Live F1 Belgian Grand Prix sprint race: latest updates from Spa
Welcome to our live coverage for the sprint race for the 2025 Belgian Grand Prix from Spa-Francorchamps. Yesterday's sprint qualifying produced perhaps an expected result when it came to pole position, but there were a few other surprises further down the grid. Oscar Piastri, the championship leader, dominated and was nearly half a second than the next fastest driver. That, though, was not his McLaren team-mate and title rival Lando Norris but Max Verstappen of Red Bull. Norris was in third but more than 0.6sec down on Piastri, a large margin even taking into account that the track here is a long one.
Norris did not seem to be too upset with his lap. Of course he said he knew he needed to find some pace but given the lap came after just an hour of practice there is plenty of time for him to dial himself in. Winning the grand prix is far more important than winning the race. He, for once, did not appear to down on himself.
Lewis Hamilton, driving the upgraded Ferrari, had a poor session. He spun at the final chicane on his second run in SQ1 which meant he was eliminated. He will start the sprint race from way down in 18th place, just one place behind Nico Hulkenberg... who also finished one spot ahead of him at the British Grand Prix. It is a long way back from there to score points. It's not impossible but looks very unlikely. George Russell, too, has a battle (though nowhere near as large) to get into the points after qualifying 18th.
There were a few other surprises, too, with Alexander Albon out in SQ1 as well as Kimi Antonelli for Mercedes. The young Italian has had some fine moments this year but there have been too many low points which mean that he is not really living up to the hype around him. There is still time, but yesterday was a difficult day.
The sprint race starts at 11am BST and then it's qualifying later this afternoon at 3pm. We will be here for all of the build-up, live updates and reaction from both of those session.
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Telegraph
6 minutes ago
- Telegraph
How the Lionesses and the nation celebrated Euros glory
The Lionesses' European Championship final victory over Spain in Basel was both dramatic and historic. They sealed back-to-back Euros triumphs with a penalty shoot-out win – Chloe Kelly, of course, slotting the decisive spot kick – and in doing so became the first England team to lift a major trophy on foreign soil. The celebrations began as soon as Kelly's shot found the net at St Jakob-Park – in the stadium and beyond. The players Kelly was mobbed by her team-mates as soon as she had secured the trophy – three years after she had scored the winning goal at Wembley against Germany. CHLOE KELLY, SHOUT IT LOUD!!! England are EUROPEAN CHAMPIONS! 🏆 #BBCFootball #WEURO2025 — BBC Sport (@BBCSport) July 27, 2025 Replacement goalkeeper Khiara Keating actually skipped the team huddle to hail the fans. Nailed it, Khiara! 😆🙌 — Lionesses (@Lionesses) July 27, 2025 Sarina Wiegman ran straight into the arms of goalkeeper Hannah Hampton, who had saved two penalties in the shoot-out, once Kelly had sealed the win. Sarina Wiegman jumping into Hannah Hampton's arms — Kathryn Batte (@KathrynBatte) July 27, 2025 Asked how she would celebrate, the England manager said: 'Maybe with some more dancing. I might have a drink but I will not be drinking as much as the players…' The immediate celebrations were followed by a period of relative calm leading up to the official trophy presentation – then the scenes of jubilation erupted again. This moment. Champions. AGAIN!!! 🎉🎊 — Lionesses (@Lionesses) July 27, 2025 The squad made sure to run over to the travelling England fans in the stadium to pay tribute to them after receiving their medals. Keira Walsh, Leah Williamson and Georgia Stanway led players into a dive onto the ticker tape. Oh what a night! 🤩 — Lionesses (@Lionesses) July 27, 2025 Lucy Bronze, who revealed afterwards that she had played the entire tournament with a fractured tibia, captured a team selfie. WINNERS 🏅 — Lionesses (@Lionesses) July 27, 2025 Ella Toone and Keira Walsh shared a moment with former Lioness Jill Scott. Pitchside celebrations with familiar faces and loved ones! #BBCFootball #WEuro2025 — BBC Sport (@BBCSport) July 27, 2025 The team then headed down the tunnel to continue their celebrations in the changing rooms, singing Robyn's Dancing on my Own as they walked. 🎶 I KEEP DANCING ON MY OWN! 🎶 ICONIC. — Lionesses (@Lionesses) July 27, 2025 Captain Williamson was certainly keen to enjoy the party, saying: 'Don't worry about if I'm having a good time. Let's put it that way. I'm going to leave the ice and the recovery for tomorrow and then take it back to England.' The Prince Prince William attended the match with his daughter Princess Charlotte and was part of the trophy presentation party. The pair were seen celebrating the shoot-out win in the stands. Then they made their way onto the pitch for the formalities, where he shared a hug with Williamson on stage. He was keen to talk to Michelle Agyemang but it is unlikely she shared details of the post-match party. 'I can't say too much about that,' she said about the celebrations afterwards. 'We're going to have a good time.' The nation The celebrations in Switzerland were mirrored across England. There was jubilation at various drinking establishments across the country. Sky Sport's cameras perfectly captured the different reactions at Spain and England fan parks during the game. Have a look at some of the scenes from the respective fan zones during the Euro 2025 final 😆🏆 — Sky Sports Football (@SkyFootball) July 27, 2025 Tower Bridge was lit up in red and white to mark England's achievement. Blackpool Tower's illuminations were red and white to mark the Lionesses' win. Back-to-back European champions 👏 Huge congratulations to the @Lionesses on an incredible win in the UEFA Women's EURO 2025 Final against Spain! Tonight, the Blackpool Tower will shine red and white in celebration. You've made England proud 🏴 📷 Sky Shots Karl Houghton… — VisitBlackpool (@visitBlackpool) July 27, 2025
BBC News
6 minutes ago
- BBC News
Fine margins: How Norris lost out to Piastri in Belgium
Oscar Piastri's victory in the Belgian Grand Prix underlined the fine margins that will likely decide the world championship battle with his team-mate Lando Australian bounced back after two consecutive victories for Norris on a weekend on which the advantage swung back and forth between the McLaren drivers almost from session to pair arrived at Spa-Francorchamps on the back of two consecutive wins for Norris, one from the front in Austria, one somewhat fortuitous after a penalty for Piastri at took a pole position each in Belgium - one for Piastri for the sprint, and one for Norris for the grand prix. And the race turned on a few key drive was from the top drawer - he took the lead from Norris at the rolling start after a few exploratory laps behind the safety car in the wet by being, by Norris' admission, a little braver through Eau Rouge on the first he managed his position with careful judgement to make his medium-compound tyres last to the end while under pressure from the closing Norris on more durable Norris may look back on a few small errors in which he could have done better. He said he "couldn't have won". He probably could not. But he could have given himself a slither of a chance, despite the difficult position he was in by leading at the start. The start Piastri had demonstrated how difficult it is for the driver on pole to lead by the end of the first lap at Spa by losing the sprint race win to Red Bull's Max Dutchman slipstreamed past Piastri up the hill to Les Combes, and then held the McLaren at bay for 15 laps, while Norris followed closely in the grand prix, it was Norris in front, with Piastri in second and Piastri had been thinking about the opportunity this presented him since losing out on pole the day team boss Andrea Stella said: "This weekend, Oscar, if anything, the only inaccuracy was in qualifying, where his laps weren't perfect."At the same time, we have to say that after the sprint qualifying, he said, 'Yeah, I'm in pole position, but maybe this is not the right place to be in pole position.'"And as a joke, after the qualifying yesterday, he said, 'That was not my best lap in Q3, but perhaps this is the best place not to have the best lap in Q3.'"Sure enough, Piastri took the lead on lap one of the grand prix, just as Verstappen had the day before."I had a good run out of Turn One," he said, "and then tried to be as brave as I could through Eau Rouge and was able to stay pretty close. After that, the slipstream did the rest for me."When I watched the onboard back, it didn't look quite as scary as it felt in the car. I knew that I had to be very committed to pull that off."But Norris could have done a better job. For a start, he failed to build himself a gap over the finish line by arguably going too early at the restart. Then he made a mistake at La Source, which allowed Piastri to be right on his tail approaching Eau Rouge."I didn't have the best Turn One," Norris said. "So it's hard to know how much that played a part. At the same time, Oscar came past me pretty easily. So even if I had a better Turn One, his run and the slipstream probably still would have got me."Stella said: "It would have always been very difficult for Lando to keep the position starting first at the safety car restart. At the same time, I think Lando didn't help himself by not having a great gap on the finish line." The pit stops The next turning point was the stops. Piastri had first choice as leader, and went for mediums with a stop on lap could have pitted Norris at the same time - the so-called double-stack - but went for another lap, and decided for hard tyres, to go to the end. Piastri was planning the same but didn't know whether the mediums would make had been just under two seconds behind when Piastri pitted, and was nine seconds back when he rejoined the seconds of that offset can be accounted for by a slower pit stop, the other five by the extra lap on worn intermediates. A double-stack would have cost less time - but then he'd have been on the mediums, and the race effectively already said: "To catch Oscar from that gap is quite an achievement. I gave it a good shot, but just not close enough."Piastri said: "It was quite a late decision to pit on the lap we did, but there's risks either way. If I was in Lando's position, I probably would have done the same thing. At that point, it seemed like the safest thing to do was go on the medium, because the hard is two steps harder here."Stella said: "We did consider double stacking. At the same time, it was possible for Lando to deviate. He opted to deviate, which would have given him the possibility to go on hard tyres, which is what he decided to do."Actually, I thought at some stage that that would have been a very good move, but I have to say that Oscar managed a very solid and strong stint on the medium tyres. Even if Lando was, on average, a little bit faster, that was not enough to attack Oscar at the end." The chase Norris now had to try to chase Piastri down. He got to within 3.4 seconds by the end of the race, but he probably lost a little more than that with three errors during his ran wide at the fast Pouhon double left-hander on lap 26, costing himself 1.3 seconds, then had lock-ups at La Source on laps 33 and 43, costing a total of just under three a perfect race might have given him a shot at Piastri on the last lap or two. But given how difficult overtaking proved at Spa in both races, the chances of him actually getting by must be considered slim in the said: "Yes, Lando had a couple of lock-ups in corner one and also a little oversteer in corner nine that cost him time. I think this, overall, prevented us from having an interesting battle, possibly, at the end."But, in fairness, even Oscar had a couple of times in corner one a little bit of a time loss."It's very difficult when you push so much in these conditions. It's very difficult to always drive within the limit of the grip, and also it's not easy to always keep the car on the racing line when you have the maximum grip, considering that, away from that, you can lose it very rapidly because of the track being still a little damp." The lessons Piastri's sixth win in 13 races extends his lead in the see-sawing battle to 15 points before the next race in Hungary this weekend, scene last year of Piastri's maiden victory, in somewhat controversial circumstances. Stella called Piastri's drive "very, very, very high quality", but added: "We have two drivers which to the standards that even myself in my career have been close to, driving with multiple World Champions, I think Lando and Oscar are operating at that level, at the level of deservedly being in contention for the drivers' world championship."This is quite the compliment considering Stella engineered both Michael Schumacher and Fernando Alonso during his Ferrari years earlier this said: "The difference will be made by the accuracy, the precision, the quality of the execution."The execution is what is going to make the main difference. We, as a team, we will try and make sure that from a reliability point of view, from a team operation point of view, we are as good as possible, such that it will be the drivers deciding their own outcome in terms of competing for the drivers' championship." Should the race have started earlier? The other main talking point at Spa was whether the race should have started earlier - either at the original start time, or a few minutes before it eventually Hamilton and Max Verstappen were of the view that it should have and that officials had been too said the decision "didn't make sense". He said that at the scheduled start time "it was not even raining" and added: "Of course between Turn One and five there was quite a bit of water, but two or three laps behind the safety car it would have been a lot more clear. And the rest of the track was anyway ready to go. It's a bit of a shame."Hamilton added: "I kept shouting, like, it's ready to go, it's ready to go. And they kept going around and around and around."However, both acknowledged that the decisions were made after the drivers had urged officials following the last race at Silverstone - in which one car rammed another unsighted at a restart in the rain - not to go too Piastri and Ferrari's Charles Leclerc both pointed out the extreme dangers of Spa, and referenced the two fatalities that have happened there in junior categories in recent said: "For that reason, I'd rather be safe than too early. It's a constant discussion, and we'll probably feed the people that made this decision back that maybe it was a little bit on the late side, but I wouldn't have changed anything."Piastri added: "The past few years, particularly here, we've given the FIA feedback that we would much rather be on the safe side than risk anything. I think that's what we did today."If you were to be picky, maybe we could have done one less formation lap. But in the grand scheme of things, if that's one lap too early, is it worth it? No."
Daily Mail
6 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Pizzas on the pitch, Chelsea star Reece James celebrating with sister Lauren, singing in the tunnel and Ella Toone's tribute to her late dad: Inside Lionesses' party after Women's Euros
It was party time for the Lionesses on Sunday night after Sarina Wiegman 's side beat world champions Spain in a penalty shootout to retain their Women's Euros title. England fell behind for the third knockout game in a row but Alessia Russo equalised to cancel out Mariona Caldentey's opener and force extra time. Lucy Bronze limped off at half-time in extra time after picking up a knee injury to go with the fractured tibia she had been secretly nursing all summer. But England still prevailed 3-1 on spot-kicks, thanks in no small part to goalkeeper Hannah Hampton, who saved two penalties, just as she had in the quarter-final victory over Sweden. There were scenes of wild joy as England lifted the trophy they had first won on home soil back in 2022. Chloe Kelly, scorer of the decisive penalty and also the match-winner back in the 2022 final, delivered a quick rhyme to mark the occasion. Shouting excitedly into a camera during a lap of honour, she declared: 'The first time was so nice we had to do it twice!' But the celebrations did not stop there. With medals hanging proudly from their necks, the Lionesses performed a musical number as they left the field. Led by captain Leah Williamson and Beth Mead, England's players belted out 2010 hit Dancing On My Own by Robyn as they exited down the tunnel. The team would later return to the field armed with boxfuls of pizza and cans of beer. Friends and family also joined in the celebrations. Lauren James was seen posing for a group selfie with a large squad of loved-ones, including Chelsea men's captain Reece James. Lauren Hemp celebrated her second European Championship crown by wrapping her arms around girlfriend and former footballer Ashley Hodson. But for some players, not all of their loved ones were able to be present. Ella Toone posted of photo of herself holding team-mate Mead, who lost her mum in 2023. Toone, whose dad died in September last year, captioned the image: 'We did it for our angels in the sky. Forever with us & forever proud'. Toone then shared an image from where her family had been sat at St. Jakob-Park. Despite the game being sold out, seat 430 appeared to be unoccupied. Toone wrote: 'Spare seat next to my mum tonight. If that's not a sign I don't know what is. I know you were there Dad. Love you cock'. 🎶 I KEEP DANCING ON MY OWN! 🎶 ICONIC. — Lionesses (@Lionesses) July 27, 2025 Beth Mead (left) and Ella Toone both lost parents in recent years. But Toone was adamant that her late father was there watching her - after spotting an empty seat next to her mum Inside the England dressing room, Grace Clinton, Aggie Beever-Jones and Jess Park shared a selfie with their medals. Beever-Jones had an extra reason to celebrate as Sunday was her 22nd birthday. The Chelsea star captioned an Instagram post: 'BEST BIRTHDAY EVER.' Maya Le Tissier later uploaded a selfie of herself and Beever-Jones flaunting their medals while on the team bus. It was not only the players in the party mood. Indeed, manager Wiegman discussed her plans for the rest of the evening during a post-match interview.
