Welcome to our live coverage for the sprint race for the 2025 Belgian Grand Prix from Spa-Francorchamps. Yesterday’s sprint qualifying produced perhaps an expected result when it came to pole position, but there were a few other surprises further down the grid. Oscar Piastri, the championship leader, dominated and was nearly half a second than the next fastest driver. That, though, was not his McLaren team-mate and title rival Lando Norris but Max Verstappen of Red Bull. Norris was in third but more than 0.6sec down on Piastri, a large margin even taking into account that the track here is a long one.
Norris did not seem to be too upset with his lap. Of course he said he knew he needed to find some pace but given the lap came after just an hour of practice there is plenty of time for him to dial himself in. Winning the grand prix is far more important than winning the race. He, for once, did not appear to down on himself.
Lewis Hamilton, driving the upgraded Ferrari, had a poor session. He spun at the final chicane on his second run in SQ1 which meant he was eliminated. He will start the sprint race from way down in 18th place, just one place behind Nico Hulkenberg... who also finished one spot ahead of him at the British Grand Prix. It is a long way back from there to score points. It’s not impossible but looks very unlikely. George Russell, too, has a battle (though nowhere near as large) to get into the points after qualifying 18th.
