Category: Motor Racing

It was a masterclass from Max Verstappen as the Red Bull driver took a commanding win over Lando Norris to be victorious at the Italian Grand Prix, Monza.

Lando Norris, who had given up his place in the McLaren pitstop queue to teammate Oscar Piastri after the two went long into the race on medium tyres, suffered a slow stop – prompting McLaren to restore the previous order when Piastri went past into second.

For a time, Norris had led the race after fighting with polesitter Verstappen off the line. Verstappen had been asked to give up the lead to Norris as the McLaren driver felt he was pushed towards grass into Turn 1, but ultimately held the inside line. As Verstappen preserved the lead by skipping across the first chicane, he did ceded control to Norris at the start of the next lap.

However, Verstappen remained within DRS range of Norris, and got a run at the start of lap four to return the favour into the opening corner. From there, Norris dropped back to the one-second buffer as Verstappen began to put together a series of quick laps to build a break over the field.

The defending champion continued to stretch the gap over Norris over the subsequent 30 laps, around a six-second lead and maintaining that gap as Norris tried to find a way back into the mix.

Verstappen made his single stop at the end of lap 37 to trade his aged mediums for a set of hards, while McLaren attempted to go longer in an effort to gain on a safety car and take softs late on.

However, this plan did not appear to be forthcoming. Norris offered teammate Piastri the chance to stop first for softs on lap 45, which proved to be a bad call as Lando then endured a slow stop (front left) on lap 46.

McLaren then elected to reverse the positions, noting last year’s Budapest race in its message to Piastri – who offered some resistance but he did obliged in letting Norris pass.

The decision to go long helped Verstappen extend his net lead, as he was given full control to extend his advantage on the hard tyres – ending with a 19.2 seconds gap over Norris.

With Norris ahead of Piastri, the McLaren drivers finished behind Verstappen on the podium after their switch of position, ahead of Charles Leclerc, who had successfully converted his fourth-placed grid position.

Leclerc had got past Piastri at the start of the race, although had been dispatched again by the championship leader on that opening lap as he went back past at the first Lesmo. Charles got back past on the following lap, forcing Piastri to take a more patient approach – and he duly repassed Leclerc on the sixth lap.

George Russell was fifth over Lewis Hamilton, who recovered to sixth after dealing with a five-place grid penalty for a yellow-flag infringement last week at Zandvoort.

Alex Albon went long and claimed seventh, as Gabriel Bortoleto moved up to eighth with Andrea Kimi Antonelli given a five-second penalty for driving erratically. Isack Hadjar completed the top ten over Carlos Sainz, who suffered a Turn 4 contact with Ollie Bearman – both drivers quickly got going again.

So congratulations to Max Verstappen in winning at Monza. After setting a new track record in qualifying, the four-time world champion drove a commanding race to finish in P1.

Italian Grand Prix, race results:
1 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1:13:24.325
2 Lando Norris McLaren +19.207s
3 Oscar Piastri McLaren +21.351s
4 Charles Leclerc Ferrari +25.624s
5 George Russell Mercedes +32.881s
6 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari +37.449s
7 Alexander Albon Williams +50.537s
8 Gabriel Bortoleto Sauber +58.484s
9 Andrea Kimi Antonelli Mercedes +59.762s
10 Isack Hadjar Racing Bulls +63.891s
11 Carlos Sainz Williams +64.469s
12 Oliver Bearman Haas +79.288s
13 Yuki Tsunoda Red Bull +80.701s
14 Liam Lawson Racing Bulls +82.351s
15 Esteban Ocon Haas +1 lap
16 Pierre Gasly Alpine +1 lap
17 Franco Colapinto Alpine +1 lap
18 Lance Stroll Aston Martin +1 lap
Fernando Alonso Aston Martin DNF
Nico Hulkenberg Sauber DNS

Max Verstappen has achieved his 45th career pole position in Formula 1 by taking P1 at Monza, beating both McLarens.

The Red Bull driver sets a new lap time around the Temple of Speed with one minute, 19.792 seconds. Initially Lando Norris was quickest but Verstappen found the extra pace to go ahead in the final moment in Q3.

Verstappen bounced onto the scene in Q2 and set the fastest time in the middle stage, demonstrating strong pace in the high-speed first and third sectors following Red Bull’s decision to trim the RB21 out.

Norris struggled through the middle segment of qualifying with the McLaren driver had to abort an earlier effort and was instructed to set a banker lap before two cool laps, ahead of a final push.

That final effort ensured that Norris, who had dropped into the bottom five of Q2 through Hamilton’s escape from the elimination zone, could breathe a sigh of relief.

Norris did not set a particularly fast first effort in Q3, and was almost half a second off Verstappen’s opening time of one minute, 18.923 seconds. He was able to recover, however, and briefly went at the top with his follow-up one minute, 18.869 seconds.

Verstappen then reasserted his authority with a lap time of one minute, 18.792 seconds, showcasing a significant turnaround in Red Bull’s fortunes at Monza after last year’s tricky weekend.

Dutch Grand Prix winner Oscar Piastri was third fastest, just over a tenth behind his teammate, and will start alongside Charles Leclerc in Sunday’s Italian Grand Prix.

Leclerc set a time of one minute, 19.007 seconds in his opening Q3 effort, but was unable to spark celebrations from the home fans – tifosi – in his second run.

Lewis Hamilton was fifth fastest over George Russell, whose request to run with mediums in Q3 was denied. And yet Hamilton will drop down to P10 following a five-place grid penalty for not slowing down in yellow conditions at Zandvoort.

Andrea Kimi Antonelli qualified seventh. Gabriel Bortoleto, Fernando Alonso, and Yuki Tsunoda completed the top ten – the latter used to help Verstappen on his opening run of Q3.

Oliver Bearman dropped out in Q2 at the last minute at the expense of Norris. Bearman was just 0.3 seconds off Verstappen’s Q2 best, while Nico Hulkenberg also fell off and is outqualified once more by teammate Bortoleto.

The practice promise from Williams was not delivered as neither Carlos Sainz and Alexander Albon could do enough to improve in the final runs and could only manage P13 and P14, while Esteban Ocon’s session also ran aground in Q2.

Dutch Grand Prix podium finisher Isack Hadjar was unable to achieve his Zandvoort best qualifying performance and was knocked out in Q1 by Albon, in an extraordinarily tight, competitive session. The Racing Bulls driver was only 0.5 seconds away from George Russell’s first-stage qualifying time.

Albon beat Hadjar out of the top 15 by 0.08 seconds, but he was able to get P15 himself as he escaped the drop. Hadjar is set to take a penalty for a change in power unit components for Sunday’s race, and his lowly result will have made the decision easier.

Lance Stroll improved on his final run but was unable to get out of the bottom five, a fate which affected Alpine pair Franco Colapinto and Pierre Gasly. Liam Lawson was slowest, having aborted his final run.

So congratulations to Max Verstappen in taking pole position at Monza beating the Papayas. It will be interesting if Red Bull has the race pace to challenge McLaren for the race win.

Italian Grand Prix, qualifying positions:
1 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1:18.792
2 Lando Norris McLaren 1:18.869
3 Oscar Piastri McLaren 1:18.982
4 Chalres Leclerc Ferrari 1:19.007
5 George Russell Mercedes 1:19.157
6 Andrea Kimi Antonelli Mercedes 1:19.200
7 Gabriel Bortoleto Sauber 1:19.390
8 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin 1:19.424
9 Yuki Tsunoda Red Bull 1:19.519
10 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari 1:19.124*
11 Oliver Bearman Haas 1:19.446
12 Nico Hulkenberg Sauber 1:19.498
13 Carlos Sainz Williams 1:19.528
14 Alexander Albon Williams 1:19.583
15 Esteban Ocon Haas 1:19.707
16 Isack Hadjar Racing Bulls 1:19.917
17 Lance Stroll Aston Martin 1:19.948
18 Franco Colapinto Alpine 1:19.992
19 Pierre Gasly Alpine 1:20.103
20 Liam Lawson Racing Bulls 1:20.279
*Five-place grid penalty

Oscar Piastri scored an important race victory at Zandvoort as his main championship rival and teammate Lando Norris was forced to retire with a mechanical issue in the McLaren.

The home fan favourite Max Verstappen finished in second position for Red Bull and yet Isack Hadjar achieved his first podium result in Formula 1 with an impressive third place for Racing Bulls. The late non-finish from Norris promoted both Verstappen and Hadjar to the podium places.

Piastri and Norris looked set to score a straightforward fifth consecutive 1-2 finish for McLaren after Oscar kept his lead into Turn 1 with Lando recovering the position he lost to Red Bull’s Max Verstappen.

But on lap 65 of 72 Norris started reporting smoke from the cockpit before parking his McLaren MCL39 by the side of the track.

After the third safety car, Piastri led Verstappen home while Racing Bulls rookie Isack Hadfar scored a spectacular maiden Formula 1 podium.

Before the start McLaren team boss Andrea Stella warned of a powerful weapon Red Bull had at its disposal in the shape of a fresh set of soft tyres, and Verstappen immediately proved it was not just chatter to talk up the competition.

At the start, Max powered on by the orange wave of home support, went around the outside of Norris into Turn 1 aka Tarzan. Verstappen went wide on the exit, but somehow still managed to make the move stick despite getting out of shape through Turns 2 and 3.

Verstappen’s overtake in the slower Red Bull was exactly what leader Piastri wanted to see, as he quickly went four seconds clear until Norris managed to challenge around the outside of Turn 1 on lap 9.

Norris chased towards Piastri while drivers were informed of the imminent threat of light rain around the windy seaside circuit, bringing the gap down to three seconds when Piastri started reporting drops of rain on lap 15.

At that point Verstappen had already gone passed 12 seconds as his powerful weapon was not working, the immediate benefit of his softer tyres turning into a longer-term tyre wear disadvantage.

That was reflected by medium-starting Racing Bulls driver Hadjar keeping Verstappen within reach as the impressive rookie kept a train with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, Mercedes driver George Russell and the second Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton.

That three drivers only lasted until lap 24, when Hamilton crashed out at the exit of the high-banked Turn 3, bringing out a full safety car.

Leclerc ended up a victim of his teammate’s mistake, too, as he had just made his first pitstop under green-flag conditions while the other frontrunners completed a cheaper stop, with Russell coming out ahead in fifth.

The order on the lap 26 restart was Piastri, Norris, Verstappen, Hadjar, Russell and Leclerc, with Verstappen switching to the mediums while every other car in the field picked the hard Pirellis.

On the fourth lap of green running Hadjar’s teammate Liam Lawson and Williams driver Carlos Sainz came together, with the pair having to dive back into the pits with damage. Sainz was not impressed, calling the Lawson “so stupid”, but it was Carlos who had a 10-second penalty.

A brief virtual safety car was called to remove debris from the race track on the main straight, before the on-track drama continued at the front.

On lap 33 Leclerc made a dramatic lunge on Russell to take fifth, appearing to have cut the apex of Turn 3 to barge his way past.

At the front it was looking good for McLaren, with Piastri controlling a two-second lead to Norris, who was told by his race engineer to try and overtake his teammate in the fear of any strategic options.

Hadjar continued shadowing Verstappen for a maiden podium spot, with the Racing Bulls man on a harder-tyre compound that he hoped would pay off towards the end of the race.

With Leclerc’s overtake being investigated after the race, Mercedes tried a different tactic to put pressure on the Ferrari driver. It first issued team orders to let Antonelli past Russell, and then brought Kimi in for an aggressive second stop on soft tyres.

How that would have worked out compared to Russell we will never know, as Leclerc covered Antonelli’s stop on the following lap and the pair came to contact a few corners later, with Antonelli tagging Leclerc into a race-ending spin in Turn 3 and earning himself a 10-second penalty.

Under the resulting safety car most of the field came in to switch to a fresh set of tyres for the 15-lap dash to the chequered flag. Piastri and Norris picked up fresh hards while Verstappen went to used softs, but the Red Bull driver could not benefit enough to put Norris under threat.

But on lap 65 Norris suffered a dramatic mechanical failure on his McLarene, in a harsh blow to his title hopes. Norris held his head in his hands on the grassy knoll overlooking the Zandvoort circuit as he witnessed Piastri scoring his seventh win of the 2025 season.

Verstappen had nothing for Piastri on the final restart and settled for second on home ground, narrowly ahead of impressive Hadjar, who grabbed a breakthrough podium after a faultless weekend that saw him qualify fourth.

Russell was third ahead of Alex Albon, who recovered from a poor qualifying with an excellent comeback drive.

Oliver Bearman also recovered from a pitlane start to take an unexpected sixth position, beating Aston Martin duo Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso.

Yuki Tsunoda was promoted into the points, with Esteban Ocon claiming the final point in P10 for Haas.

Piastri now heads to next weekend’s Italian Grand Prix in Monza with a 34-point lead. It will be fascinating how Lando Norris can recover following this non-finish at Zandvoort.

Dutch Grand Prix, race results:
1 Oscar Piastri McLaren 1:38:29.849
2 Max Verstappen Red Bull +1.271s
3 Isack Hadjar Racing Bulls +3.233s
4 George Russell Mercedes +5.654s
5 Alexander Albon Williams +6.327s
6 Oliver Bearman Haas +9.044s
7 Lance Stroll Aston Martin +9.497s
8 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin +11.709s
9 Yuki Tsunoda Racing Bulls +13.597s
10 Esteban Ocon Haas +14.063s
11 Franco Colapinto Alpine +14.511s
12 Liam Lawson Racing Bulls +17.063s
13 Carlos Sainz Williams +17.376s
14 Nico Hulkenberg Sauber +19.725s
15 Gabriel Bortoleto Sauber +21.565s
16 Andrea Kimi Antonelli Mercedes +22.029s
17 Pierre Gasly Alpine +23.629s
Lando Norris McLaren DNF
Chalres Leclerc Ferrari DNF
Lewis Hamilton Ferrari DNF

Championship leader Oscar Piastri edges out ahead of his McLaren teammate Lando Norris by a tiny margin of 0.012 seconds to take pole position for the Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort.

Although Norris had been the fastest of the two Papaya drivers over the course of the weekend, Piastri just got ahead of his title rival on the first run of Q3.

Qualifying was held in sunny conditions after overnight rain had washed away some of the grip on offer at Zandvoort’s spectacular seaside circuit.

In the deciding top ten shootout Piastri set the benchmark on the first of two runs, besting Norris by a mere 0.012 seconds with his lap time of one minute, 08.662 seconds thanks to marginally quicker first and third sectors.

Neither McLaren driver was able to find any improvement on the second Q3 run, with Piastri keeping P1. In doing so he moves ahead of his teammate with five poles for the 2025 season, compared to four for Norris, who trails him by nine points in the drivers’ championship.

Underlining McLaren’s dominance, Max Verstappen gave it a go in the Red Bull but was only to fall four tenths behind in third after the first run, with George Russell conceding six tenths to the McLarens in his Mercedes.

But Verstappen then delivered a promising second sector on his final run to cut the time gap to Piastri to a quarter of a second. Isack Hadjar also producing a solid qualifying effort in his Racing Bulls to be with Verstappen on row two, the rookie bumping Russell down to fifth with his second lap.

Lewis Hamilton had made an encouraging start by being 0.010 seconds faster than Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc on run one, but unlike Leclerc he could not find any more lap time on his final attempt, with Leclerc claiming sixth ahead of the seven-time world champion.

Liam Lawson was eighth, with Carlos Sainz and Fernando Alonso rounding out the top ten.

Norris had earlier led the way in Q2 with a lap of one minute, 08.874 seconds, less than a tenth clear of Piastri, with Verstappen a quarter of a second in third.

Having set his first lap on used soft tyres, Fernando Alonso was on the outside of the top ten looking in, needing to find just 0.005 seconds to move his way back into Q3.

On better tyres Alonso did so and grabbed seventh as the last driver over the line. Lawson also joined Hadjar in the top ten at the end, knocking out Andrea Kimi Antonelli and Yuki Tsunoda.

Antonelli fell just 0.019 seconds short of Carlos Sainz at the end of an extremely tight session, meaning the Williams driver booked a place in Q3 for the first time since Imola.

Sauber rookie Gabriel Bortoleto, Alpine’s Pierre Gasly and a frustrated Alex Albon were also eliminated, with Albon blaming the team’s tyre preparation.

The McLarens were out in front in Q1 as well, but Piastri took top position ahead of Norris for the first time over the Zandvoort weekend. Russell narrowly edged Verstappen for third, with the pair three tenths behind.

Tsunoda once again came under pressure, having been knocked out of Q1 four times this season, but the Red Bull driver was able to get a Q2 spot, while Alpine’s Franco Colapinto missed the cut-off by less than a tenth compared to Bortoleto.

Bortoleto also beat experienced teammate Nico Hulkenberg for the fifth time in a row in regular qualifying – the sixth time including sprint qualifying. The Hulk took P17, ahead of Haas duo Esteban Ocon and Oliver Bearman.

Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll was unable to set a lap time after a crash in Turn 3. He also shunted on Friday, dropping a wheel onto the grass at the entry to Turn 13 and spun into the barriers.

So an exciting qualifying battle between the McLaren drivers and it was Oscar Piastri who claimed an important P1 ahead of his title rival Lando Norris. Home crowd favourite Max Verstappen is P3 with an impressive Isack Hadjar next up in the Racing Bulls.

Dutch Grand Prix, qualifying positions:
1 Oscar Piastri McLaren 1:08.662
2 Lando Norris McLaren 1:08.674
3 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1:08.925
4 Isack Hadjar Racing Bulls 1:09.208
5 George Russell Mercedes 1:09.255
6 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:09.340
7 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari 1:09.390
8 Liam Lawson Racing Bulls 1:09.500
9 Carlos Sainz Williams 1:09.505
10 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin 1:09.630
11 Andrea Kimi Antonelli Mercedes 1:09.493
12 Yuki Tsunoda Red Bull 1:09.622
13 Gabriel Bortoleto Sauber 1:09.622
14 Pierre Gasly Alpine 1:09.637
15 Alexander Albon Williams 1:09.652
16 Franco Colapinto Alpine 1:10.104
17 Nico Hulkenberg Sauber 1:10.195
18 Esteban Ocon Haas 1:10.197
19 Oliver Bearman Haas 1:10.262
20 Lance Stroll Aston Martin No time

Lando Norris takes victory in the Hungarian Grand Prix beating his McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri thanks to a single pitstop strategy.

The McLaren driver absorbed the big pressure and attacks from Piastri late in the race at Turn 1, one featuring a lock-up for the championship leader, but held on to convert a somewhat risky strategy – one arguably made possible by a difficult opening stint.

Piastri had run to a two-stop strategy in an effort to beat polesitter Charles Leclerc, who preserved the lead off the starting line and maintained it through the opening stint of the race. The Ferrari driver also been running to a two-stopper, with the rear-limited nature of the circuit expected to impose a heavy load on the tyres.

By comparison, Norris got a poor start to the race. Although the first stage of his getaway allowed him to gain on teammate Piastri, he was boxed in at the opening braking zone – thus, both George Russell and Fernando Alonso used the open outside line to gather more momentum and clear Norris into Turn 1.

Norris passed Alonso two laps later, but struggled to break down Russell. Having been on for third at best on the same two-stop strategy, Norris extended his stint and took the one-stop offered to him, pitting at the end of lap 31 – with the expectation that those ahead would need to pit again.

This proved to be the case, as Leclerc made a second visit to the pitlane on lap 40 for another set of hards, prompting McLaren to attempt to extend for more offset with Piastri’s tyres. Thus, Piastri stopped five laps later, giving the championship leader the opportunity to push the Ferrari driver.

But Leclerc was struggling at this stage. A race-long argument with his team over pre-race procedures eventually boiled down to Charles been angry and blaming his team for “losing competitiveness” through the stint. Piastri passed him for second on lap 51, and began his own chase towards Norris.

Over the next ten laps, Piastri reduced away at his teammate’s lead. The two were separated by almost nine seconds when Piastri cleared Leclerc, but this quickly fell to set up a late battle between the pair.

And, with five laps to go, Piastri was within DRS range, having caught up during the late-race traffic, and filled his teammate’s mirrors. He got close at the start on lap 68, and then went for a dive on the next lap – but locked up and had to go slightly wide into the opening corner.

Without enough momentum in the final lap, Piastri had to settle for second as Norris went across the finishing line with a margin of 0.698 seconds gap.

Behind the McLarens was George Russell, who managed to get by an aggressive Charles Leclerc. The Mercerces driver finished over 21 seconds behind the Papaya, underlining the competitive order between the McLarens and the other race cars.

Charles Leclerc received a five-second time penalty for moving under braking in his attempt to stop Russell getting by. To finish fourth is a disappointment after starting on pole.

Taking fifth is Fernando Alonso, finishing ahead of his protege Gabriel Bortoleto. The remaining points scorers are Lance Stroll, Liam Lawson, Max Verstappen and Andrea Kimi Antonelli.

So a tense finish to the race between the Papayas and yet Lando Norris did a solid job in managing his tyres after going with a single stop. More points in the constructors’ championship with McLaren scoring a 1-2 result.

The 2025 Formula 1 season now takes a summer break so the next racing action will be the Dutch Grand Prix in three weeks time.

Hungarian Grand Prix, race results:
1 Lando Norris McLaren 1:35:21.231
2 Oscar Piastri McLaren +0.698s
3 George Russell Mercedes +21.916s
4 Charles Leclerc Ferrari +42.560s
5 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin +59.040s
6 Gabriel Bortoleto Sauber +66.169s
7 Lance Stroll Aston Martin +68.174s
8 Liam Lawson Racing Bulls +69.451s
9 Max Verstappen Red Bull +72.645s
10 Andrea Kimi Antonelli Mercedes +1 lap
11 Isack Hadjar Racing Bulls +1 lap
12 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari +1 lap
13 Nico Hulkenberg Sauber +1 lap
14 Carlos Sainz Williams +1 lap
15 Alexander Albon Williams +1 lap
16 Esteban Ocon Haas +1 lap
17 Yuki Tsunoda Red Bull +1 lap
18 Franco Colapinto Alpine +1 lap
19 Pierre Gasly Alpine +1 lap
Oliver Bearman Haas DNF

Charles Leclerc will start the Hungarian Grand Prix in pole position after taking a surprising P1 for Scuderia Ferrari, beating the favourites McLaren in qualifying.

The Papaya had led both Q1 and Q2 by some margin, and Lando Norris had set a time of one minute, 14.8 seconds in the intermediate stage – but neither of them got anywhere close to that pace in their final runs in Q3.

Leclerc, meanwhile, produced a time of one minute, 15.372 seconds on his final attempt to take provisional pole, but both McLaren drivers went slower in the opening sector; Norris improved slightly to ensure he got closer to Oscar Piastri, but the championship leader could not improve, due to the change in wind direction.

Despite missing out on pole, Piastri will join Leclerc – who was evidently surprised by the result over the team radio – on the front row, while Norris has George Russell alongside him on the second row as the cooling conditions ensured Mercedes was in the mix.

Aston Martin impressed and secured fifth and sixth on the grid. Fernando Alonso was briefly ahead of Norris before the McLaren driver did his final lap, and was just 0.109 seconds off Leclerc’s pole pace. Lance Stroll lines up behind him, ahead of Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto, who made Q3 for the third time in four races.

Max Verstappen could only find a time good enough for eighth on the grid, marginally ahead of Liam Lawson and Isack Hadjar, who completed the top ten.

Lewis Hamilton was the biggest elimination in Q2 – the Ferrari driver ended the first runs of the session in P11, but had seemingly got himself into the top ten with his second effort.

But his time of one minute, 15.702 seconds was beaten by a series of drivers behind him, and was pushed further down the grid order when Verstappen and Bortoleto improved late on in the session.

Their laps also pushed Andrea Kimi Antonelli and Oliver Bearman out of the reckoning for Q3, as the Mercedes driver complained of no rear end. He qualified P11 for the race, with Bearman P12 and Hamilton P13.

Carlos Sainz and Franco Colapinto swapped places late on, but never posed a real threat to break out of Q2.

Lawson dropped Yuki Tsunoda out of Q1 at the final moment, even though the Red Bull driver was less than 0.2 seconds off teammate Verstappen.

Tsunoda was joined by Pierre Gasly in the drop zone, who was out-qualified by Colapinto for the second time this season. Esteban Ocon had been troubled by a loose screw embedded in the surface of his right-front tyre and only qualified P18 for Haas.

Nico Hulkenberg and Alexander Albon will provisionally occupy the final row on the grid. The latter looked to have a distinctly loose Williams underneath him, and was beaten handily by teammate Sainz in the session.

So a surprising pole position for Charles Leclerc. The Ferrari driver admitted he will not be that competitive compared to the McLarens at the Hungaroring, and yet Charles managed to qualify on pole. It will be interesting if he can stay in front of the Papayas as the McLaren is faster.

Hungarian Grand Prix, qualifying results:
1 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:15.372
2 Oscar Piastri McLaren 1:15.398
3 Lando Norris McLaren 1:15.413
4 George Russell Mercedes 1:15.425
5 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin 1:15.481
6 Lance Stroll Aston Martin 1:15.498
7 Gabriel Bortoleto Sauber 1:15.725
8 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1:15.728
9 Liam Lawson Racing Bulls 1:15.821
10 Isack Hadjar Racing Bulls 1:15.915
11 Oliver Bearman Haas 1:15.694
12 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari 1:15.702
13 Carlos Sainz Williams 1:15.781
14 Franco Colapinto Alpine 1:16.159
15 Andrea Kimi Antonelli Mercedes 1:16.386
16 Yuki Tsunoda Red Bull 1:15.899
17 Pierre Gasly Alpine 1:15.966
18 Esteban Ocon Haas 1:16.023
19 Nico Hulkenberg Sauber 1:16.081
20 Alexander Albon Williams 1:16.223

Oscar Piastri achieved his sixth victory of the 2025 Formula 1 season following an excellent tyre management to finish ahead of McLaren teammate and title rival Lando Norris at Spa-Francorchamps.

On different strategies, Piastri made a one-stop from intermediates to medium tyres work to stay ahead of a chasing Norris on a drying track, with Charles Leclerc finishing in front of Max Verstappen to third.

The start to the Belgian Grand Prix was suspended due to poor visibility reported by many drivers on the formation lap.

Fresh showers further affected the organisers’ efforts to get the race going so we waited for improve track conditions, but after a break in the weather there was an opportunity to start the race.

Race control eventually commenced over an hour after the original start time, at 16:20 local, with four laps behind the safety car followed by a rolling start.

As the field was released on lap 5 of 44, Norris suffered a slide out of La Source, with allowed Piastri to stick to his teammate’s gearbox with a brave run through Eau Rouge and Raidillon, before easily slipstreaming past on the Kemmel Straight to take the lead into Les Combes.

Further back, George Russell got past fifth-starting Alex Albon in the same corner on the following lap. Norris stuck with Piastri as the pair broke clear from third-placed Leclerc, who soon started holding up Verstappen with a lower downforce setup on his Ferrari.

The biggest early mover was Lewis Hamilton, who started from the pitlane with a brand-new Ferrari power unit and was flying through the midfield from P16 to P13 in the space of four laps. The seven-time world champion also made the first choice for slicks, coming in for mediums on lap 12 as did Nico Hulkenberg, Pierre Gasly and Fernando Alonso.

Hamilton immediately set a fastest second and third sector, prompting leader Piastri to come in on lap 12 followed by Leclerc and Verstappen, while Norris continued for one more lap to put him at a disadvantage to Piastri, compounded by a slower pitstop that saw him emerge eight seconds behind.

To keep Lando’s win chances intact, McLaren decided to put him on an alternate strategy on hard tyres instead, aiming to go to the end on the much more durable C1 Pirelli compared to Piastri’s medium C3s.

As the crossover to slick tyres shook out, there were no changes in position for the top six, but Hamilton’s early move worked out beautifully as he moved up to eighth, which became seventh after passing Liam Lawson.

Norris stabilised the gap to Piastri to eight seconds, with the championship leader now being challenged to make his set of mediums last until the end of the race as well.

Meanwhile, Verstappen’s challenge for Leclerc’s podium spot started to fade around the halfway mark as he struggled to stay within two seconds of the Ferrari, with Russell, Albon and Hamilton further behind.

An uneventful second half of the race turned into a battle of different strategies, with Norris starting to turn up the pace on his much slower and yet more durable hards, while Piastri was now fully committed to trying to tyre manage his mediums to the end. The final result of those two different approaches were relatively similar lap times between the pair. Lando was slowly making grounds on his teammate, but it soon became apparent he would only can beat his McLaren rival if Oscar was forced to pit a second time.

But while Piastri battled tyre degradation, he managed to keep a five-second gap until the end, aided by Norris going over the limit on several occasions in a desperate bid to close the gap. Piastri crossed the finishing line 3.4 seconds ahead in another McLaren 1-2 victory.

Underlining McLaren’s domination in mixed conditions, Leclerc finished third over 20 seconds behind Piastri, with Verstappen a close fourth after being unable to threaten the Ferrari. Russell was another 13 seconds behind Verstappen in fifth in what was a decent result but a worrying performance for Mercedes in the face of Ferrari’s improvements.

Hamilton could not quite round off a commendable comeback race by overtaking Albon for sixth, with the Williams driver expertly defending his position while Hamilton was stuck in DRS range. Lawson took eighth for Racing Bulls, while Gabriel Bortoleto was being allowed past Sauber teammate Hulkenberg as he proved quicker and took ninth.

Hulkenberg opted for a second pitstop instead, giving up P10 position but he was unable to make that call pay off unlike Silverstone. Gasly was promoted into the final points position in P10, with Hulkenberg stuck in P12 behind Oliver Bearman.

While Hamilton moved up, it was a tricky race for fellow pitlane starters Antonelli, Alonso and Sainz, who finished at the rear of the field. All 20 drivers made it to the finish line, with Isack Hadjar the only driver to be lapped after facing an undiagnosed problem with his Racing Bulls machine.

In the championship Piastri’s sixth win of the season extends his lead on Norris to 16 points, with Verstappen now 81 points adrift in third. Well behind the dominant McLarens, Ferrari strengthened its hold on second place in the constructors’ place against Mercedes and Red Bull.

So after a long rain delay, once we finally got action Oscar Piastri made the key move on Lando Norris on the first racing lap to take the lead. After that, managing the tyres and score his sixth victory. This is the perfect response following his penalty at the previous race at Silverstone. The next track is Hungary, where Piastri scored his first win of his career.

Belgian Grand Prix, race results:
1 Oscar Piastri McLaren 1:25:22.601
2 Lando Norris McLaren +3.415s
3 Charles Leclerc Ferrari +20.185s
4 Max Verstappen Red Bull +21.731s
5 George Russell Mercedes +34.863s
6 Alexander Albon Williams +39.926s
7 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari +40.679s
8 Liam Lawson Racing Bulls +52.033s
9 Gabriel Bortoleto Sauber +56.434s
10 Pierre Gasly Alpine +72.714s
11 Oliver Bearman Haas +73.145s
12 Nico Hulkenberg Sauber +73.628s
13 Yuki Tsunoda Red Bull +75.395s
14 Lance Stroll Aston Martin +79.831s
15 Esteban Ocon Haas +86.063s
16 Andrea Kimi Antonelli Mercedes +86.721s
17 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin +87.924s
18 Carlos Sainz Williams +92.024s
19 Franco Colapinto Alpine +95.250s
20 Isack Hadjar Racing Bulls +1 lap

Lando Norris beat his McLaren teammate and championship leader Oscar Piastri to take pole position for the Belgian Grand Prix. As Charles Leclerc pushed his Ferrari to the limit to snatch third position from sprint race winner Max Verstappen.

Norris set the beachmark in the top ten shootout with a lap time of one minute, 40.562 seconds, the only driver to improve on his best Q2 lap on that first run. Lando’s lap was almost two tenths quicker than Oscar and a massive five tenths better than Verstappen, who was running a used set of softs that could not provide the same level of grip.

On the second round of runs Verstappen started with a huge slide coming out of the La Source hairpin, which set up a lap that proved slower than his first effort and saw the sprint winner beaten to third by Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc by a small margin of 0.003 seconds.

The McLarens were up next, but Lando’s struggle to improve opened an pportunity for Oscar. But the championship leader could only a tenth off his best lap, ensuring Norris achieved his fourth pole of 2025 to draw level with his McLaren teammate.

Behind Leclerc and Verstappen, Alex Albon took a solid fifth for Williams, defeating George Russell who could not go quicker than his best Q2 run for Mercedes. Yuki Tsunoda delivered his best Red Bull performance so far by taking seventh, three tenths behind Verstappen, ahead of Racing Bulls duo Isack Hadjar and Liam Lawson, as well as Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto.

McLaren led the proceedings out of pitlane at the start of Q2, with Piastri setting a time of one minute, 40.626 seconds that would stay on top for the remainder of the segment, leading Norris by 0.089 seconds and Verstappen adrift by 0.325 seconds.

After the first series of runs, Sauber pair of Hulkenberg and Bortoleto found themselves on the wrong side of the top ten, as did Alpine’s Pierre Gasly, Williams driver Carlos Sainz and Oliver Bearman. Oliver had suffered a huge slide coming out of the rapid double right-hander of Pouhon which forced the Haas driver to abort his flyer.

Gasly was the first driver up to take a spot in Q3, but his ninth-fastest time was soon shuffled down the order. A disappointing final sector for Esteban Ocon meant his missed the cut-off by a mere 0.020 seconds compared to Alex Albon, while a messy moment through Turn 1’s La Source also undid Haas teammate Bearman’s efforts as the pair proved unable to repeat their sprint qualifying.

Gasly settled for P13, followed by Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg and Sainz in P14 and P15 respectively.

The start of qualifying in Q1 saw a pitlane moment as Hulkenberg was sent out into the path of Aston’s Lance Stroll in a busy pit exit queue, with Hulkenberg damaging his front wing.

The McLarens were out first here as well, using the soft tyres as Piastri narrowly led Norris with one minute, 41.998 seconds effort. Carlos Sainz then briefly grabbed top in the Williams, going with a fresh set of soft tyres to set a time of one minute, 41.691 seconds.

On a fresh set of their own, Norris went top with one minute, 41.010 seconds, with Piastri’s time 0.191 seconds adrift of his teammate and Verstappen another tenth.

An extremely tight battle for survival showed some similarities to sprint qualifying, with both Mercedes cars of Russell and Andrea Kimi Antonelli under pressure again after the first set of banker lap runs.

But given track evolution those banker laps proved of little use for drivers desperate to advance. Having come under pressure from cars vastly improving around him as well, Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton found a late improvement to move clear of the drop zone as the chequered flag fell.

But the Ferrari driver saw his time deleted due to track limits at the top of Raidillon, with his first lap time demoting the seven-time world champion into the elimination zone in P16, his second Q1 exit of the Belgian Grand Prix weekend.

Hamilton was joined in the drop zone by Alpine’s Franco Colapinto, Antonelli and a disappointing Aston Martin duo Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll.

So an important qualifying result for Lando Norris to take the top spot ahead of his title rival Oscar Piastri. It will be fascinating if the wet weather will play an effect in the main race.

Belgian Grand Prix, qualifying results:
1 Lando Norris McLaren 1:40.562
2 Oscar Piastri McLaren 1:40.647
3 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:40.900
4 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1:40.903
5 Alexander Albon Williams 1:41.201
6 George Russell Mercedes 1:41.260
7 Yuki Tsunoda Red Bull 1:41.284
8 Isack Hadjar Racing Bulls 1:41.310
9 Liam Lawson Racing Bulls 1:41.328
10 Gabriel Bortolet0 Sauber 1:42.387
11 Esteban Ocon Haas 1:41.525
12 Oliver Bearman Haas 1:41.617
13 Pierre Gasly Alpine 1:41.633
14 Nico Hulkenberg Sauber 1:41.707
15 Carlos Sainz Williams 1:41.758
16 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari 1:41.939
17 Franco Colapinto Alpine 1:42.022
18 Andrea Kimi Antonelli Mercedes 1:42.139
19 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin 1:42.385
20 Lance Stroll Aston Martin 1:42.502

Max Verstappen was victorious at the Belgian Grand Prix sprint race beating the McLarens of Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris.

The Red Bull driver made the move on the approach to Les Combes on the first lap to take the lead and from there, resisted the pressure from the Papayas for 15 laps to take the win. His twelveth sprint success.

In Verstappen’s wake Charles Leclerc made a similar overtake to take third from Lando Norris, while Esteban Ocon led the midfield battle in fifth ahead of Carlos Sainz and Oliver Bearman.

With Leclerc unable to keep up with the two leaders, Norris reclaimed third on the fourth lap on the Kemmel Straight and soon caught up to the lead battle between Verstappen and Piastri.

Starting on used mediums compared to new tyres for Piastri and Norris, Verstappen could not escape DRS range but used his straight-line speed to hold off Piastri, who continued to close in on the Red Bull’s gearbox towards Les Combes and yet unable to make the move.

On lap 11 Piastri came closest at Turn 5’s main overtaking opportunity, with McLaren still the quickest car overall and Verstappen starting to report brake issues. But that was as close as he would get, with Verstappen taking the chequered flag to start Red Bull’s new era without Christian Horner with a win.

Norris too was keen for an opening to attack his championship rival Piastri, but was forced to sit back and watch Verstappen and his teammate cross the finishing line. The result means Piastri adds a single point to his championship lead on Norris, which now amounts to nine points.

Leclerc was a distant fourth as his Ferrari was easily dropped by the leaders, while Ocon and Sainz finished fifth and sixth. Bearman secured a double points finish for Haas in seventh, with Racing Bulls rookie Isack Hadjar easily defeating Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto and his teammate Liam Lawson for the final point in eighth.

The Mercedes pair of George Russell and Andrea Kimi Antonelli were unable to significantly move up in the DRS train after a poor sprint qualifying session, Russell crossing the line down in P12 and Antonelli in P17. Lewis Hamilton moved up from P17 to P15 in his Ferrari after an equally difficult race.

Meanwhile, Pierre Gasly lost out on a points-scoring opportunity with Alpine as a water leak meant he could not take up his eighth grid spot. Gasly eventually joined the race two laps down for what turned out to be a test session.

So not the most thrilling sprint race at Spa as the opening lap decided the outcome of the result. It will be interesting for the main race as the weather is going to be wet.

Belgian Grand Prix, sprint results:
1 Max Verstappen Red Bull 26:37.997
2 Oscar Piastri McLaren +0.753s
3 Lando Norris McLaren +1.414s
4 Charles Leclerc Ferrari +10.176s
5 Esteban Ocon Haas +13.789s
6 Carlos Sainz Williams +14.964s
7 Oliver Bearman Haas +18.610s
8 Isack Hadjar Racing Bulls +19.119s
9 Gabriel Bortoleto Sauber +22.183s
10 Liam Lawson Racing Bulls +22.897s
11 Yuki Tsunoda Red Bull +24.551
12 George Russell Mercedes +25.969s
13 Lance Stroll Aston Martin +26.595s
14 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin +29.046s
15 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari +30.175s
16 Alexander Albon Williams +30.941s
17 Andrea Kimi Antonelli Mercedes +31.981s
18 Nico Hulkenberg Sauber +32.867s
19 Franco Colapinto Alpine +38.072s
20 Pierre Gasly Alpine +2 laps

Oscar Piastri will start the Belgian Grand Prix sprint race in pole position for McLaren. The championship leader will be joined on the front row with Max Verstappen while Silverstone winner Lando Norris had to settle for third.

The McLaren driver just made it through in SQ2 due to a deleted lap time, but then set lap time of one minute, 40.510 seconds in the final segment of sprint qualifying to put almost five tenths on Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, with Lando Norris a massive six tenths behind in third.

“Sorry for the heart attack,” Piastri told his team over the radio. “That wasn’t in the plan, but the car was mega.”

Charles Leclerc claimed fourth for Ferrari, while Esteban Ocon excelled for Haas by taking fifth on the sprint grid.

Carlos Sainz was sixth for Williams ahead of Oliver Bearman and Alpine’s Pierre Gasly. Isack Hadjar and Gabriel Bortoleto completed a top ten that saw several big players missing out.

McLaren’s Norris and Piastri went out early for a banker lap in SQ2, which was delayed to clean up gravel, though the latter’s time was crucially deleted for track limits at the top of the Raidillon.

That meant Verstappen momentarily got in front, with Norris taking over the segment lead with his second lap, with one minute, 41.412 seconds effort.

Piastri almost paid a huge price for his deleted lap, with his second attempt only good enough to make it through to SQ3 in P10, by just 0.041 seconds.

Liam Lawson was the first to be eliminated in P11, followed by Yuki Tsunoda. Instead of Piastri, the biggest victim was George Russell, who went out in P13.

The Aston Martins of Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll only managed P14 and P15, while Sauber’s Bortoleto and Alpine’s Gasly were the stars of the session in fifth and sixth.

Piastri led the early runs in SQ1 from Verstappen and Norris, with one minute, 41.769 seconds, as drivers scrambled to avoid the back of the grid.

Andrea Kimi Antonelli suffered a spin on the exit of Stavelot, heading through the gravel but escaping without apparent damage.

Lewis Hamilton also had a big moment on his first run, meaning he and Antonelli were two of five drivers in danger of being knocked out, alongside Gasly, Franco Colapinto and Bearman, who aborted his lap.

But neither driver’s luck improved on the second run, with a frustrated Hamilton spinning at the Bus Stop chicane after his rear tyres instantly locked under braking, seeing the seven-time world champion knocked out in P18.

Gasly saved himself in P15 at the expense of Alex Albon, while Nico Hulkenberg was down in P17 after having to fight for track position with Lawson. Behind Hamilton, Colapinto was out in P19 with Antonelli last after reporting brake issues.

So a solid pole position for the sprint race for the championship leader. The first lap is going to be interesting thanks to the long drag race towards Les Combes. Bring on the sprint!

Belgian Grand Prix, sprint qualifying:
1 Lando Norris McLaren 1:40.510
2 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1:40.987
3 Lando Norris McLaren 1:41.128
4 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:41.278
5 Esteban Ocon Haas 1:41.565
6 Carlos Sainz Williams 1:41.761
7 Oliver Bearman Haas 1:41.857
8 Pierre Gasly Alpine 1:41.959
9 Isack Hadjar Racing Bulls 1:41.971
10 Gabriel Bortoleto Sauber 1:42.176
11 Liam Lawson Racing Bulls 1:42.169
12 Yuki Tsunoda Red Bull 1:42.184
13 George Russell Mercedes 1:42.330
14 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin 1:42.453
15 Lance Stroll Aston Martin 1:42.832
16 Alexander Albon Williams 1:43.212
17 Nico Hulkenberg Sauber 1:43.217
18 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari 1:43.408
19 Franco Colapinto Alpine 1:43.587
20 Andrea Kimi Antonelli Mercedes 1:45.394