Thrilling Battle Sees Reigning Champion Emerge Victorious. Red Bull’s Star Outmaneuvers McLaren in Close Finish at Spa
July 26, 2025: Verstappen had a tremendous race on Saturday in the Belgian Grand Prix short F1 Sprint race. He won, which was a great way for Red Bull to start after Christian Horner left. Horner didn’t notice this, but Red Bull won for the first time since 2005. Laurent Mekies became CEO and team leader two weeks ago.
Max Verstappen won the Belgian GP Sprint Race by a wide margin, with McLaren vehicles close behind. Back Verstappen, the reigning world champion, swiftly took the lead by passing Oscar Piastri (McLaren) on the first lap. He subsequently beat both Piastri and his McLaren teammate Lando Norris to win the race, which was 15 laps long.
Piastri got seven points for the sprint format, Verstappen got eight, and Norris got six. This means that Piastri is now nine points ahead of Norris in the race for the title. Verstappen is now 68 points behind the leader.
Laurent Mekies, who is now in charge of Red Bull, said on Friday that his main goal is to deliver Verstappen a fast car. This might put an end to the rumors that Verstappen might leave before his contract ends in 2028. The win on Saturday is a huge boost for Mekies, the driver, and the whole Red Bull team after a tough few weeks.
Charles Leclerc of Ferrari finished twelfth, more than seven seconds behind Verstappen. The three best drivers fought hard against each other. His teammate Lewis Hamilton crashed out of Q1 on Friday afternoon and had a hard time getting to 15th place.
Esteban Ocon and Oliver Bearman of Haas both had solid qualifying runs, which helped them finish fifth and seventh, respectively. Carlos Sainz of Williams came in sixth place, right in the middle. Isak Hadjar, a rookie with the Racing Bulls, kept on his great season by finishing seventh and getting a point toward the title. George Russell came in 12th and Andrea Kimi Antonelli came in 17th, therefore Mercedes did not score.
We can get a good idea of how Red Bull could be able to overcome McLaren in the main event on Sunday by looking at Verstappen’s win in the sprint. The longer race, on the other hand, will provide all the teams more alternatives for how to plan their races. Verstappen’s huge pass into the Les Combes chicane after the La Source hairpin was the most important part of the sprint. He did it by taking advantage of the slipstream from Piastri’s McLaren. Piastri was close and had a lot of chances with DRS, but in the end, he didn’t try to grab the lead again.