F1 | Race | Belgian GP | Piastri wins rain-delayed contest at Spa - Motorsport

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Full race report and results from the 2025 F1 Belgian GP, which was won by Oscar Piastri, followed by Lando Norris and Charles Leclerc.

Pit Lane starts for four drivers

Carlos Sainz, Lewis Hamilton, Kimi Antonelli and Fernando Alonso all start from the pit lane – in that order – following power unit and set-up adjustments made under parc fermé.

A rain-delayed start

The rain started to fall heavily at Spa-Francorchamos just minutes before the planned race start time.

The formation lap started behind the Safety Car, with all 20 drivers on the intermediate tyres.

The race was immediately red-flagged midway through the formation lap, and the starting procedure suspended, as conditions proved way too difficult for the visibility of the drivers.

Lando Norris reported over the radio that visibility was the main issue, as the standing water was “not too bad”.

Max Verstappen wasn’t impressed with the decision to stop the race immediately, and with the prospect of further heavier rain arriving, he called it “silly” to be stopped on the pit lane waiting for an improvement in conditions and have a “3 hoour delay”.

The FIA reported “most drivers have reported poor visibility during the formation lap, hence the red flag,” via a spokesperson.

After an hour and five minutes of the planned race start, the FIA announced that the race would resume on 16:20 local time, 80 minutes after the original start.

The restart and first few laps

The FIA announced the race would restart behind the Safety Car, with Mercedes informing Kimi Antonelli over the radio that they expect “a minimum of two laps” behind the Safety Car before a decision from race control.

The race laps started to count immediately as the Safety Car led the drivers away from the pits.

Oscar Piastri reported visibility was better than before through Eau Rouge, but was concerned of the visibility on the Kemmel straight as the spray came up.

Lewis Hamilton told his Ferrari team over the radio that the track was “drying pretty quick”.

Pole-sitter Lando Norris expressed his concern over a difference in grip between the right- and left-handside of the grid, as the pole on the right was a lot wetter than the P2 of team-mate Oscar Piastri.

At the end of lap four, the race finally started – albeit on a rolling start.

Piastri takes the lead after rolling start

Oscar Piastri flew past Lando Norris at his first opportunity, slipstreaming past his team-mate on the Kemmel straight, just like Verstapoen did to him on Saturday.

Norris then reported that he had “no [battery] pack” in his McLaren, but was told by his team he used his at the restart and it would come back.

Further down the order, George Russell made quick work in getting ahead of Alex Albon and taking P5 on lap 6.

Max Verstappen looked racy in his Red Bull – with extra downforce compared to Saturday’s Sprint – and started to put pressure on Charles Leclerc for P3 immediately.

Hamilton on the move

At the rear of the field, Lewis Hamilton in the other Ferrari was on the move, getting ahead of Sainz and Colapinto in quick succession, with moves in the Bus Stop chicane and Les Combes, respectively.

At the end of the same lap, the seven-time champion forced his way down the inside of Nico Hulkenberg’s Sauber to take 14th place on lap 8.

He then dispatched Pierre Gasly at the Stavelot I corner, to take 13th on lap 9.

Switch to slicks looming

At the start of lap 10, Piastri held a 1.5s lead over Norris, and said over the radio a switch to slicks tyres perhaps wasn’t “too far off”.

Behind the two McLarens, Verstappen heaped pressure on Leclerc’s low-downforced configuration Ferrari, forcing a mistake from the Monegasque into La Source on lap 11 – but the Ferrari’s superior straight line speed kept the Dutchman behind.

The first pit stops, McLaren’s opposing strategies and big gainers from early stops

Hamilton, Gasly, Alonso and Hulkenberg were the first to switch to slicks tyres, pitting at the end of lap 11.

Just a lap later, Piastri, Verstappen, Leclerc, Russell, Albon, Lawson, and several other pitted for medium tyres.

Crucially, Lando Norris stayed out for another lap as he was too close to Piastri, and switched to a set of hard tyres instead of the mediums for the Australian, but rejoined over eight seconds back.

Lewis Hamilton made up six places by pitting first, moving up to seventh place.

The order of the top 10 at the end of lap 14 was as follows, with all drivers now on the slick medium tyres, apart from Norris on hards: Piastri, Norris, Leclerc, Verstappen, Russell, Albon, Hamilton, Lawson, Hulkenberg (another big gainer from an early stop, like in Silverstone), and Bortoleto.

Tsunoda and Ocon were two of the big losers of this sequence, with the Red Bull driver losing five places, and the Haas falling to 20th and last on the road.

The dry phase

McLaren informed Norris that “both cars will try to go to the end”, suggesting the Briton will have to close up and overtake his team-mate and F1 title rival on track if he is to win the race at the Belgian GP.

Further down the pack, Ollie Bearman got past Fernando Alonso for 13th on lap 18, and Isack Hadjar got overtaken by Lance Stroll for 17th.

Podium finisher last time out in Silverstone, Hulkenberg was asked to move aside from his P9 to make way for his faster team-mate Gabriel Bortoleto, which he duly obliged at the Kemmel straight on lap 21.

At the same time, Antonelli dispatched Colapinto with a standard DRS move into Les Combes chicane.

Isack Hadjar was the first to make a second pit stop. The Frenchman was struggling on his medium tyres, and pitted at the end of lap 21 to switch to a set of hard tyres. Important to note that the hard tyres are two steps harder than the mediums this weekend, due to Pirelli’s experiment with running a C1, C3 and C4 selection.

On that, Piastri was left concerned that his medium tyres might not be able to get him to the end, as he was already seeing degradation on lap 22 of 44.

Sainz reported over the radio that the mediums were “degrading fast”, corroborated by Hadjar’s struggles and Piastri’s concern.

At the front, things stabilized after the first few laps on slicks, with Piastri keeping a roughly 8-second lead over Norris, and Leclerc 8.5 further behind and fending off Verstappen by 2.5s.

The fight in the midfield

Pierre Gasly led a huge DRS-train from 11th downwards, with Tsunoda, Bearman, Alonso and Antonelli all in close contact.

Lance Stroll was detached from that group, nearly five seconds back, with Colapinto a further 3.5 behind, in a close battle with Sainz’s Williams.

Norris’ mistake and Hamilton’s charge back on

Norris was rapidly closing the gap to Piastri by lap 25, but a mistake on lap 26 brought the gap up from 7.7 to 9.1 seconds, undoing the Briton’s hard work from earlier on trying to close the gap.

Lewis Hamilton’s fiery start to the race somewhat cooled once the dry conditions returned, but the seven-time champion started to pressure Alex Albon again on lap 28, as the gap reduced to just 1.1 seconds.

Fernando Alonso pitted for a second time at the end of lap 29, switching to a new set of mediums. Antonelli also pitted at the end of the next lap for a new set of mediums, whilst Carlos Sainz switched to a new set of hards.

Hulkenberg was another to make a second stop, falling to 14th to take a new set of mediums.

Norris ramps up his charge

On lap 33, Piastri was told the preferred strategy is to go to the end on his set of mediums, whilst Norris continued to go faster on his more robust set of hards – but the charge was somewhat slowed as the Briton made another little mistake at La Source, locking up and losing seven tenths of a second.

At the back of the field, Antonelli and Ocon fought over 15th place, with the Mercedes driver making the move into Les Combes, but losing out immediately again after going wide.

Hamilton’s charge towards Albon lost momentum again, as he just hovered in that one-second region behind the Williams’ turbulent air

Norris’ charge continued on his move, taking nearly seven tenths a lap out of Piastri’s lead – the gap being 6.1 seconds at the start of lap 39.

The order of the top 10 at the start of lap 39 was as follows: Piastri, Norris, Leclerc, Verstappen, Russell, Albon, Hamilton, Lawson, Bortoleto and Gasly.

The end of the chase

By lap 41, the gap between Piastri and Norris was 4.2 seconds, with the Briton still closing in rapidly.

The skies started to turn cloudy again as the race neared its finish, with McLaren advising Piastri there could be a few “drops” at turn 1 on the final lap.

As they crossed the line to start the penultimate lap, the gap was 3.1 sefonds – but Norris made yet another crucial mistake heading into La Source, going wide and losing over two seconds to his championship rival, effectively ending his chase.

Piastri eased his way through the final lap, to somewhat comfortably win his first Belgian GP, 3.4 seconds ahead of his team-mate and title rival. Charles Leclerc completed the podium, 1.5s clear of Max Verstappen in P4. George Russell finished in a lonely P5, ahead os Albon, Hamilton, Lawson, Bortoleto and Gasly rounding out the top 10.