Race Report: Piastri wins Belgian GP over Norris, Leclerc

Oscar Piastri extended his championship lead with a win over teammate Lando Norris and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc at the Formula 1 Belgian Grand Prix. Lando lost the lead to Oscar on the first lap, handing victory to the Australian and a sixteen-point lead in the championship.

Win
A win for Oscar Piastri and McLaren with a 1-2 finish in Belgium. Oscar made a brave move through Eau Rouge on the rolling-start first lap to take the lead and then nursed a set of Medium compounds to the finish. Oscar’s win may help slow Lando’s recent momentum, but we’ll see in Hungary, as that’s a track where Lando typically performs well.

A win for Charles Leclerc and Ferrari, with Lewis Hamilton coming from the back of the grid to finish in P7. Charles had a strong race, holding off Max Verstappen for all 44 laps to secure a podium. Lewis, using a “lift-and-coast” strategy for most of the race, managed to finish in 7th. Both performances exceeded expectations, given their pace earlier in the weekend.

A big win for Alex Albon and Williams with a terrific P6, while Carlos struggled at the back. To be fair, Carlos started from the pit lane. Alex managed to hold off a charging Hamilton to claim 6th and should have been considered for the driver of the race award.

A win for Liam Lawson, Gabriel Bortoleto, and Pierre Gasly, finishing in P8, P9, and P10, respectively. These were good points for their teams, while their teammates languished toward the back.

Fail
A fail for Lando Norris, who seemed to start his race too far back from the start line. It appeared this gave Oscar plenty of room to close in on Lando’s gearbox as they headed down Eau Rouge, giving him the slipstream on the straight. Even if that wasn’t the reason—as it was suggested he had a battery charge issue—his two or three errors at Pouhon, Les Combes, and other corners gave away critical time he needed while reeling in Oscar in the second half of the race. Still, a solid 2nd place, and he’s now only 16 points back.

A tough day for Yuki Tsunoda and Max Verstappen. Yuki fell out of the points despite being thrilled with his new floor. Max didn’t have the pace he showed on Saturday during the Sprint, possibly due to setup changes for wet weather, which left him off the pace of the leaders when the track dried. He was unable to overtake Leclerc for a podium. The first race without Horner hasn’t been ideal, but it wasn’t intended to be a quick fix for their pace issues.

WTH
What’s happened to Mercedes? It’s tempting to say they’ve gone backward with development, but it may be more accurate to say other teams have advanced further in terms of pace and downforce. Mercedes looked more competitive earlier in the season but now seem to be struggling significantly. One could forgive rookie Kimi Antonelli, but even George Russell is struggling to find pace.

What to do about Franco Colapinto? It’s a tough situation that’s only getting more challenging. I’m surprised they haven’t switched back to Jack Doohan, which makes me think it’s about money.

I was wondering what happened to Isack Hadjar. According to him, an issue with the car cost him pace for most of the race.

MARIO ISOLA – PIRELLI DIRECTOR OF MOTORSPORT

“We knew the rain would play its part today and indeed it did. Once again, poor visibility was the main problem the drivers had to deal with and that led to a delayed start, until the conditions improved. The track was drying quickly when the race got underway and the laps behind the Safety Car also helped in this. When the race was properly underway the Intermediates worked as expected, but obviously they degraded quickly, so that after just a handful of laps it was time to switch to slicks. There was a surprise at this point as we expected the Medium to be the unanimous choice but McLaren split their choices. It has to be said that the C1 worked very well and while being slower than the C3 it was more consistent in terms of degradation, despite the relatively low temperatures.

“The drivers at the front of the field all tried to get to the end with just the single stop. Therefore, for them, managing degradation on the Medium was very important, with the aim of limiting it as much as possible, which they managed to do. Those who then tried to push in the closing stages to make up positions felt an immediate drop in performance which halted their ambitions in this respect. Those who made a second stop towards the end were quicker but not enough to improve their position, because once again today, it was clear that overtaking at this track is not as easy as one might think. We brought an unusual trio of compounds here, with a step between the Hard and the Medium, aiming to provide more strategic options. Clearly, the rain prevented us from fully putting that choice to the test, but we gathered some useful insights to help guide our compound selections for the rest of the season.”

Belgian GP Results: