Verstappen on a charge, Leclerc flustered

New York Times

7 days ago

Dominant McLaren grabbed another 1-2, as Spa-Francorchamps hosted round 13 of the 2025 Formula One world championship Getty Images
Oscar Piastri has won the 2025 Belgian Grand Prix, despite a delayed start of 80 minutes due to rain at Spa-Francorchamps.
Lando Norris qualified on pole but the race began with a rolling start behind the safety car due to the wet conditions.
Then once the racing began, Piastri produced a brilliant move to grab a race lead that he held to the checkered flag.
Charles Leclerc completed the podium, while Lewis Hamilton recovered to finish P7 after a disastrous qualifying saw his Ferrari start 18th.
F1 returns next weekend with the Hungarian Grand Prix.
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Belgian Grand Prix briefing: Piastri wins, Hamilton impresses after chaotic start Getty Images
LAP 39/44 — Max Verstappen sensing a potential podium as he starts pushing Charles Leclerc in third.
The gap is close to within one second and DRS range now. Max chasing, which is never good news — and listening to team radio, it sounds like Leclerc is rattled.
Or at least, he wants to be left to it.
LAP 38/44 — Six laps to go and Lando Norris is starting to take a few tenths per lap out of his teammate.
The gap is inside six seconds now.
There's also a suggestion that we could yet get some more rain. The question is, will it come before the checkered flag…
LAP 35/44 — And Oscar Piastri agrees with his team. The Australian will try to make these medium tires last the course.
This will help too. Lando Norris locks up at La Source and loses a little more time.
The gap remains at eight seconds, and Norris' engineer tells him these tires are starting to get tricky. Getty Images
Lando Norris is starting to make more inroads on Oscar Piastri, taking six-tenths out of him on that last lap.
Piastri is told on the radio McLaren still thinks the best bet is to go to the end on this set of mediums.
If Piastri is to consider another stop, he needs to do it sooner than later.
LAP 33/44 — Lewis Hamilton now within 0.5 seconds of Alex Albon in P6. He has DRS…
LAP 32/44 — It was 1.2 seconds that the Pouhon mistake cost Lando Norris, as he was forced to take the escape road on the inside.
Make a note of that loss and check back at the checkered flag.
It does currently look like we'll get through all 44 laps here, for the record. Unless something shakes up the rhythm.
There are cars starting to pit onto a second set of medium tires too. So if Oscar Piastri did want to pit, it would have to be soon...
LAP 31/44 — Lando Norris was close to getting within seven seconds of Oscar Piastri. Then the gap leapt out to more than nine seconds, owing to a small mistake at Pouhon.
That was a few laps ago and now Norris is starting to take big chunks out of his teammate's advantage again, getting back to 8.3 seconds — which is where we were a while ago.
If he can keep up that chomping, he will make some serious inroads.
Meanwhile, McLaren seems happy for Piastri to stay out and Piastri seems happy with his tire wear so far.
So finely poised, this. Getty Images
LAP 28/44 — Nice little move from Kimi Antonelli up the inside of Fernando Alonso at Les Combes.
That's the youngest driver on the grid taking the oldest.
Antonelli getting up to P14, which is a healthy improvement for the under pressure Mercedes driver.
LAP 24/44 — Fascinating radio exchange for Oscar Piastri, who is effectively told by his team that it's his call whether he pits again or tries to get his medium tires to the end of the race — which would appear to be a stretch.
We don't even know if Lando Norris' hard tires will make it that far.
It does seem strange that the McLaren engineers wouldn't have an idea over what to do for the best, rather than leaving it up to the driver.
It's going to make for a fascinating climax to this race though.
The gap between the leading McLarens remains a little over eight seconds.
Lewis Hamilton is clearly up for this fight. He's on the radio asking about the gap to Alex Albon ahead, seemingly frustrated he can't seem to get closer than the one-second margin right now.
His engineer has told him to lift and coast. Hamilton replied:
💬 'Have we got a problem?!'
To which Riccardo Adami said:
💬 'No.' Getty Images
LAP 21/44 — Gabriel Bortoleto is on the Sauber team radio pleading to be let through as he says is quicker than Nico Hülkenberg ahead of him.
The team agrees in the end.
It's P9 and P10 for the two Saubers, which I'm sure they'd take at the checkered flag too.
Still dry and all fine out there right now, which is great news!
But everyone will know that could change quite quickly.
LAP 19/44 — Lando Norris may be on slower tires in theory, but he is flying on them too. He has the fastest lap so far with a 1:46.865s
The gap between him and Oscar Piastri up ahead is now 8.3s.
Sadly for Lewis Hamilton, his progress seems to have slowed down — although P7 will still be an excellent result.
We're not at half-race distance yet though, of course.
LAP 16/44 — The extra lap and a slow stop with the left front, has caused Lando Norris to fall nine seconds back from Oscar Piastri at the very front.
But running the hard tire might give Norris a chance to go to the end without pitting, while Piastri on mediums may need another stop as they're not designed to last as long.
Could be decisive in the battle for the win, but the McLaren is very good at managing its tires.
LAP 15/44 — Perfect pit call by Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari there. He's already up to P10, having been P13 before pitting.
I think he'll gain another three spots once Yuki Tsunoda, Isack Hadjar and Esteban Ocon all come in too.
And he has. It's P7 now, and chasing Alex Albon… Getty Images
LAP 14/44 — Those cars still on inters: Yuki Tsunoda, Isack Hadjar and Esteban Ocon.
Lando Norris has just pitted, and put on the hard tire.
The remaining three come in now too.
Norris is the only car on the hard tire. Everyone else on the medium. Big call.
LAP 13/44 — Here it comes. Oscar Piastri comes in for mediums too. Lando Norris will have to stay out as there's no chance of doing a double stack and getting both McLarens in.
DRS has been enabled for the first time too.
Only four cars left on the intermediate tires now.
LAP 12/44 — And now Lewis Hamilton takes the gamble. He's one of the first cars to go onto slicks, and the medium tire at that.
Let's see how that pace looks now.
Nico Hülkenberg, Pierre Gasly and Fernando Alonso also on the medium tire. Everyone else still on the inters. Getty Images
LAP 12/44 — Only the McLarens are quicker than Lewis Hamilton right now.
Keep an eye on him.
LAP 10/44 — Oscar Piastri reports that it's only the straight to Turn 5 that is wet at the moment, and it may not be far off being able to switch to slicks...