F1. Belgium 2025 Review

By Gavin Huet, Chelsea Wintle, Aiden McLaughlin, and Graeme Woolf

Driver of the Weekend

Gavin: I am torn between race winner Oscar Piastri and Lewis Hamilton. Oscar for lining teammate Lando Norris up, letting him make a defensive move, and then breezing past him on the first lap. And Lewis for starting 16th and finishing 7th. Slicing through the pack in wet conditions was a thing of beauty and if it wasn’t for the “lift and coast” instructions I think he may have ended up fighting former team mate George Russell for 5th by the end of the day. Ultimately I think Lewis deserves it for getting a car he is not happy with to perform the way it did. It shows the value of drivers like him and Max Verstappen and how they can operate on different levels to others.

Chelsea: Much as I’d love to give it to Lewis for slicing through from 17th to 7th, the race still belonged to Oscar Piastri. With few exceptions, the Australian seems genuinely in control of his races, calmly giving feedback to his race engineer, and simply getting the job done. In contrast, Norris seems almost erratic, unsure, and at times unlucky. Piastri pulled off a pass with the calmness of a man ironing socks, then held his position – and tyres – steady to bring home the win. Kind of boring, but all the more impressive for it.

Aiden: Honourable mention for Lewis Hamilton who overcame a disastrous qualifying on Saturday to finish P7 after starting in the pitlane, but over the whole weekend, Piastri takes the spoils. Fastest in FP1, pole for the sprint, P2 in the sprint, second in qualifying for the race and then an early pass against Lando Norris to set up the race win. He’s put the disappointment of Silverstone behind him and again shown his mental strength and driving ability to increase his lead at the top of the drivers championship to 16 points.

Graeme: I could say Lewis Hamilton here after he made a great call to pit before everyone else to get off the wet tyres and onto mediums, thus making up 6 places in 1 lap. But I’m going for Alex Albon. He’s had a mostly consistent year this year and to finish in the top 6 is another great result for the Williams team who are ensconced in 5 th place in the Constructors Championship race. When they signed Carlos Sainz this time last year, it was assumed that he’d carry that team upwards, but Sainz has struggled, and Albon has been the senior driver based on performance this year. So, he gets his chocolates from me this week.

 

Talking Point

Gavin: Surely the only talking point is “what the hell use is a wet weather tyre if it can’t be used”… We are now at the point where the wet weather tyre cannot be used as it displaces too much water thereby making visibility an issue which makes racing dangerous, so if the conditions call for the wet weather tyre then the race is halted anyway. I get that the Race Director has to be cautious, especially at a track such as Spa Francochamps which has a history of claiming lives and ending careers in the wet, but I am sure that the race could have been started earlier… Maybe everyone needed to do 5 laps behind the safety car with the wet weather tyres to displace the water safely, then they could be released to race and juggle the conditions and the change to dry tyres at which point DRS would be enabled? It is a fine line and I am not sure they got it right this weekend.

Chelsea: Lewis Hamilton was the first to pit and move to medium tyres, and what a move it was. He sliced through the field, harking back five years when you knew you could never count the man out, no matter how low he started. Definitely a highlight for me, and hopefully will put a spring in his step given the rest of his weekend was miserable.

Aiden: As viewers, we love a wet race; it’s a chance for the normal order of things to be mixed up. If you’re a driver that struggles to score points or get on the podium, it’s the day you should dream of, the leveller than might just make the difference. But if you’re working in race control, it’s a different matter. Safety is paramount and in a sport that’s had far too many deaths over the years, you can’t blame officials for erring on the side of caution. The weekend started with the recognition and memory that Pierre Gasly lost his close friend Anthoine Hubert in an F2 crash at Spa six years ago, which occurred in the dry, but exposed the lack of visibility at the top of the Raidillon climb even in good conditions. Safety must always come first, and if that doesn’t favour the rain friendly set-up of Max Verstappen’s Red Bull, that’s just tough.

Graeme: If I had a dollar for each time they mentioned Christian Horner’s name at Spa, I’d be a pretty happy amateur F1 reviewer right now. It’s like he was there, even though as we know, he wasn’t, for the first time in 20 years at an F1 race weekend. His shadow certainly loomed large though and it’ll be interesting to see where he pops up next, because no doubt he will. I must admit, after Max Verstappen won the sprint, it was weird not hearing him come on the radio to tell Max what a great drive he’d had and how wonderful he was.

 

Gossip Time

Gavin: So much has happened since the British GP but it also feels like an age since Christian Horner was sacked and the Red Bull merry-go-round kicked off. After years of treating drivers like disposable items the end of the Horner era at Red Bull is quite fittingly in the same mould. Before qualifying Red Bull announced that Yuki Tsunoda would get the same floor as Max Verstappen and this was always planned, well it was news to Yuki and it seemingly allowed him to qualify in 7th. This then led to a load of conspiracy theories that former team principal Christian Horner had held these upgrades back for whatever reason but now Laurent Mekies was in charge it would be all different. Unfortunately no one told the racing gods and Yuki finished the race in 13th whereas Max started and ended in 4th. Personally I don’t there there will be an immediate change of fortune for Red Bull and their second driver just because of a team structure shuffle, the conspiracy theories make no sense – surely Christian wouldn’t want Red Bull to be a one car team and if they had more points from the second driver his position as team principal would have been stronger?

Chelsea: Now the shock of Christian Horner’s abrupt dismissal has worn off, it’s a little bit hard to imagine anything remotely qualifying as “hot gossip”. Still, I did raise an eyebrow this week as new RBs Team Principal Alan Permane appeared to actively, and voluntarily, take part in a humorous meme video for the team’s socials. Given Permane is possibly most famous for screaming bloody murder at notorious potty-mouth Kimi Raikkonen, and generally being taciturn, prickly or even difficult to work with – I did not anticipate this. Long may it remain – I think he makes an excellent straight man to his two young larrikins.

Aiden: We can officially forget the thought of Max Verstappen leaving Red Bull at the end of this year. He could have activated a release clause if he was outside the top three in the drivers championship at the start of the summer break, but with George Russell 28 points behind the Dutchman in fourth, Verstappen can’t be overtaken in Hungary this weekend. Now we can all concentrate on where he might potentially go in 2027; there is thought to be a further clause in his contract that can be activated if he is outside the top two in the F1 drivers championship next summer.

Graeme: Why did they wait so long to race? Is F1 getting soft? After some rain during the grid walk and set up stages of the day, to me it seemed odd that they then paused the race for an hour and then started behind the safety car for a number of laps, when the track looked raceable. With Silverstone and that rain not being far in the rear view mirror, the inconsistencies of the FIA came to the forefront this weekend. It rained a lot more there than it did at Spa, yet they carried on racing whereas here they couldn’t start? Let them bloody well race I say! It’s not tiddlywinks.

 

Looking Ahead

Gavin: Next up is the Hungaroring followed by the summer break. Which one of the McLaren drivers, or Macca Boys as Martin Brundle called them, will go into the summer break the happier? It really is their championship, no other driver or team is close now and I suspect that the summer break will mean a reset for the rest of the teams as they concentrate on their new regulation 2026 cars. Or will Ferrari and Red Bull dominate at a track more suited to their cars? And surely Mercedes have to do better? And I won’t mention Williams.

Chelsea: Yuki Tsunoda saw some real improvements this weekend. In race qualifying he was only four tenths of Max Verstappen, and started in a hopeful 7th. Sadly he dropped out of the points to finish 12th, but overall he’ll be encouraged, especially given his very recent working relationship with his new team principal. Both RBs also impressed at times, with Lawson getting props for finishing eighth, and Hadjar looking good before mechanical issues dropped him back to 20th. Good start for both teams under new leadership, or just a lucky (Spa) break? Tune in next week, etc.

Aiden: Just one more race this weekend in Hungary, before the summer break and the obvious question is, can Piastri extend his championship lead or can Norris narrow the gap. After that, 10 rounds remain to see which of the McLaren drivers will claim their first world title.

Graeme: Hungary next weekend and another chance for McLaren to extend their substantial lead in the Constructors. This is the race last year where Lando Norris’ team were pleading with him to let Oscar Piastri past after they swapped over earlier in the race, and Lando dragged out the process for a good 15-20 laps, which was quite comical. It wasn’t the ideal way for Piastri to win his first ever race. Hopefully we get more drama this week.

Bonus Picture(s)

Follow Chelsea   Aiden Gavin and  Graeme on Twitter