2025 Belgian Grand Prix Preview: 5 Big Talking Points Heading into the Weekend

Linus O'Howell
Jul 24
3 min read

F1 (and the Sprint) is Back!

After a weird 3-week break, Formula 1 finally returns to our eyes this weekend at one of the most iconic racing circuits of all time, Spa-Francorchamps! However, F1 clearly feel bad for being away for so long as this weekend also sees the Sprint return after last being seen in Miami (at the very start of May)! Oscar Piastri, Max Verstappen, Lewis Hamilton, and Lance Stroll are all people to keep an eye on after impressing in the opening 2 Sprint rounds, whilst the likes of Liam Lawson and Carlos Sainz need to do better! This is also the first Sprint Race in Spa since 2023, an occasion that gave us a pretty cool Podium in the form of Verstappen, Piastri, and Pierre Gasly!

Nico Hulkenberg’s Iconic Podium

It’s crazy to think that the last time we saw a Formula 1 Podium, Nico Hulkenberg was standing on it! There were a lot of big takeaways from the 2025 British Grand Prix, but none more so than Nico securing his maiden Podium after 239 Races! Oh, and in a Kick Sauber no less! Now, realistically, this isn’t going to happen again right now, but Hulkenberg is on a 4-Race points-scoring streak, and expectations will be there for him to add to his total once again! After all, Sauber are currently hunting down Williams for 5th!

Russell’s Redemption

As the chequered flag waved this time last year, George Russell was crossing the line to take arguably the best win of the entire season, but certainly without a doubt his greatest victory! Unfortunately, not even a couple of hours passed without George being disqualified for his car being marginally underrated, a penalty that had to be served, but it didn’t mean it wasn’t harsh on the Brit! However, whilst the win might have been taken away from him, that doesn’t mean that anyone could take away how brilliant Russell drove, particularly in the final stint, and now it’s all about redemption for him! With all the constant talking around the paddock and in the news about what’s going to happen to Mercedes next year, this would be a great time for George Russell to firmly stamp himself as a Top 3 driver on this Grid!

Isack Hadjar’s Recent Woes

Isack Hadjar has been the Rookie of the Season so far, which is even more impressive when he was talked about the least of any of the 6 heading into the start of this year! Isack managed to score consistent points which has seen him leading Racing Bulls’ charge up the order, but things have proven to be a little bit tricky since his terrific P7 in Spain! See, there was no Race pace in Canada, in Austria, Hadjar found himself clearly second best to his teammate Liam Lawson, and in Silverstone, he struggled a lot in tricky conditions before he smashed into the wall after a collision with Andrea Kimi Antonelli! This is not to say that Isack Hadjar isn’t doing well; he’s having a terrific season, but ultimately, this sport is based on form and recent results, and Isack will be hoping that he can get back to scoring some points this weekend!

Oscar Piastri Needs a Win

I think it’s a fair assessment to make that Oscar Piastri has probably been the driver of the season after the first 12 Rounds, there are multiple good candidates, but it’s Oscar who leads the Championship after all! However, things have felt a little different since Piastri’s win in Spain, Canada he struggled all weekend (even though he still extended his Championship lead), Austria was there for him to win, but he just didn’t hook everything together, whilst he should and would’ve won Silverstone had it not been for the penalty! Oscar Piastri was clearly angry at the end of that Race, easily the most worked up I’ve seen him, but I also feel like it makes total sense because Piastri knows he’s good enough to win the Championship, he just needs to hook everything together again! Now, Spa is a track that Oscar is very quick around, it’s where he kind of made his name in F1 when he pushed Max Verstappen for both Pole and the victory in the Sprint here in 2023, and he also had the pace to win here last year as well (ultimately couldn’t pass the two Mercedes)! If Lando Norris has a perfect weekend, he will lead the World Championship come Sunday evening, and that’s something that Oscar Piastri needs to sort out!