort, however.
Nonetheless, his qualifying performances left a lot to be desired. Quite a chunk of points got left on the table by the seven-time World Champion.
14 | Carlos Sainz
The strange 2025 season continues for Carlos Sainz. He is struggling to have clean weekends. It must be said Williams are playing a significant part in that. Niggling car issues are hurting both drivers.
After an issue that curtailed most of his FP1, Sainz did fantastic laps to ultimately get P6 in SQ3. A tidy, quiet drive in the Sprint itself allowed him to maintain that spot.
Set-up changes did not pay off for Grand Prix qualifying. He could only finish P15, a couple of tenths behind Albon in Q2.
Williams started him from pit lane. Again, he was out for too long on inters. Had he copied Gasly and Hülkenberg, a potential shot at P10 was possible. Ultimately P18 was his final result after making a second stop.
15 | Yuki Tsunoda
Even if the final result was not great, Yuki Tsunoda did make some progress across the F1 Belgian GP weekend.
12th in Sprint qualifying was disappointing, missing over half a second to Verstappen. The new floor was not on his car until Grand Prix qualifying, however. In the Sprint he was P11.
In Grand Prix qualifying Tsunoda was 7th, 0.381s slower than the Dutchman. That was much closer than he has been. Verstappen’s lap was not perfect, however.
The 25-year-old looked set for a P7 or P8 in the race. Unfortunately for Tsunoda, however, Red Bull called him in too late as he had just gone by pit entry. He went a lap or two longer than almost the rest of the field on worn inters and paid a heavy price. Mekies admitted the team was to blame.
He was stuck behind Pierre Gasly after that as the Alpine’s rear wing meant a pass was always very unlikely. Bearman and Hülkenberg overtook in the final couple of laps to cap off a miserable day.
16 | Lance Stroll
Aston Martin had a dreadful F1 Belgian GP as the car was slow, arguably the slowest of all.
Although Lance Stroll was outqualified by his teammate in SQ (P15 vs P14) and Grand Prix qualifying (P20 vs P19), he drove good races on Saturday (P13 vs P14) and Sunday (P14 vs P17) to be ahead in both. His racecraft was very good.
Sadly for him, the poor car pace meant his performances meant very little in the grand scheme of things.
17 | Fernando Alonso
It’s very rare Fernando Alonso finishes behind his teammate after starting ahead, but it happened twice at Spa over the weekend.
As previously mentioned, Aston Martin had very poor performance at Spa, fundamentally lacking pace. A prime example of that was during the transition from inters to dries. Alonso nailed the timing along with Gasly, Hülkenberg and Hamilton.
Although he gained spots, the lack of pace was evident as Bearman passed him. A second stop was made and he had to settle for P17 as he got stuck behind Ocon.
The two-time F1 World Champion will want a good response in Hungary as the car should be better there.
18 | Franco Colapinto
Following a shocking weekend in Silverstone where he crashed in qualifying and could not start the race due to a car fault, Franco Colapinto had a quiet but okay weekend at Spa. He was out in SQ1 (P17) and Q1 (P19), missing 0.4s and 0.2s to Gasly in those segments.
The races were very quiet, finishing 19th in both. On a positive note, he was right with Gasly on inters until the French driver rightly got pit priority for dry tyres. Any slim chance of points evaporated then.
If he wants to guarantee his future beyond 2025, or even the summer break potentially, a big weekend in Hungary is required.
19 | Nico Hülkenberg
3 weeks on from his first F1 podium at Silverstone, Nico Hülkenberg was disappointing across the F1 Belgian GP weekend.
P17 in Sprint qualifying was very underwhelming as teammate Gabriel Bortoleto made the final part of it. He lacked 0.4s in the Grand Prix version as Bortoleto was P10. Hülkenberg could only manage P14.
In the Grand Prix itself, he nailed the switch to dry tyres and ran in P9 for a few laps, ahead of the Brazilian. However he lacked the pace to stay there.
A recurring weakness of his exposed itself as the race went on. He hurt his front tyres and had to pit because of high deg, losing the last points position to Gasly.
He got back to P12 and caught the train led by the Frenchman. In reality, though, it should have been an easy P10.
His points difference to Bortoleto is quite flattering when you dig deep into their performances. Hülkenberg really needs a strong qualifying and race in Budapest.
20 | Kimi Antonelli
The harsh and brutal nature of top-level sport hit Kimi Antonelli at the F1 Belgian GP. Such was the disappointment of his weekend, he was emotional in the TV pen after Grand Prix qualifying. It’s an important reminder to many that these amazing drivers are humans like everyone else.
A big spin in SQ1 left his car with damage and Antonelli could not complete a proper lap, starting last. He finished 17th in the Sprint itself.
18th in Grand Prix qualifying was a very painful blow for the Italian. Although he was only 0.3s slower than his teammate, F1 qualifying in 2025 is unbelievably close and tight. Mercedes’ recent drop off has not helped.
A two-stop strategy in the Grand Prix led to 16th in the end, although he did make some overtakes during it.
During a difficult spell for this very talented young driver, Mercedes will need to step up and support him both in and away from the paddock. Better races and times are ahead of him.
In a few years time, he might look back on this and learn a lot from it.
