Lewis Hamilton makes amends for disastrous F1 Belgian GP weekend as Lando Norris loses ground after 80 MINUTE delay
The fearless Aussie driver left pole-sitter Norris for dust after just one lap to take the lead and see out a largely uneventful race in Spa.
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It means Piastri stretched his lead at the top of the table to 16 points from just eight ahead of the weekend, having also finished second in the sprint-race, ahead of the third-place Brit.
Charles Lelcerc sealed the third and final podium spot today after a fierce battle with Max Verstappen who had to settle for fourth while George Russell came in fifth.
Lewis Hamilton put in an absolute shift to finish in seventh from 18th after starting in the pit lane due to taking on a new power unit in his Ferrari.
The race was delayed by a whopping one hour and 20 minutes after Spa was hit with its usual downpour, that even KO'd the race in 2021.
The safety car zipped around the track with the drivers following behind, with their cars spraying out water like sprinklers.
After four-laps it was a rolling start which got things underway as Norris held onto the lead with teammate Piastri snapping at his heels.
The ruthless Aussie nearly smashed into the back of Norris on lap five but missed by a whisker before nipping past him to take the lead.
Ferrari's Hamilton made a huge statement after what he described as a 'weekend to forget', charging into 13th from 18th after a blistering opening ten laps.
Meanwhile Verstappen was in hot pursuit of Monegasque driver Leclerc in the battle for third and nearly nudged ahead.
Race leader Piastri, Leclerc and Verstappen all pitted though as Norris momentarily regained the lead.
The Brit stuffed up his pit-stop though and lost a huge chunk of time staying out an extra lap as Piastri pulled clear.
Seven-time world champion Hamilton worked tooth and nail and was running in seventh, right behind Alex Albon, half way through the race.
There was a tyre conundrum between the two McLarens as the race progressed, with Piastri asked to make a call on whether to make another pit stop or try to see it out until the end.
The Aussie was on the medium tyres while Norris was on the more robust hard tyre and 15 laps, as dreary as talking about tyres, followed.
Norris was the culprit of a silly mistake as he locked up at Turn 1 and lost more than half a second and it looked like game over to catch up with Piastri.
Norris had other ideas though and was closing the gap into the dying laps, with five seconds separating them at the end.
Piastri said on team radio after: "Nicely f***ing done"
Meanwhile, Hamilton added over the team radio. "Sorry about this weekend and losing you points"
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The Independent
19 minutes ago
- The Independent
Why Sarina Wiegman is the best manager in the world
And Sarina dancing, two stars on the shirt. Yes, it's a predictable line, but it is said with all the more meaning given how fans sang "Three Lions" after a sensational and utterly unpredictable Euro 2025 victory for England. 'I kept asking myself, 'how can this happen?' Sarina Wiegman herself said, with the immediate payoff: 'But it happened.' 'The most chaotic, ridiculous tournament I have played.' No wonder she was dancing at the end, and then laughing that the image had already been projected to the world before she even arrived at her press conference. The victorious England manager was still, of course, utterly composed. She naturally knew exactly what to say, just like before the game. 'Enjoy it,' was the main message as the players left the dressing room. They can certainly enjoy it now and relish every moment. Wiegman admitted it will be a rare match she watches back for reasons other than tactical analysis. Before the final - and even during it - enjoying it might have seemed a dubious prospect, especially when Spain seek to exhaust and exasperate you with possession for so long. And yet it again brought out something Wiegman and her players very much enjoyed. Digging in. Showing grit. Pride. 'Proper England,' as repeatedly rang out during this tournament, especially at the end. The defining and decisive images of these games - almost as much as Alessia Russo's header or Chloe Kelly 's penalty - were blocks, tackles, players still putting it in when they had so little left to give. Wiegman admitted that was what stood out for her. 'The fight,' she said. 'We said it a couple of times, the players said 'proper England'. Today we also had to defend very well. They were challenging us. But you see how we give everything to defend the goal. I do enjoy that, because that says something about the team and the togetherness and the will to really want to win.' There's more to these words than Wiegman just enjoying that togetherness. She ensures togetherness. Wiegman talks about 'the most chaotic, ridiculous tournament,' and she can speak from more experience than anyone, given that this is her third successive Euros victory. That is a record that shouldn't really be possible, but she's managed it. She only fortifies her claim to be the best coach in the women's game. 'She's bloody amazing,' tournament-winner Chloe Kelly beamed. 'She's an incredible woman, what she's done for this country, we should all be so grateful for. 'What she's done for the women's game, not just in England, in the Netherlands she's done it, she's taken it to a whole other level. The work doesn't go unnoticed from the staff behind her, they're incredible people and I'm so grateful to have worked with such amazing staff members.' As if it needs to be said, Wiegman knows how to win tournaments. Even her sole recent 'failures', in the 2019 and 2023 World Cups, were narrow defeats in finals. Getting that far twice still displayed her aptitude for this, for driving a team through knock-outs. It comes from creating the right team culture. Gareth Southgate got that and got England's men further than anyone else. Wiegman gets it, but has even more. There are, of course, bigger debates to be had about the performances, how the best team only occasionally wins tournaments, and even football identity and tactical ideology. But those are debates for the Football Association and Dan Ashworth. Wiegman can only manage what she is given, and it clearly works in terms of maximising it all for results. It may not always be pretty - England again came back into a game by going direct. It may not even maximise performance given how close England repeatedly came to going out. This was the fifth different rescue act they needed, having survived multiple times more scares. But Wiegman ensures they know how to get there. They squeeze the most out of their talent in a different way than coming together as a collective in a tactical sense like Spain have shown repeatedly. "We have players that have talent, and the togetherness of this team is really incredible, but also the belief that we can come back,' Wiegman said. "The players say we can win by any means, and we just never, ever give up. Today of course, we had moments where we really had to fight, but I thought we also had some very good moments in the game.' In response to a question about the player of the match, Hannah Hampton, whose entire tournament vindicated yet another Wiegman decision, the manager was tactful. Mary Earps and Millie Bright, of course, weren't mentioned in any of this. "Every player has their one story and journey and hers has been incredible. Starting the tournament and losing the first game, there was so much riding on every game, we had five finals. She had to step up and I think she has been amazing. It's a little bit like a fairytale to stop those two penalties in the final.' She's right as regards individual stories, though. Lucy Bronze had her energy, and that willingness to play through pain. Jess Carter had far more serious issues, and saved her best display for the final and the toughest challenge. Michelle Agyemang had her impact, and now her award for young player of the tournament. Kelly, then, evidently had points to prove. Her year had started with a struggle for minutes at Manchester City, and so much doubt. It culminates with… well, she can describe it herself. 'There were a lot of tears at full-time, especially when I saw my family, because those are the people that got me through those dark moments. I'm so grateful to be out the back end but if that's the story to tell someone experiencing something the same, that sometimes it doesn't last and just around the corner was a Champions League final - won that - and now a Euros final - won that. 'So, thank you, everyone who wrote me off.' That could be said of England as a whole, given how this tournament went, but they ended it still as European champions. Kelly ultimately puts that down to one person. 'What she's done for me individually, she gave me hope when I probably didn't have any. She gave me an opportunity to represent my country again. I knew that I had to get game time and representing England is never a given.' Neither is tournament victory. Wiegman has made it as close to a guarantee as you can get. So, how will she actually enjoy herself? She's already put two stars on their shirts.
BBC News
20 minutes ago
- BBC News
'Gutted he's leaving' or 'a great deal for all parties'?
We asked for your views on Luis Diaz's imminent departure from Liverpool to Bayern are some of your comments:Phil: Gutted that Luis is leaving us. He was great to watch, wonderful skill on the ball and a great eye for goal. I'm worried about the impact of his loss. I love Cody Gakpo but Luis is a better carrier and more progressive with the ball. Shame he wants to leave but wishing him, and us, the Diaz to Bayern is a great deal for all parties involved. He gets a bumper contract and Liverpool get some more spending power to continue our mental transfer window. Win-win all It's not ideal, a workhorse of a player that has flair and an eye for a goal. Signing Alexander Isak would soften the blow From a financial perspective, it makes good sense but his energy and commitment on the pitch will be missed. Good luck to the lad!Ash: He wanted to leave so let him go, and now use the money to get a centre-back. We have enough going forward - although Isak and Rodrygo would be nice too - but prioritise a Bad decision to let him go. He has worked his socks off for us and scored some wonderful goals. Will be very sorry to see him A real shame to see Diaz leave. He is a fantastic player but with Gakpo, Wirtz and now the emergence of Rio Ngumoha as options on the left, I don't think we need to replace him. I suspect either Darwin Nunez or Harvey Elliott will also leave. Maybe both if we're serious about getting how you're feeling about Diaz leaving here
Telegraph
20 minutes ago
- Telegraph
Lionesses are ultimate ‘Mentality Monsters' of international football
So now we have the definition of what 'Proper England' means. Up until the final of the European Championship it was just a kind of relatable phrase, with a bit of street language coolness, that the players were encouraged to use. But it could mean many things. It could mean anything. Good and, in fact, bad. Now that the Lionesses have so courageously retained their title, becoming the first senior England team to win a major trophy overseas, we know exactly what those two words amount to. Proper England is about character, about resilience, about desire, about digging deep and then digging deeper, about defying the odds, about defying logic even, about refusing to lose. It is about Hannah Hampton emerging from the shadows and replacing such a big character as Mary Earps to be the penalty shoot-out hero; about Jess Carter returning to deliver an immense performance in the heart of defence following the despicable racist abuse she suffered; about Lucy Bronze being barely able to run but staying on until the pain was too much and she was reduced to tears and later revealing she played the tournament with a fractured tibia; about Georgia Stanway being outplayed by Spain's technically brilliant midfield for 45 minutes and then turning it around and taking the fight to them in the second half; about Chloe Kelly doing what Chloe Kelly does. It is about Sarina Wiegman, the Dutch coach who has not just taken teams to five consecutive finals, three of them with England, but has won all four penalty shoot-outs that England, so derided in such scenarios before she and Gareth Southgate arrived, have taken part in. Once those shoot-outs provoked fear and ridicule. Now England just back themselves. And on and on it goes. But it needs a simple definition and that definition is this: England are, to steal Jürgen Klopp's phrase about his Liverpool team, the new 'Mentality Monsters'. That is what Proper England means. That is what the Lionesses have done. That is the transformation they have completed. They have redefined England and England as a force in international football and what an astonishing achievement that is. What an overturning of convention. Years of hurt? Forget about it. The shirt weighing heavy? No, it inspires them. Football's coming home? We have done that. Twice. This is a Golden Age. A Golden Generation. For women and – we hope – for men. For England as a whole, in fact, so we need to exploit it as well as rejoice in it as, of course, it does not last forever. The men have lost two Euro finals (the first of which they should have won); they are so close. They have not got that mentality right just yet – hence the hiring of Thomas Tuchel – but we have to hope it is to come. It has already arrived for their under-21s who, like the senior women, have retained their European title. There is a pathway. So buckle up and enjoy the ride. Any rational analysis will conclude that Spain were the better team. They played the better football. They had more control and more chances and will feel robbed. But sport is not logical, which is partly why it is so glorious. Instead it can defy that logic and bend to belief. These Lionesses always find a way and they did it the hard way – as they did throughout this tournament: becoming the first holders ever to lose their first game, dealing with that pressure and criticism and then coming through three periods of extra time and two shoot-outs. That takes extraordinary resilience. 'Football is chaos,' Wiegman said. But it also about who holds their nerve and rides that chaos. Who can tame it. England did that whereas, for decades, they allowed the chaos to dominate them, overwhelm them and the fear of losing destroying the desire to win. England's men's team went out of Euro 2016 to Iceland, arguably their biggest ever humiliation, with Wayne Rooney admitting he and his team-mates were fearing the media and fan reaction to defeat after they went 2-1 behind. Even though there was still 72 minutes to play. They froze; they felt the fear and could not cope. It feels a distant memory now, not just a nadir struck only nine years ago and the Lionesses are at the vanguard of banishing it. It has to be stressed the men need to follow but Southgate has shown them the way; it is now for Tuchel to emulate Wiegman and get them to the promised land. But no longer does it feel an impossible mission and an impossible job. Instead after the Football Association launched its 'England DNA' project in 2014, to improve the development of English footballers and produce a consistent and progressive way of playing, we have another layer to it: what Proper England means and how the Lionesses have taken that on, embraced it, rejoiced in it. It is not about a bulldog spirit or showing passion or being physical or playing harum-scarum football. It is not even about how the game should be played or style of football although, if England are to prolong this period of success, the next step must be to develop a player as wonderful on the ball as Aitana Bonmati. Instead it is about having belief and never letting that waver. It is about that indefinable quality that comes with a simple definition. It is about being the Mentality Monsters of international football. And that is some title to claim.
