Belgian Grand Prix: Lando Norris edges out McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri to claim pole
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The Guardian
10 hours ago
- The Guardian
Oscar Piastri eases away from Norris to win rain-hit Belgian Grand Prix
Calm assurance and closure were once more the hallmarks of victory for Oscar Piastri at the Belgian Grand Prix. The 24-year-old Australian displayed purpose, conviction and touch behind the wheel to grind out a win in challenging conditions and under no little pressure in seeing off his McLaren teammate Lando Norris. The title fight will be decided between the two drivers and, as at Spa, single significant moments may prove decisive. In what was far from a thriller, Piastri won with a dominant drive to beat Norris into second and Ferrari's Charles Leclerc into third. Max Verstappen was fourth for Red Bull in the team's first race without the recently dismissed team principal Christian Horner in charge, while Lewis Hamilton made the most of the changeable, wet-dry conditions to move from 18th on the grid to finish seventh. After a delayed start of almost an hour and 20 minutes because of heavy rain in the Ardennes mountains, when racing finally began in earnest Piastri pounced to take the lead from Norris with an opportunistic and decisive move. He launched it with almost breathtaking commitment. As the pair plunged down the hill into Eau Rouge on the first racing lap in anger, Piastri scythed into the slot just under Norris's gearbox in an all or nothing, fearless display. They hurtled up through Raidillon and thence with the slipstream on the Kemmel straight it was advantage Piastri as he sped past and into the lead at Les Combes. Norris was powerless to resist and not at fault – as his team principal, Andrea Stella, noted – the driver leading the pack out on the first lap is always vulnerable; indeed a lesson Piastri had learned from the sprint race on Saturday when Verstappen pulled an identical move on him. He was aware of its import. 'I knew that lap one was probably my best chance of winning the race,' he said. 'I lifted as little as I dared through Eau Rouge and then it was enough.' Having got to the front he was relentless in grinding out a victory and even a counter-tyre strategy from Norris could not bring him quite back into contention. Yet it required a steely resolve and, with the decision to make his medium tyres last to the finish, no little finesse, as Norris chased him down on the more durable hard rubber. For all that the McLaren is easy on its rubber, Piastri eased it on with a gentle mastery. It was, then, another combative statement of intent from the Australian, demonstrating that even when he is on the back foot he retains a fierce determination. Once he had retaken the lead from second on the grid he was in assured control from the front, with the same measured, calm confidence that is almost disarming as it becomes ominously clear to his rivals that he has all the traits of a world champion in waiting. It was his sixth win from 13 races this season and for all that Norris took the previous two on the trot, really no other driver has matched the Australian's consistency. What had begun in Melbourne with a win for Norris has since become very much bossed by Piastri, who has laid down another marker that it will be remarkably hard to beat him this season, but it will be a hard-fought show. He now leads Norris by 16 points with 11 meetings remaining in a contest that increasingly looks like it will go down to the wire. Certainly Stella believed that there was little to choose between his drivers and noted that it would likely come down to the minutiae of execution that would tell for the title. Sign up to The Recap The best of our sports journalism from the past seven days and a heads-up on the weekend's action after newsletter promotion Norris might consider that on his chase he dropped a little time, two lock-ups at La Source and going wide once at Pouhon but they were not enough to be truly decisive. He had closed to within 3.4sec by the end but for the final laps Piastri still had enough in the locker to hold his lead. Norris, too, conceded that he had been well beaten and that he did not believe his minor errors had made the difference. 'Oscar just did a good job [at the start], nothing more to say, committed a bit more through Eau Rouge,' he said. 'That was it, Oscar deserved it today. It's shoulda‑woulda‑coulda. Oscar deserved it and I'm sure he made a couple of mistakes, too. I couldn't have won today.' With rain having swept across the circuit on and off all day, another deluge began just before the start and the race was delayed after a single formation lap, because of the poor visibility caused by the spray. The cars returned to the pit lane for more an hour and 20 minutes until the FIA deemed it could begin behind the safety car and with a rolling start. The long delay was questioned by some with the track drying – notably Red Bull and Verstappen, who had their car set up for a wet race – but the consensus was the governing body had made the right call to err on the side of caution on a circuit that is a high-speed challenge in perfect conditions. An earlier opening in more difficult conditions would maybe have made for a more interesting race, but it is hard not to imagine that Piastri would not have exhibited similarly iron control even then as – rain or shine – the Australian very much had the measure of Spa.
South Wales Guardian
11 hours ago
- South Wales Guardian
Oscar Piastri breezes past Lando Norris to claim Belgian Grand Prix victory
The start of the 13th round in Spa-Francorchamps was delayed by one hour and 20 minutes due to heavy rain in the Ardennes. But when it eventually got under way – following four precautionary laps behind the safety car – Norris was found wanting when a sloppy exit at the opening La Source corner provided Piastri with a race-winning opportunity too good to turn down. OSCAR MAKES IT SIX GRAND PRIX VICTORIES THIS SEASON! 🏆#McLaren | #BelgianGP 🇧🇪 — McLaren (@McLarenF1) July 27, 2025 Despite being in Norris' spray, Piastri held his nerve and kept his foot on the accelerator at 170mph up through Eau Rouge and into Raidillon before jinking to his left and sailing clear of his McLaren team-mate on the Kemmel Straight. It was brave and superb in equal measure from Piastri but one Norris will be disappointed after seeing the his rival's championship advantage increase from nine points to 16 ahead of the final round before the summer break in Hungary next weekend. Norris crossed the line 3.4 seconds behind Piastri with Charles Leclerc third for Ferrari. Red Bull's Max Verstappen finished fourth, one place clear of Mercedes driver George Russell with Alex Albon an impressive sixth in his Williams. Lewis Hamilton started 18th and finished seventh following a string of fine moves in the early inclement conditions. .@LewisHamilton drives from the pit lane to the points in P7, amazing work! 👏 — Scuderia Ferrari HP (@ScuderiaFerrari) July 27, 2025 At one point, there were fears the race – initially pencilled in for a start time of 3pm locally – could be abandoned after it was suspended following the formation lap due to poor visibility. Verstappen described the decision as 'silly' and 'too cautious'. However, there have been 49 fatalities at this track in the last 100 years – most recently Dutch 18-year-old Dilano Van 't Hoff in 2023. And race director Rui Marques could be excused for taking that grizzly statistic into his consideration. The drivers returned to their respective garages, and as the rain lashed down, memories were cast back to the event in 2021 – one which was abandoned after only two laps behind the safety car. But the grey skies parted, the sun broke through, and at 16:20, pole-sitter Norris emerged on track, albeit behind the safety car, to huge cheers from the record-breaking crowd with 389,000 spectators over the last three days. With visibility quickly improving, the safety car peeled in after four laps, and Norris bunched up the pack before attempting to put distance between himself and Piastri. The advantage was in Norris's hands with Piastri having to navigate his team-mate's spray. But a scrappy exit at La Source from the Briton provided Piastri with the momentum and he soared past Norris and into the lead. Piastri was 1.5 seconds quicker than Norris on the first racing lap leaving the Englishman – who arrived here hoping to claim a hat-trick of wins – facing a mammoth and improbable task. Further back and Hamilton, armed with a new engine, passed both Carlos Sainz and Franco Colapinto in only a handful of corners before breezing clear of Nico Hulkenberg on lap eight for 14th. That became 13th a lap later following a fine move on Pierre Gasly. On lap 11, Hamilton, who had described his Q1 elimination on Saturday as 'unacceptable', was then the first of the major players to move to the slick tyres. A slingshot manouvere on Liam Lawson in the moments after he left the pits promoted him to a net seventh when it all shook out. Oscar enjoyed that one 💪#F1 #BelgianGP — Formula 1 (@F1) July 27, 2025 In came leader Piastri for dry tyres on lap 12, with Norris in on the next lap. Norris took on the hardest tyre compound – the only driver to do so – in the hope that Piastri's medium rubber would not make it to the end. But in a blow to Norris, Piastri's rubber lasted all 44 laps as he claimed his sixth win of the season – two more than the Briton – with the championship momentum swinging back to the Australian. Norris said: 'Oscar just did a good job and there is nothing more to say. He committed more through Eau Rouge and got the slipstream so there is nothing to complain about. He did a better job at the beginning and there was nothing more I could do after that point.' Piastri said: 'I knew lap one would be my best chance of winning the race. I got a good exit from the first corner and lifted as little as I dared through Eau Rouge. 'I was disappointed it was a rolling start because I thought that would take away the opportunity. But when I was that close I knew I would lift a little bit less than Lando did. It was lively up the hill, but I managed to make it stick.'
The Independent
12 hours ago
- The Independent
Lewis Hamilton criticises delayed start to Belgian GP – but team bosses side with FIA
Lewis Hamilton believes the Belgian Grand Prix should have resumed earlier after a cautious approach from the FIA amid wet conditions at Spa-Francorchamps. After an 80-minute delay due to a heavy downpour, the race restarted with four laps behind the safety car, despite the track drying rapidly in most areas. The 44-lap grand prix begun with a rolling start, rather than the usual standing start and seven-time world champion Hamilton believed race control compensated for the last race at Silverstone, where a crash occurred due to lack of visibility in the rain. 'We started the race a little bit too late, I would say,' said Hamilton, who started in the pit-lane and finished seventh to conclude a wretched weekend. 'I kept shouting 'it's ready to go, it's ready to go'. They kept going round and round. So, I think they're probably overreacting from the last race, where we asked them not to restart the race too early, because the visibility was bad. 'I think this weekend they just went a bit too much the other way, because we didn't need a rolling start.' 'My car was set up for that [rain], they waited for it to dry pretty much. They definitely could have done a standing start, especially at the end there, because it was almost a dry line. There was hardly any spray.' Max Verstappen agreed with Hamilton, calling the delay 'silly' over team radio. However, Hamilton's boss at Ferrari, team principal Fred Vasseur, thought race director Rui Marques was correct to err on the side of caution, particularly given past crashes in the rain at Spa. 'The spray is coming from the floor, there is nothing we can do,' he said. 'The limitation is not the grip, the limitation is visibility. The helmet camera shows it, you can understand in this situation that they see absolutely nothing. 'Remember what happened in Silverstone with the crash, this is the most dangerous. We can't blame them, we would be the first one to give them s*** if something happened. 'I was comfortable in respecting their decision because they have a huge responsibility.' McLaren team principal Andrea Stella, whose drivers Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris led home another one-two finish for the runaway leaders, also concurred with the FIA's decision-making. 'I think today the race was managed in a very wise way by the FIA,' he said. 'We knew there was a lot of rain coming. Delaying the race allowed us to race in wet conditions and we went into dry. We didn't even know how long the dry race would've been. 'I think from our position we always praise the work of the FIA when this is deserved and this is one of the cases.'
