2025 Belgian Grand Prix Sprint Review

Linus O'Howell
Jul 26
2 min read

Verstappen’s Gamble Pays Off with Sprint Victory in Spa

Red Bull opted to give Max Verstappen as much of a straight-line advantage as possible, and ultimately it worked out as he passed Oscar Piastri on the opening lap before keeping him behind for the rest of the Sprint! Piastri had to settle for second whilst Lando Norris completed a McLaren 2-3!

What was the Point?

Before the Sprint even started, disaster struck for Pierre Gasly as his Alpine failed on him, meaning he was unable to start from a superb 8th! Absolutely gutting for the Gasman! When the Sprint did get underway, it was Max Verstappen’s Red Bull that flew past Oscar Piastri’s McLaren on the Kemmel straight whilst Charles Leclerc was able to dispatch Lando Norris for third! However, that didn’t exactly last long, with Lando clearing Charles just a couple of laps later! After this, no overtaking happened, like literally nothing other than Andrea Kimi Antonelli passing Nico Hulkenberg (and Lewis Hamilton eventually passed Alex Albon on the final lap)! Oscar ran close to Max the entire Race, but he simply didn’t have enough straight-line speed as Norris eventually closed onto the back of them! I honestly don’t understand why Spa was picked to host a Sprint Race, it doesn’t lend itself to one whatsoever, and this was pretty missable!

The Highs and Lows of the Sprint

I’ve given out three 10’s for today’s Sprint and the first one is obviously for Max Verstappen! Max did everything he needed to do today, he got the lead at the start and then didn’t put a foot wrong! Superb stuff from the 4-time World Champion! The second driver I’ve given out maximum points to is Esteban Ocon, and wow, qualified P5, finished P5 in a Haas is absolutely sensational work, I’m very impressed! The final driver I’ve given a Perfect 10 to is Carlos Sainz, I think this is warranted, given Williams’ recent struggles, for Carlos to deliver a Top 6 finish is a terrific effort! Oscar Piastri, Oliver Bearman, Isack Hadjar, and Gabriel Bortoleto were all great too!

In terms of the lowest possible grade, I’ve only given out one 1, and that is for Franco Colapinto! Considering everyone was running close together, the fact that Franco was 6 seconds off the pack isn’t good enough, even if he did start from the Pitlane, he dropped back a lot! Lewis Hamilton, Alex Albon, Andrea Kimi Antonelli, and Nico Hulkenberg also all struggled after having bad Qualifying’s the day before!