Another McLaren one-two in wet Spa, but new suspension also rewards Leclerc

Although more rain was forecast during the course of the race, by the time of the scheduled 3pm start the rain had stopped, giving hope for improved conditions. Earlier in the morning, the F3 race had been cancelled due to bad weather after two red flag stops resulting in no points being awarded. Later, at 10am, F2 was held, but not before four formation laps behind the Safety Car. It was also a wet race for the Porsches but after lunch it had also stopped raining and the asphalt had started to dry out, only to start again with intensity at 14.30 when it was 30 minutes to the scheduled Formula 1 start.

Hamilton, Antonelli, Alonso and now Sainz were due to start from the pit lane after changing their set-up in response to the rain at Spa. The changes, including new suspension for Hamilton and a different rear wing for Antonelli, were decided by way of derogation in the parc fermé. The three also took advantage of the situation to install new engine components - ICE, MGU-H, MGU-K, turbine - with Hamilton also upgrading the battery and ECU. Only 16 cars were therefore on the grid.

At 16.20 the queen stage of Sunday's Walloon motorsport had started behind the safety car and after a dozen minutes to complete four laps there was a rolling start. Piastri made a successful attack on Norris midway through the lap to grab the lead.

The good work of the new suspension fitted to the SF-25 is beginning to show: Leclerc's third place in qualifying has already shown that he can close the gap to the papaya-coloured championship leaders. And, despite a Max Verstappen in the feature race always hot on his heels until the chequered flag, Charles Leclerc again climbs the podium, leaving the reigning champion behind and putting him two places behind his closest rival in the overall standings, George Russell, who had a 23-point margin before this Grand Prix.

In Saturday's Sprint race, in fact, Verstappen had the better of it, winning in front of an 'almost' home crowd despite a worse starting position than Piastri but better than Norris. After this trio, however, excellent fourth position with five useful points for the Ferrarista from Monte Carlo.

Less worse than expected for Hamilton who, coming off a weekend characterised by qualifying that was tragic to say the least due to a penalty for exceeding the track limit in Q1, nevertheless brought the car into the points even if well behind his team-mate. At least he 'held his own' psychologically and avoided damaging the team in the chase for second place in the constructors' championship.

With the track gradually drying out, Hamilton was among the first to attempt a switch to slicks, gaining positions but risking paying in the long run for the high downforce.

Strategy played a decisive role: Norris fitted hard tyres to aim for a single stop, while everyone else opted for medium. This created an internal challenge between the two McLaren drivers, with Norris catching up but still far behind Piastri. But in this case the Ferrari chose better, with Norris coming off worse than his teammate.

At the back of the field, several drivers outside the points zone tried a gamble with early stops hoping for a breakthrough, but without much success. Antonelli, heavily penalised by qualifying below expectations, managed to make up a few positions, followed by Alonso and Stroll who were also struggling.

The central phase of the race saw a general slowdown in the actions, with few overtaking and a small train of cars gathered around Gasly fighting for 11th place and, further on, able to get ahead of the increasingly less incisive Tsunoda. For the Japanese driver, it was another too modest race without any points. Despite significant tyre degradation and different strategies capable of leaving the way open for possible surprises in the final laps, not much happened. On the contrary, it was one of the races of the year with fewer overtakes and position changes.