Piastri lays down marker in Belgian GP FP1.
Oscar Piastri has made the perfect start to his Belgian Grand Prix weekend, topping the timesheets in Free Practice 1 by four tenths of a second.
25 Jul 2025
Ben Waterworth
Speedcafe

The championship leader looked fast throughout the hour-long practice session — the only one of the weekend due to it being a sprint round — setting the early pace on the hard tyres before clocking his best time of 1:42.022 on his final lap on softs. His time was 0.404s faster than Max Verstappen, while his teammate Lando Norris finished the session in third, 0.504s behind the Aussie.

‘Piastri lays down marker’;

https://speedcafe.com/f1-news-2025-p...inant-mclaren/


Belgian GP: Free Practice 1 Results
Full results from Free Practice 1 for the Formula 1 Belgian Grand Prix.
25 Jul 2025
Ben Waterworth
Speedcafe

POS. NO. DRIVER TEAM TIME / GAP LAPS
1 81 Oscar Piastri McLaren 1:42.022 23
2 1 Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing +0.404s 23
3 4 Lando Norris McLaren +0.504s 22
4 63 George Russell Mercedes +0.576s 27
5 16 Charles Leclerc Ferrari +0.906s 22
6 12 Kimi Antonelli Mercedes +0.957s 23
7 44 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari +1.063s 24
8 18 Lance Stroll Aston Martin +1.090s 17
9 14 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin +1.098s 22
10 6 Isack Hadjar Racing Bulls +1.100s 19

‘Free Practice 1 Results’;

https://speedcafe.com/f1-news-2025-b...1-fp1-results/


Belgian GP: Piastri tops free practice from Verstappen and Norris
25/07/2025
Michael Delaney
F1i.com

McLaren’s championship leader Oscar Piastri laid down a commanding performance in the only free practice session for the 2025 Belgian Grand Prix.

The Australian’s late charge on Pirelli’s soft C4 compound in the closing minutes of the hour-long session saw him edge out Red Bull’s Max Verstappen by four tenths, signaling McLaren’s strong form heading into the weekend.

The session, dominated by setup work and testing of new aerodynamic upgrades, offered a glimpse into the intense development race as teams fine-tune their packages before the season’s latter stages.

‘Piastri tops free practice’;

https://f1i.com/news/544508-belgian-...nd-norris.html


Lewis Hamilton the target of team radio rant after ‘dangerous’ Belgian GP near miss
25 Jul 2025
Oliver Harden
PlanetF1.com

Lewis Hamilton was the target of an angry team radio rant by Sauber driver Gabriel Bortoleto during FP1 at the Belgian Grand Prix. Bortoleto took to team radio to air his frustrations, telling his race engineer: “Mate, what the f**k is Hamilton doing? He’s always in the middle of the track.”

Leclerc was similarly unimpressed by the sight of two cars dawdling at a dangerous part of the circuit. He responded: “Ah, come on. This is dangerous.”

“Mate, what the f**k is Hamilton doing?”;

https://www.planetf1.com/news/lewis-...n-gp-dangerous


What happened in sole Spa F1 practice session
Jul 25, 2025
Ben Anderson
The Race

Oscar Piastri led the way for McLaren in the only practice session for Formula 1’s 2025 Belgian Grand Prix, as McLaren team-mate Lando Norris went off and lapped slower than Max Verstappen’s Red Bull. The Red Bull features a substantial upgrade for Spa, incorporating revised front wing, front suspension, sidepod inlet, engine cover and rear corner, but Verstappen still complained of a “weird” feeling with the car mid-corner, unable to rotate it as he wished.

Verstappen’s Red Bull was predictably supreme through the first sector of lap, which after La Source (Turn 1) is basically an extended straight through Eau Rouge and Radillon before the braking zone at the end of the Kemmel Straight. Red Bull usually runs a bit light on downforce here and asks Verstappen to work his magic through the twistier middle sector, but any gains Red Bull made through having a slippery car for sector one were more than wiped out by Piastri’s impressive pace and stability through sector two.

A tow in sector one didn't hurt Piastri either. McLaren has brought a lower-downforce rear wing option for Spa, but that car’s greater overall aerodynamic efficiency this season suggests at this early stage it has a potentially more suitable compromise for this circuit than Red Bull is potentially able to achieve.

‘Oscar Piastri led the way for McLaren’;

https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/w...ctice-session/


Where is Max Verstappen’s race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase at the F1 Belgian GP? Why Red Bull’s trusted voice is missing at Spa
With Gianpiero Lambiase absent for personal reasons, Max Verstappen will rely on Simon Rennie as his race engineer for the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa, marking another major change for Red Bull during a turbulent season
25 July 2025
John Smith
Total Motorsport

For the first time since his breakthrough into Formula 1’s elite, Max Verstappen is taking on a race weekend at Spa-Francorchamps without Christian Horner and trusted race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase by his side.

Instead, Verstappen will rely on the experience of Simon Rennie to help guide him through one of the most significant races of the season for Red Bull, as the team deals with dramatic upheaval both on and off the track. The news broke in the lead up to the Belgian Grand Prix that Lambiase, affectionately known as ‘GP’ in the paddock, would not be present due to personal circumstances.

Now, Verstappen will need to summon that same flexibility and composure in the Ardennes, with Simon Rennie returning to the pitwall for a second time this year. Red Bull have not confirmed if Lambiase will be back for Hungary, adding an extra layer of uncertainty to Verstappen’s bid to reassert himself at the front of the championship battle.

‘Gianpiero Lambiase absent for personal reasons’;

https://www.total-motorsport.com/max...lgian-gp-2025/