Formula 1 News: Piastri beats Norris to win 2025 Belgian GP

Oscar Piastri passed his McLaren teammate Lando Norris on lap 1 and then held off Norris the entire race for another 1-2 finish for the superior McLaren cars in the 2025 Belgian GP at Spa Francorchamps.

–by Mark Cipolloni–

After nearly an hour and a half of delays due to heavy rain and poor visibility, the Belgian Grand Prix finally got underway behind the safety car on a wet track, but it soon dried, and all the drivers pitted for either medium or hard slick tires.

Australian Piastri won for the 6th time in 2025 thanks to an overtake in the rain, picking off the polesitter and his teammate Norris early on before disappearing into the distance for much of the afternoon.

“Lively, very lively! I knew Lap 1 would probably be my best chance of winning the race,” said Piastri. “I got a good exit out of Turn 1, lifted as little as I dared, and yeah. We had it mostly under control [from there].

“I was a bit disappointed with the rolling start, as I thought that would take away the opportunity. But when I was that close through Eau Rouge, I knew I was going to lift a little less than Lando. Proud of my first lap.

“I had the same plan [as Norris] if I was second – I knew that was a likely decision for him, but the medium was the sensible tire for me.”

Norris pushed him hard but has to settle for second. This has been a McLaren masterclass again; those two Rob Marshall-designed cars head and shoulders better than the rest.

“Oscar just did a good job, nothing more to say,” said Norris. “Committed more through Eau Rouge, got the slipstream and the run. That was it; nothing else I could do at that point. Oscar deserved it today.

“Shoulda, woulda, coulda. Oscar deserved it, I’ll review my things, but I’m still happy for the team—another 1-2 and our first 1-2 here for many, many years.”

With his 3.4s win, points leader Piastri widened his point lead over Norris (266 to 250), as no other driver has a chance to win the world title, such is the superiority of the two McLaren cars.

Piastri had to nurse his degrading medium tires to the end, while Norris on the hard tires had much faster tires at the end.

Charles Leclerc finished where he started in his #16 Ferrari, in third, 20.7s behind Piastri.

“Max was behind the whole race within two seconds, so it was never easy. The first part was tricky as I knew we didn’t have the downforce. But luckily it dried up quickly and the pace was good. Pretty happy we managed to keep that third place.

“The pressure is high, especially in those conditions. You can do a very big mistake, so at one point I told [my Race Engineer] to leave me alone!”

Max Verstappen finished where he started as well, in 4th, in his Red Bull dog, 22.4s behind Piastri.

George Russell brought his #63 Mercedes home in 5th, 35.7s behind Piastri.

Alex Albon, who held off a charging Lewis Hamilton for 6th.

Liam Lawson, Gabriel Bortoleto and Pierre Gasly rounded out the top 10.

Up next is the Hungarian GP next weekend before Formula 1 goes silent for 4 weeks for the usual summer break.

2025 Belgian GP Race Results – 44 Laps