The Best From Belgium 2025
Back on the top step© Getty Images
Winding through the hills of Belgium© Getty Images
Banking the laps© Getty Images
A wet start to Sunday© Getty Images
Chatting to the media© Getty Images
Our new Team Principal© Getty Images
The Eau Rouge© Getty Images
Pitstop practice© Getty Images
Forming a dry line© Getty Images
That's Radillion actually© Getty Images
Leading the Sprint© Getty Images
Briefing with the boss© Getty Images
A fresh fit for Yuki© Getty Images
Makin' Turns Like The Weather© Getty Images
01The Latest From Spa
02Into the Ardennes
There are few places in F1 that evoke grand prix racingâs golden age as much as Spa-Francorchamps. Forests, towering inclines, power-hungry straights and some of the sportâs most fearsome corners, itâs a circuit thatâs loved by drivers and fans in equal measure. For racers, itâs got that magic combination of elevation changes, high-speed sweeps, technically demanding corners and swift punishment of lost lap time should you put a foot wrong. And for fans, itâs the thrill of watching the best drivers in the world take on that monumental challenge in an environment that just screams âheritageâ that makes Spa a truly spectacular grand prix experience.
Spa, You Are Stunning© Getty Images
Part of Spaâs undeniable beauty is that it rewards sparingly. The unforgiving layout, coupled with often inclement weather, means itâs not a place where any team can say âwe traditionally go well at Spaâ and over the years weâve had fantastic and frustrating results in equal measure.
It wasnât until our third season, in 2007, that we picked up a point at Spa, courtesy of Mark Webber, and not until our seventh, 2011, that we managed to take a win in Belgium, with Seb Vettel. The German added another in 2013 and Daniel Ricciardo repeated in 2014, but it wasnât until 2021 that another Red Bull driver â Max Verstappen â stood on the top step.
A Full House In Spa© Getty Images
If anyone could be said to have dominated here, itâs Max. The win in 2021 was followed by victories in 2022 and 2023, with both being achieved with incredible drives from well down the starting grid. Add in a first front-row start in 2016 and a couple of other podiums, and itâs not hard to understand why itâs the Dutch aceâs favourite circuit.
2021 Was Max's Maiden Win In Belgium© Getty Images
Yuki has finished in the points here previously, grabbing tenth place with AlphaTauri in 2022. Itâs also a track he firmly places in his top five, so heâll be expecting better this time out.
03From Max & Yuki
There is always huge support in Belgium from the Orange Army and it is like a second home race for me...Max Verstappen"Spa is a classic and always my favourite track on the calendar; a very old school circuit where you have to do everything right to get a good lap. I enjoy the high-speed corners such as Eau Rouge, the layout which is different to other circuits and elevation changes that make the track more of a challenge to drive. Silverstone wasnât our best performance but it was a promising step to put it on Pole in Qualifying. I was back at the factory last week to spend some time in the sim with the Team and Iâm looking forward to working closely with Laurent. There is always huge support in Belgium from the Orange Army and it is like a second home race for me, so I will be back wearing the Orange Lion helmet and my special cap and boots." - Max
We are coming into this race in a new era for team and it will be good to link up again with Laurent.Yuki Tsunoda "I have spent the time off racing mixed between training very hard and using the break to mentally reset. I wanted to be the best prepared I could be coming into Spa and in better condition, mentally and physically. I am feeling strong and sharp and looking forward to these next two races before summer break. We are coming into this race in a new era for the Team and it will be good to link up again with Laurent, we worked really well together at Visa Cash App Racing Bulls. I know how he likes to work and our full focus is on pushing forward and for me personally to start delivering the performance we need. Spa is a fun circuit and one that could suit us well, the Sprint always makes things tricky but the work and preparation we have done in this off time should set us up nicely." - Yuki
04Challenges and Key Factors
Tyres are always a talking point, but this weekend weâre going to hear a lot more about them. More specifically, weâre going to hear a lot about the gap in the compound choice.
For the past three editions, Pirelli has chosen the C2 as the white-banded, hard compound, the C3 as the yellow medium and the C4 as the red soft tyre. This year, in a bid to create more strategic diversity, the Italian manufacturer has abandoned that idea and instead it is gapping the compounds with the C1 as the hard and the C3 and C4 as the medium and soft respectively. That kind of gap hasnât been seen since the 2022 Australian Grand Prix (when it was C2, C3 and C5) and it will cause a bit of head scratching this weekend, especially considering that Spa is pretty hard on tyres and while wear and loads arenât quite as bad as rough old Silverstone or Suzuka, they are severe.
So, what does that mean for strategy? Well, the unknown compound in 2025 at Spa is the C1. Last year, on a largely resurfaced Spa, the C2 Hard was used by every driver, with the top three finishers using it twice during the race after starting on the quicker medium C3. Max, who finished in P4, bucked that trend by bookending his race with the C3.
Of course, there is the possibility that the C1 proves to be durable enough, and swift enough, to make a one-stop possible. If thatâs the case, itâs likely that a medium-hard race would be chosen, with a single stop coming at around lap 10-15. That was deemed an unlikely choice last year but Aston Martinâs Lance Stroll went for it, with mixed results. He started 15th and was classified 11th though one of those four places was gained when George Russell was disqualified after the flag.
So, the likelihood is that a two-stop will be the quickest way to the flag with the known quantity of the C3 being favoured, although our next challenge will inform that choice.
Itâs been quite a while since weâve had one of these (Miami to be precise) but the third Sprint of the season is scheduled for this weekend and Sprints always make things a bit trickier. One of those tricky aspects is that thereâs one fewer set of tyres available compared with a standard weekend. Here, drivers will have 12 sets â six sets of softs, four mediums and two hards. Remember also that the medium is the only tyre permitted for the first two parts of Sprint Qualifying and the soft must be used in the third. Therefore, hanging on to two sets of fresh mediums for Sundayâs race could prove difficult.
Weâve only had one Sprint before in Belgium, in 2023. On that occasion, heavy rain in the run-up to the brief 11-lap race led to a rolling start behind the Safety Car, which, by regulation in those conditions, meant using extreme wets. When the SC left the track, half the field dived in for Inters, the other half waited until the following lap and when it all shook out, Max overtook Oscar Piastri to take the win.
If teamâs arenât talking tyres at Spa, theyâre talking about the weather â and with good reason. While the old standard suggests that itâs love and marriage that go together like a horse and carriage, itâs entirely possible that what lyricist Sammy Cahn actually meant to say is that, in fact, changeable weather and Spa are the two elements that most closely resemble a cart and horses. Maybe.
Of course, there are many who will rightly point out that Spa usually takes place at the end of August and that this yearâs July date makes stable weather much more likely. But while thatâs true, weâll stick to our âchangeable weatherâ guns by pointing to the weekend forecast, which at the moment is telling us that Thursday will be dismal, and that we might get some showers on Friday and on Sunday.
05Oracle Strategy Guide: Belgium
06Spa-Francorchamps: Track Layout & Key Features
Quite simply, Spa is a beast of a track. At 7.004km, itâs the longest track on the calendar and its best bits are like a hit parade of F1âs greatest sections.
The lap opens with the short uphill run to the hairpin of La Source. Itâs just 137m from the starting line to the first braking point and with cars all tightly packed and jockeying for position, thereâs always action.
If you make it safely through La Source, youâre confronted by one of the greatest stretches of track in all of F1. First you accelerate all the way downhill to the 305km/h flick of Eau Rouge, after which you sweep up what looks like a towering wall of asphalt to take the left turn of Raidillon at almost the same speed. Once youâve ridden that rollercoaster, youâre onto the long Kemmel straight. Itâs the first DRS zone but even on the opening lap, when DRS is disabled, itâs possible to pick up a tow from multiple cars and get a move done into the right-left sequence of Les Combes at the end of the straight.
With that flat-out blast (all 1.8km of it from La Source) completed, youâre into the more technical second sector. Turns 7, 8 and 9 (Malmedy, Bruxelles/Rivage and Speakerâs Corner) take you downhill to what is now the circuitâs iconic high-speed sweep, Pouhon. The double left-hander is taken in seventh or eighth gear and at around 270km/h.
The circuit then heads more steeply down to the left right of Fagnes (Turns 12 and 13) and bottoms out at the pair of right handers known as Stavelot and Paul Frere.
Youâre into the final sector now and the next challenge is the flat-out left hander of Blanchimont. It used to be a lot more daunting as it historically had a shallow gravel trap on the right-hand side but these days thereâs an enormous asphalt run-off, making it much less trouble. Once thatâs dispensed with, youâre onto the long climb up to the Bus Stop chicane, another key overtaking point, and finally the short run across the finish line, which forms the second DRS zone.
