Category: 6. Sports

Yuki Tsunoda was unable to capitalise on his best Qualifying result of the season for Red Bull as his Belgian Grand Prix unraveled following a “miscommunication” and strategy error.

The Red Bull man qualified seventh and was running in that position at the start of the race – an event that marked his 100th Grand Prix start – but he wound up finishing a frustrating P13 on a day where points seemed possible for the Japanese racer, who remains without a score since Imola back in May.

Tsunoda’s race suffered a significant blow in the first pit stop period as, with the track drying, a small handful of drivers gambled and came in to swap to slick tyres. That proved to be the right call, prompting the majority to pit on the next lap.

However, Tsunoda – and a small handful of others – stayed out one further lap, which given the length of the Spa-Francorchamps circuit, proved to be very costly. When the Red Bull racer pitted, he tumbled from P7 to 12th and found himself in a DRS train behind Pierre Gasly’s Alpine.

“There was a miscommunication I guess between myself and the team,” Tsunoda explained after the race. “I requested to switch to the dry tyre, they called me way too late, I unfortunately had just passed the pit entry when they called me.

“One lap in these kinds of conditions is very decisive; I lost five positions and was stuck behind a bit all the race. That’s it, that was my race.”

Tsunoda fought hard to make it back to P11 and had DRS at times in his quest to overtake Gasly, but running in the dirty air for so long also cost him tyre wear, and he was picked off late on by both Ollie Bearman in the Haas and a much fresher-shod Nico Hulkenberg.

“I tried my best to overtake but unfortunately my straight-line speed was nowhere,” he added. “I requested to – well I tried my best to – overtake but my tyre was gone so it was frustrating.

“Overall, a frustrating race and disappointing not to be in the points. There are definitely a couple of things that we can take away from the race and we will re-focus for Budapest next weekend.”

Tsunoda remains under pressure to put together some strong results – since joining Red Bull, he has one ninth and two P10 finishes in the 11 Grands Prix he has contested with the team, plus a few points from finishing P6 in the Sprint in Miami.

Belgium initially looked like it might be a turning point for Tsunoda, who on Saturday finally received the same package of upgrades that Max Verstappen has been running. But sadly, his best Qualifying of the year and first Q3 showing since Miami did not result in any score.

Tsunoda remains 17th in the Drivers’ Championship standings with 10 points in total, with the upcoming Hungarian Grand Prix the final race weekend before the summer break.

McLaren Team Principal Andrea Stella admits he is “not really interested in being comfortable” when managing the title battle between drivers Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris after a 1-2 in the Belgian Grand Prix, adding that the pair are operating at the level of previous World Champions.

The pair locked out the front row for Sunday’s race at Spa-Francorchamps, with Piastri coming out on top after overtaking polesitter Norris on the long run to Les Combes once racing got underway after a rain delay and Safety Car start.

Norris opted for the hard compound of tyre in comparison to Piastri on mediums when the pair made their only pit stops, and although the Briton closed a gap of 9.1s to just over 3s, Piastri took his sixth win of the campaign and extended his points margin to 16 points.

“There is very, very little between our two drivers, and this is because the two drivers are racing at a very, very high level,” said Stella post-race, with Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari 20s adrift of Piastri at the chequered flag in third.

“We are lucky at McLaren to have two drivers that deservedly are fighting for the World Championship. I think the difference will be made by the accuracy, the precision, the quality of the execution. We saw in Silverstone that an issue, a sporting issue for Oscar during the Safety Car start and the consequent penalty cost him the race.

“And somehow here, we saw that somehow related to the circuit characteristic like we said before, it would have always been very difficult for Lando to keep the position starting first at the Safety Car restart.”

He added: “Like I said before, we have two drivers, which to the standards that even myself in my career I’ve been close to, driving with multiple world champions [including Michael Schumacher, Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen]. I think Lando and Oscar are operating at that level, at the level of deservedly being in contention for the Drivers’ World Championship.”

After losing the lead, Norris complained of derating over the radio with Stella confirming that “there was a slight anomaly” with the battery that impacted both cars but that “it’s very difficult for the car that leads the pack to actually arrive first in Turn 5”.

Regarding the strategy, Stella suggested it was Norris’ decision not to double stack behind Piastri and also his choice to use the hard rubber in the hopes of having a tyre advantage later in the race.

“The choice was open. Lando had a couple of lock-ups in Turn 1 and also a little oversteering in Turn 9 that cost him time,” said Stella.

“I think this overall prevented us from having an interesting battle possibly at the end, but in fairness, even Oscar had a couple of times in Turn 1 a little bit of a time loss.

“It’s very difficult when you push so much in these conditions, it’s very difficult to always drive within the limit of the grip.”

Lewis Hamilton has come to the defence of Kimi Antonelli, claiming the young Italian is “doing fantastic” in his debut season of Formula 1 despite a recent bad run of form.

Antonelli joined Mercedes at the start of 2025 amidst plenty of hype after moving up following just one season of Formula 2 and replacing seven-time World Champion Hamilton after his move to Ferrari.

While the 18-year-old started his F1 career strongly, securing five points finishes in the first six races as well as a podium in Canada back in June, he has since come under increasing pressure due to a lack of results, having collided with Max Verstappen on the opening lap in Austria, which eliminated both, and non-scoring in Great Britain.

Antonelli endured a miserable weekend in Belgium, which included another non-score after failing to advance beyond the first stage of Qualifying for the Sprint and Grand Prix, the Italian appearing emotional in the media pen after the latter.

It’s not the first time pressure has impacted Antonelli’s performances on track, which included crashing on his F1 practice debut at the Italian Grand Prix last year amidst the hype.

He also admitted that he had burnt himself out ahead of the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix with commitments ahead of his home race this year.

Hamilton also failed to advance beyond SQ1 and Q1 in Belgium but made up 11 places in the Grand Prix to finish P7 and came to the defence of Antonelli post-race.

“I can’t imagine what it’s like at 18, or try to imagine what it’s like at 18 to do what he’s been doing,” Hamilton told Sky Sports F1.

“I think he’s been doing fantastic to be thrown in at the deep end at 18.

“He didn’t even have his driving licence when he started racing, so I think it’s a lot on someone’s shoulders and I think he’s doing a great job.

“He’s got a great group of people around him. I think he’s just got to take it in his stride, which I think he is and as I say, he’s got Bono [Pete Bonnington, Hamilton’s former race engineer] beside him, so he couldn’t have anyone better.”

On a weekend where Spa-Francorchamps was engulfed in both bright sunshine and heavy rain, Oscar Piastri came out on top and extended his points lead over McLaren team mate Lando Norris. But how did our Power Rankings list for the weekend shake out? Check out the latest scores and overall leaderboard below…

Having missed out on victory in the Sprint from pole, Piastri stamped his authority on Sunday’s Grand Prix and instantly went on the attack, taking the lead on the first lap of racing from team mate Norris. Having extended his lead to 9.1s through the sole pit stop sequence for dry tyres, the Australian rattled off consistent lap times on the medium Pirelli rubber for his sixth win of the season and extended his championship lead to 16 points. Our judges were suitably impressed.

A scintillating final Qualifying lap vaulted Albon’s Williams up to fifth for the Grand Prix, making up for a lacklustre performance in the Sprint where he finished outside the top 10. Having lost a position to Russell’s Mercedes in the early wet running, Albon settled into a rhythm and was able to keep Hamilton’s faster Ferrari behind thanks to a superior straightline advantage which yielded sixth at the chequered flag.

Leclerc was best of the rest on Sunday after qualifying third behind the McLaren duo and maintained the net-position through the pit stop sequence having superbly kept Verstappen behind when his Ferrari’s intermediate tyres were shot. He never stretched his advantage over the Dutchman to more than a handful of seconds, but showed Ferrari’s new suspension package was a step forward for the Scuderia.

Verstappen gambled on a low-downforce set-up for Saturday’s Sprint, which yielded P2 on the grid, before snatching the lead from poleman Piastri on the run to Les Combes before hanging on against the faster McLarens. Only able to grab fourth for the Grand Prix with more downforce applied and despite his best efforts, the four-time and reigning World Champion was unable to find his way around Leclerc’s Ferrari.

Made it through to Q2 despite the Alpine’s poor straightline speed performance and, after starting P13, grimly led a DRS train for much of the 44-lap race on the fringes of the top 10. Having held Tsunoda’s Red Bull and the Haas of Bearman at bay throughout, the Frenchman was rewarded with a point having been promoted to 10th when Hulkenberg’s Kick Sauber ahead stopped for a second time.

Secured his third points finish from the last six races after largely going under the radar in Belgium, finishing 10th in the Sprint and qualifying ninth for the Grand Prix, both times behind Racing Bulls team mate Hadjar. But while the Frenchman was forced to make a second pit stop for tyres that relegated him to the back of the field in the race, Lawson quietly went about his business to finish P8.

Was left to follow Verstappen and Piastri home in the Sprint but made amends with a Grand Prix pole position. Despite being helped by a rolling start and clear vision once action got underway on Sunday, the McLaren man was unable to prevent Piastri from overtaking along the Kemmel Straight. Pitting a lap later and for the hard tyre meant Norris had a mountain to climb, with several small mistakes ultimately consigning him to second.

The Brazilian’s impressive run of form continued in Belgium as he secured his second points finish from three races after finishing P9. Made it through to Q3, out-qualifying Kick Sauber team mate Hulkenberg again, and showed more pace than the German as he was allowed to move ahead after falling behind in the early laps. Thereafter, he kept out of trouble and followed Lawson home but well clear of Gasly.

A spin and then losing his best lap time to track limits in both the Sprint and Grand Prix Qualifying sessions respectively meant Hamilton exited Q1 twice. But after a pit lane start, the Ferrari driver transformed his weekend’s fortunes with an impressive climb through the field, becoming the first driver to jump to slicks. His reward was P7 after being unable to find a way round Albon’s Williams.

For the fourth Grand Prix in succession, Bearman finished 11th and just outside the points in Belgium. But there was some joy for the Haas driver, as seventh in the Sprint meant he claimed his first points since Bahrain back in April as he utilised a low-drag set-up to reach Q3.

MISSING OUT

Russell, Ocon and Hadjar all nearly made it inside this week’s top 10. Russell took a lonely fifth on Sunday, while both Ocon and Hadjar impressed during the Sprint. The Haas man finished fifth but pitted later than most on Sunday and finished down the order, while Hadjar bagged P8 in the Sprint but a second pit stop, and a car issue, left him last in the Grand Prix.