Max Verstappen claimed his twelfth Sprint race win in the first F1 race event at the 2025 Belgian GP. The Oracle Red Bull Racing team, entering a new era with a change in leadership, held on with an excellent setup strategy ahead of both McLaren drivers. Osacar Piastri kept his cool in second while this season’s Silverstone Grand Prix winner, Lando Norris, finished in third.
On-Grid and Off-Grid Start
After his late surge during yesterday’s Sprint Qualifying, Piastri needed a flying start off the line from his pole position. As he said on the way to the grid: “Good pace puts us in a good place.”
No such luck for either Mercedes AMG Petronas drivers Kimi Antonelli and George Russell, starting at the back end of the grid. Alpine driver Franco Colapinto began his Sprint Race from the pit lane, while his teammate Pierre Gasly was pulled back to the garage fifteen minutes before the race start. Five minutes later, it was announced that Gasly would not be racing for points, but would come out after a few laps.
The rookies, Isack Hadjar and Gabriel Bortoleto, started in the top ten. But only eight drivers score points, so a fast start was much needed. They would have to contend with both MoneyGram Haas vehicles and Carlos Sainz in the Atlassian Williams Racing car.
Lights Out in a Fifteen-Lap Dash
Piastri held onto the lead as Verstappen tried to come out around the outside on the first corner. He didn’t pull it off then, but gained an advantage in the slipstream to pull it off down the Kemmel straight. Charles Leclerc followed suit to overtake Norris, the higher downforce hurting both McLaren drivers.
Even opening DRS, Piastri struggled to keep up with the Oracle Red Bull Racing driver. Down past the top four, all other drivers got off to a clean start. With Qualifying later for the race on Sunday, there was no need to cause carnage and potentially end the weekend early for their team.
Verstappen Leads as Gasly Starts
Gasly came out after a couple of laps, effectively treating the Sprint as an additional testing session. Meanwhile, Verstappen gained half a second on Piastri as the Australian’s tyres and power unit were heating up. Keeping cool, calm and collected, the current championship leader communicated that everything was fine.
Norris managed to retake third from Leclerc and set his sights on closing the gap on his teammate. Down the leaderboard, Esteban Ocon maintained a comfortable distance from Sainz, while his Moneygram Haas teammate Oliver Bearman was having trouble fending off Hadjar. Down in sixteenth place, Lewis Hamilton complained about the rear wing.
Final Push as Battery Power Wanes
Norris had more battery power reserved and caught up to Piastri and Verstappen, starting the game of cat and mouse with five laps remaining. Verstappen announced on the radio that he couldn’t brake, once again struggling to turn his RB21. This was welcome news to the McLaren drivers as they continued to gain on the Dutchman.
On the radio, Norris was told that his teammate’s battery was at ‘mid-level’. However, the British driver remained behind in third, but kept close. It all came down to the last lap to see if Piastri could make a move on the race leader. But too far behind, Verstappen held on to first place as he crossed the line.
The Top 8 Point-Scorers
The podium finishers in today’s Sprint Race may not be who we see climb to the top in Sunday’s race, with another qualifying session to come and possible rain coming down on Spa-Francorchamps tomorrow. Keep in mind that all the sessions so far have been on dry track conditions. Therefore, all the data that has been collected will not have factored intermediate or wet compound tyres into the equation. But the weather is as unpredictable as the sport, so all we can do is wait to see how it all plays out.