3 takeaways from the Belgian Grand Prix
28th July 2025Formula 1 endured a wet-to-dry race at the historical Spa-Francorchamps, ultimately won by McLaren’s Oscar Piastri, but what are three takeaways from the Belgian Grand Prix?
Feature image credit: Scuderia Ferrari
Christian Horner-less Red Bull doesn’t change much
Red Bull made a shock change at the top of their Formula 1 outfit as Christian Horner was removed from his position as Team Principal and CEO days after the British Grand Prix.
It followed a year of turbulent activity from high-profile departures at the squad, including Adrien Newey and Jonathan Wheatley, and a high-profile investigation into inappropriate behaviour.
It would’ve been understandable for the team to be affected in some way due to the change, but it looked to be business-as-usual for the team at Spa-Francorchamps.
Their star driver, Max Verstappen, went on to secure the Belgian Grand Prix sprint race, holding off the advances of two charging McLarens. Whilst he was not able to challenge for the Grand Prix win, Verstappen still qualified inside the top four and finished in the same position he started.
It also marked the first win of any kind for Laurent Mekies, the man who replaced Horner, in his first weekend in charge of the Milton Keynes-based team.
Hamilton’s strong finish to a troubled weekend
The Belgian Grand Prix in 2025 was not one of Hamilton’s best, considering the weekend on the whole. The seven-time world champion had some upgrades on his SF-25 during the weekend, including a new suspension.
Hamilton’s qualifying sessions were both cut short by mistakes, leaving the British driver with a lot of work to do during the Sprint and Race.
In SQ1, for the Sprint, Hamilton spun out at the Bus Stop Chicane on his final run of the first third, and it meant the world champion started 18th. Thanks to a DRS train, he could only improve by two places and finished in 16th.
Qualifying’s Q1 did not fare any better as the #44 ran wide at the top of Raidillon and had his top-10 lap time deleted due to track limits, dropping him out of qualifying in Q1.
However, the seven-time world champion put in a great recovery drive to give him a strong finish to his weekend compared to the rest of the weekend. Hamilton overtook 11 cars in the race to finish seventh, behind Williams’ Alexander Albon.
Visibility remains a killer problem for wet racing
In true Spa fashion, the rain came down ahead of the race. It had already forced the support series, Formula 3, to cancel their race thanks to the conditions, whilst both Formula 2 and the Porsche Supercup were able to get their races in.
When it was F1’s turn to race in the conditions, visibility was so poor that race control suspended the race start procedure and red-flagged the session half a lap into the formation lap.
Replays and driver cam footage showed how bad it was for the drivers on the Kemmel Straight, with McLaren’s Lando Norris complaining about it behind the safety car.
Verstappen did complain about the FIA being cautious due to the conditions, saying they could run a couple of laps to clear the water. The tyres, both the intermediates and extreme wets, are designed to disperse rain from the circuit.
It continues to show that visibility is the Achilles’ heel of wet-weather running, with the sport emphasising safety rather than anything else. The stewards even scrapped the usual ruling that the drivers have to remain within 10-car lengths of the car in front of them, limiting it to a 20-car length, to help visibility.
Read more Formula 1 here:
- Who finished where at the Belgian Grand Prix?
- Piastri leads McLaren 1-2 after rain delay at Belgian Grand Prix
- How are points handed out if Belgian GP doesn’t go full distance?
- Who qualified where for the Belgian Grand Prix?
- Lando Norris leads McLaren front-row at F1 Belgian GP
- Who finished where at F1 Belgian GP Sprint race?
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Hi, I’m Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion.
I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I’ve loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.
Kamron Kent
Hi, I'm Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion. I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I've loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.
