Oscar Piastri breezes past Lando Norris to claim Belgian Grand Prix victory
The start of the 13th round in Spa-Francorchamps was delayed by one hour and 20 minutes due to heavy rain in the Ardennes.
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But when it eventually got under way – following four precautionary laps behind the safety car – Norris was found wanting when a sloppy exit at the opening La Source corner provided Piastri with a race-winning opportunity too good to turn down.
OSCAR MAKES IT SIX GRAND PRIX VICTORIES THIS SEASON! 🏆
#McLaren
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#BelgianGP
🇧🇪
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— McLaren (@McLarenF1)
July 27, 2025
Despite being in Norris' spray, Piastri held his nerve and kept his foot on the accelerator at 170mph up through Eau Rouge and into Raidillon before jinking to his left and sailing clear of his McLaren team-mate on the Kemmel Straight.
It was brave and superb in equal measure from Piastri but one Norris will be disappointed after seeing the his rival's championship advantage increase from nine points to 16 ahead of the final round before the summer break in Hungary next weekend.
Norris crossed the line 3.4 seconds behind Piastri with Charles Leclerc third for Ferrari.
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Red Bull's Max Verstappen finished fourth, one place clear of Mercedes driver George Russell with Alex Albon an impressive sixth in his Williams.
Lewis Hamilton started 18th and finished seventh following a string of fine moves in the early inclement conditions.
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@LewisHamilton
drives from the pit lane to the points in P7, amazing work! 👏
pic.twitter.com/EDIBxsFO8r
— Scuderia Ferrari HP (@ScuderiaFerrari)
July 27, 2025
At one point, there were fears the race – initially pencilled in for a start time of 3pm locally – could be abandoned after it was suspended following the formation lap due to poor visibility. Verstappen described the decision as 'silly' and 'too cautious'.
However, there have been 49 fatalities at this track in the last 100 years – most recently Dutch 18-year-old Dilano Van 't Hoff in 2023. And race director Rui Marques could be excused for taking that grizzly statistic into his consideration.
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The drivers returned to their respective garages, and as the rain lashed down, memories were cast back to the event in 2021 – one which was abandoned after only two laps behind the safety car.
But the grey skies parted, the sun broke through, and at 16:20, pole-sitter Norris emerged on track, albeit behind the safety car, to huge cheers from the record-breaking crowd with 389,000 spectators over the last three days.
With visibility quickly improving, the safety car peeled in after four laps, and Norris bunched up the pack before attempting to put distance between himself and Piastri.
McLaren's Lando Norris leads the race with team-mate Oscar Piastri behind. Photo: Bradley Collyer/PA.
The advantage was in Norris's hands with Piastri having to navigate his team-mate's spray. But a scrappy exit at La Source from the Briton provided Piastri with the momentum and he soared past Norris and into the lead.
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Piastri was 1.5 seconds quicker than Norris on the first racing lap leaving the Englishman – who arrived here hoping to claim a hat-trick of wins – facing a mammoth and improbable task.
Further back and Hamilton, armed with a new engine, passed both Carlos Sainz and Franco Colapinto in only a handful of corners before breezing clear of Nico Hulkenberg on lap eight for 14th. That became 13th a lap later following a fine move on Pierre Gasly.
On lap 11, Hamilton, who had described his Q1 elimination on Saturday as 'unacceptable', was then the first of the major players to move to the slick tyres. A slingshot manouvere on Liam Lawson in the moments after he left the pits promoted him to a net seventh when it all shook out.
Oscar enjoyed that one 💪
#F1
#BelgianGP
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— Formula 1 (@F1)
July 27, 2025
In came leader Piastri for dry tyres on lap 12, with Norris in on the next lap. Norris took on the hardest tyre compound – the only driver to do so – in the hope that Piastri's medium rubber would not make it to the end.
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But in a blow to Norris, Piastri's rubber lasted all 44 laps as he claimed his sixth win of the season – two more than the Briton – with the championship momentum swinging back to the Australian.
Norris said: 'Oscar just did a good job and there is nothing more to say. He committed more through Eau Rouge and got the slipstream so there is nothing to complain about. He did a better job at the beginning and there was nothing more I could do after that point.'
Piastri said: 'I knew lap one would be my best chance of winning the race. I got a good exit from the first corner and lifted as little as I dared through Eau Rouge.
'I was disappointed it was a rolling start because I thought that would take away the opportunity. But when I was that close I knew I would lift a little bit less than Lando did. It was lively up the hill, but I managed to make it stick.'
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Oscar Piastri secured victory at the rain-affected Belgian Grand Prix, extending his championship lead over McLaren team-mate Lando Norris. The start of the 13th round at Spa-Francorchamps was delayed by 80 minutes due to heavy rain and poor visibility. Piastri overtook pole-sitter Norris on the first racing lap with a committed move through Eau Rouge and up the Kemmel Straight. Norris admitted Piastri showed more commitment and deserved the win, acknowledging his own 'scrappy exit' from the opening corner. Race officials exercised caution due to the track's history of fatalities, including Dutch 18-year-old Dilano Van 't Hoff in 2023.
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Instead, the new normal for Red Bull without Christian Horner, their long-serving former team principal and CEO, was rather similar to the old one; Verstappen did not have the pace to challenge the McLarens and was stuck behind the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc in third, with Verstappen eventually finishing fourth. The most notable difference was perhaps on the grid, with Verstappen's father Jos — who had been openly critical of Horner — relaxed and stood alongside new team principal Laurent Mekies. It was the first grand prix in 405 events (and Red Bull's entire race history) that Horner had not attended. On lap five, racing began in earnest with a rolling start after Norris, on pole, was one of those to report on the radio that one side of the grid was drier than the other, suggesting a standing start would not be fair. It did him little favour though — as having used much of his battery pack on the restart, he was easily passed by his team-mate Piastri on the Kemmel Straight. 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Hamilton had very little to lose after what he described as a 'weekend to forget', having spun his car in sprint qualifying, finishing 15th in that short-format race, and then been eliminated from the first session of main qualifying after exceeding track limits at Raidillon. He called it an 'unacceptable' individual error.
