Max Verstappen claimed his first Sprint win of the 2025 F1 World Championship with a clinical drive at Spa-Francorchamps, wresting the lead from Oscar Piastri on the opening lap and holding off both McLaren drivers in a tense 15-lap shootout.
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- Verstappen passed Piastri on Lap 1 to win the 15-lap Sprint by 0.753s.
- McLaren secured P2 and P3 with Piastri and Norris, strengthening their title push.
- Alpine’s Gasly failed to start on the grid, Hamilton finished 15th after an SQ1 spin on Friday.
The Red Bull driver launched a decisive move into Les Combes after Piastri initially held the line from pole, snatching the lead with a perfectly timed slipstream pass down the Kemmel Straight. While the McLarens of Piastri and Lando Norris applied heavy pressure throughout the second half of the race, Verstappen showed his trademark composure to cross the line 0.753s ahead of the Australian, with Norris just six-tenths further back in third.
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Piastri had set the tone on Friday with a dominant lap for Sprint pole, but Saturday’s 100km dash proved more of a test in defence than dominance. Leclerc briefly snatched third in the opening laps before Norris retook the position, while Esteban Ocon again impressed for Haas with a solid run to fifth.
Carlos Sainz delivered more points for Williams in P6, ahead of rookie Oliver Bearman and Racing Bulls’ Isack Hadjar in the final points-paying positions. The entire field—with the exception of Alpine’s Franco Colapinto on softs—started on mediums, though Alpine’s woes were compounded when Pierre Gasly failed to make the grid due to a water system issue and was ultimately classified as retired, starting from the pitlane, two laps down.
Sprint Qualifying on Friday had shaken up the order with Lewis Hamilton knocked out in SQ1 after a costly spin, and Mercedes struggling overall—Kimi Antonelli finishing 17th and George Russell just outside the points in 12th.
While Verstappen’s win narrowed the gap slightly in the championship, McLaren’s consistency with a double top-three finish ensured they maintained momentum heading into Sunday’s Grand Prix. With Spa’s notoriously volatile weather still looming and the long run to La Source awaiting at lights-out, the battle for the win brought serious intrigue.
2025 Belgian GP Sprint Race Results
2025 Belgian Grand Prix Sprint Race, 26 July 2025
| POS. | NO. | DRIVER | TEAM | LAPS | TIME / RETIRED | PTS. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull Racing | 15 | 26:37.997 | 8 |
| 2 | 81 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren | 15 | +0.753s | 7 |
| 3 | 4 | Lando Norris | McLaren | 15 | +1.414s | 6 |
| 4 | 16 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 15 | +10.176s | 5 |
| 5 | 31 | Esteban Ocon | Haas | 15 | +13.789s | 4 |
| 6 | 55 | Carlos Sainz | Williams | 15 | +14.964s | 3 |
| 7 | 87 | Oliver Bearman | Haas | 15 | +18.610s | 2 |
| 8 | 6 | Isack Hadjar | Racing Bulls | 15 | +19.119s | 1 |
| 9 | 5 | Gabriel Bortoleto | Kick Sauber | 15 | +22.183s | 0 |
| 10 | 30 | Liam Lawson | Racing Bulls | 15 | +22.897s | 0 |
| 11 | 22 | Yuki Tsunoda | Red Bull Racing | 15 | +24.551s | 0 |
| 12 | 63 | George Russell | Mercedes | 15 | +25.969s | 0 |
| 13 | 18 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | 15 | +26.595s | 0 |
| 14 | 14 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin | 15 | +29.046s | 0 |
| 15 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | Ferrari | 15 | +30.175s | 0 |
| 16 | 23 | Alexander Albon | Williams | 15 | +30.941s | 0 |
| 17 | 12 | Kimi Antonelli | Mercedes | 15 | +31.981s | 0 |
| 18 | 27 | Nico Hulkenberg | Kick Sauber | 15 | +32.867s | 0 |
| 19 | 43 | Franco Colapinto | Alpine | 15 | +38.072s | 0 |
| NC | 10 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine | 12 | DNF | 0 |
Race Guide
Race: 2025 Belgian Grand Prix
Season: 2025 F1 World Championship
Race weekend: 25 July 2025 – 27 July 2025
Race date: Sunday, 27 July, 2025
Race start time: 15:00 local time
Circuit: Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps
Laps: 44
Circuit length: 7.004km
2024 winner: Lewis Hamilton
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