Oscar Piastri took victory from Lando Norris in a McLaren one-two finish at 2025 Belgian Grand Prix.
After a lengthy rain delay after a red flagged formation lap followed by four laps under the safety car, Piastri cleared Norris on lap five on the Kemmel Straight and thereafter dominated the race bar lap 13 when he made his pit stop for slick tyres to head his teammate in a McLaren one-two finish.
Post-race, Piastri explained that he had “committed” to gaining the slipstream to pass Norris on the first proper lap of racing, before managing both sets of intermediate then medium tyres to execute his one-stop strategy despite heavy tyre degradation at the end.
“I struggled a bit towards the end of the Medium, but I felt we had it under control. Thank you to the team for giving us a great car this weekend.”
Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc cruised to a comfortable third place ahead of Max Verstappen, George Russell, Alex Albon, Lewis Hamilton, Liam Lawson, Gabriel Bortoleto and Pierre Gasly.
In the drivers’ standings, Piastri extended his title lead over Norris to 16 points.
With heavy rain having fallen overnight and throughout the hours ahead of the race start, Williams, Ferrari, Mercedes and Aston Martin opted to start Carlos Sainz, Hamilton, Andrea Kimi Antonelli and Fernando Alonso from the pit lane following power unit changes.
FIA stewards however opted to start the formation lap behind the safety car but as the grid hit Pouhon, stewards threw a red flag due to poor visibility and an incoming heavy shower.
After a near 80-minute delay, the racing lap count commenced behind the safety car for four laps before Norris led everyone away on a rolling start at the start of lap five, although a battery recharge issue for the Brit allowed Piastri to blast past him into the lead on the Kemmel Straight.
The rest of the top ten remained stable aside from a switch for fifth as Russell cleared Albon into Les Combes on lap six.
Down the order, Sainz and Hamilton cleared Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll for 16th and 17th before the pair swapped positions at the Bus Stop chicane at the end of lap seven, as Hamilton unleashed a charge up to 13th position in the following laps.
Track conditions however had quickly dried and Ferrari decided to gamble at the end of lap 11 with a pit stop for Hamilton to put the medium tyres on, which led to everyone but Norris, Yuki Tsunoda, Isack Hadjar and Esteban Ocon to pit at the end of the next lap.
The quartet that stayed out were punished for their risk-tasking as Norris slipped nine seconds behind Piastri after his stop, whilst Tsunoda, Hadjar and Ocon fell out of the top ten with everyone on medium tyres – except Norris who took a gamble on the hard tyres.
Hadjar however followed Norris’ strategy as he switched to the hard tyre on lap 21, whilst Hamilton and Hulkenberg were the big winners of the pit stop phase as they improved to seventh and ninth with Lawson sandwiching the pair and Bortoleto rounded out the top ten at end of lap 14.
Up front, Piastri kept Norris at bay of just over eight seconds despite needing to pit again unlike his title rival, whilst Leclerc, Verstappen, Russell and Albon stayed as they were in the rest of the top six.
Norris briefly got under eight seconds to Piastri but a mistake on Pouhon from the Brit on lap 26 allowed Piastri to gain just over a second, as the Australian pondered a risky strategy of going to the checkered flag on his medium tyres.
Piastri eventually managed to reach the checkered flag to claim his sixth victory of the season and extended his championship lead over Norris to 16 points, although last season’s vice-champion locked up at La Source on lap 34 to cost himself a shot at the win.
F1 now heads to Hungaroring, Budapest, Hungary for the Hungarian GP from 1-3 August ahead of the summer break.
| Position | Driver | Team | Laps | Time |
| 1 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren | 44 | 1h 25m 22.601 |
| 2 | Lando Norris | McLaren | 44 | + 3.415 |
| 3 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 44 | + 20.185 |
| 4 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 44 | + 21.731 |
| 5 | George Russell | Mercedes | 44 | + 34.863 |
| 6 | Alex Albon | Williams | 44 | + 39.926 |
| 7 | Lewis Hamilton | Ferrari | 44 | + 40.679 |
| 8 | Liam Lawson | Racing Bulls | 44 | + 52.033 |
| 9 | Gabriel Bortoleto | Sauber | 44 | + 56.434 |
| 10 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine | 44 | + 72.714 |
| 11 | Oliver Bearman | Haas | 44 | + 73.145 |
| 12 | Nico Hulkenberg | Sauber | 44 | + 73.828 |
| 13 | Yuki Tsunoda | Red Bull | 44 | + 75.395 |
| 14 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | 44 | + 79.831 |
| 15 | Esteban Ocon | Haas | 44 | + 86.063 |
| 16 | Andrea Kimi Antonelli | Mercedes | 44 | + 86.721 |
| 17 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin | 44 | + 87.924 |
| 18 | Carlos Sainz | Williams | 44 | + 92.024 |
| 19 | Franco Colapinto | Alpine | 44 | + 95.250 |
| 20 | Isack Hadjar | Racing Bulls | 43 | + 1 Lap |
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