F1 2025 Belgium GP LIVE: Race updates, start time, schedule and grid at Spa – UK Times

The 2024 edition of this race brought Lewis Hamilton’s last grand prix win, though it was a controversial one as he originally came second to George Russell, before his teammate was disqualified as his car failed to meet the minimum weight requirement.

This meant Hamilton landed his second win of the season and his last win in a Mercedes, with Oscar Piastri completing the original podium.

Charles Leclerc went on to complete the podium after Russell’s DQ, with Max Verstappen coming in fourth and Lando Norris in fifth.

After 239 F1 races, Hulkenberg secured a glorious first podium at Silverstone last time out. Now, the 37-year-old has his sights set on more success with Audi in 2026 and beyond. Kieran Jackson meets the impressively understated German driver:

Here’s a brief look at the standings in the Drivers’ Championship ahead of today’s race, with Oscar Piastri leading the title race by nine points after coming second in the sprint race yesterday.

Lando Norris is in second still while Max Verstappen remains 68 points behind Piastri in third.

1 – Oscar Piastri – 241pts

2 – Lando Norris – 232pts

3 – Max Verstappen – 173pts

4 – George Russell – 147pts

5 – Charles Leclerc – 124pts

6 – Lewis Hamilton – 103pts

7 – Kimi Antonelli – 63pts

9 – Nico Hulkenberg – 37pts

10 – Esteban Ocon – 27pts

Eighteen days after Horner was told his two-decade reign was over, Verstappen claimed the Red Bull’s first win of any sort since he raced to victory in Imola on 18 May.

Verstappen started second, but batted aside pole-sitter Oscar Piastri on the opening lap before keeping the world championship leader at bay.

Norris, who trails Piastri by nine points in the world championship, was a step behind the Australian in sprint qualifying on Friday, but turned his fortunes around, setting a time which edged out his teammate by 0.085 seconds.

A pre-race update here as Carlos Sainz has been relegated to a start from the pit lane as Williams have decided to change the mechanical and aerodynamic set-up of his car.

Nigeria has become the latest African country to declare an interest in hosting a Formula 1 race, with ex-Premier League player Marvin Sordell fronting the bid.

F1 currently hosts a race on every habitable continent apart from Africa, with the last iteration taking place 32 years ago via the 1993 South African Grand Prix at the Kyalami Circuit outside Johannesburg.

Yet now, South Africa (with Kyalami and Cape Town vying to host), Rwanda and Morocco have all announced their intention to launch a bid.

F1 returns after a three-week mid-season break for the Belgian Grand Prixat the famous Spa-Francorchamps circuit – and the third sprint weekend of the 2025 season.

Below is each driver’s position on the starting grid ahead of the race:

Kieran Jackson at Spa-Francorchamps

As predicted, it’s wet. Very wet.

It’s been raining most of the morning, with brief intermissions, but while the F3 race was cancelled, F2 and the Porsche Super Cup completed their races fine.

What impact will the rain have this afternoon?