NEED TO KNOW: The most important facts, stats and trivia ahead of the 2025 Belgian Grand Prix

After two weekends off, Formula 1 heads to Spa-Francorchamps for Round 13 on the calendar, the Belgian Grand Prix.

With the Sprint making its return, the format for the event looks a little different to the traditional schedule. Free Practice 1 and Sprint Qualifying take place on Friday, July 25, followed by the Sprint and Qualifying for the Grand Prix on Saturday, July 26 and the Grand Prix itself on Sunday, July 27.

Vital Statistics

• First Grand Prix – 1950
• Track Length – 7.004 km
• Lap record – 1m 44.701s, Sergio Perez, Red Bull, 2024
• Most pole positions – Lewis Hamilton (6)
• Most wins – Michael Schumacher (6)
• Trivia – Spa is the longest circuit on the current F1 calendar
• Pole run to Turn 1 braking point – 165 metres
• Overtakes completed in 2024 – 62
• Safety Car probability – 63%*
• Virtual Safety Car probability – 0%*
• Pit stop time loss – 18.8 seconds

*From the last eight races in Belgium

The driver’s verdict

Jolyon Palmer, former Renault F1 driver: Spa is a really nice, flowing circuit. It’s always a trade-off between downforce levels. Do you go low downforce for the first and third sector? Or do you put on some downforce for the middle part of the lap?

You’ve also got to think about how raceable you want your car to be on Sunday, because if you prioritise the middle part of the lap, it can help you in Qualifying on Saturday, but you might be a sitting duck on the straights.

The start of the Grand Prix is always crucial. Being on pole is not necessarily the magic bullet here given that you can get out-dragged along the lengthy Kemmel Straight towards Les Combes on Lap 1.

It’s the longest lap on the calendar in terms of distance and it feels it as well. You’re going a long way away up the hill to Les Combes, and then that’s where your flow starts for the lap, through the right-left-right down the hill.

Probably the biggest challenge, or the most exhilarating part, is Pouhon, which is flat or right on the edge of it in the current-spec cars. But again, in race conditions, it can be a little bit trickier.

Then you need to get your braking right for the Bus Stop, which is the easiest place to mess up the lap. You think you’re a hero and then you just overcook it on the brakes for the final corner and the whole thing goes to pot. You can’t be cautious either. It’s the one that can make or break your lap.

Last five Belgian GP polesitters

• 2024 – Charles Leclerc (Ferrari)*
• 2023 – Charles Leclerc (Ferrari)**
• 2022 – Carlos Sainz (Ferrari)***
• 2021 – Max Verstappen (Red Bull)
• 2020 – Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes)

*Max Verstappen was fastest in Qualifying but received a 10-place grid penalty
**Verstappen was fastest in Qualifying but received a 5-place grid penalty
***Verstappen was fastest in Qualifying but required to start from the back of the grid

Last five Belgian GP winners

• 2024 – Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes)
• 2023 – Max Verstappen (Red Bull)
• 2022 – Max Verstappen (Red Bull)
• 2021 – Max Verstappen (Red Bull)
• 2020 – Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes)

Tyre and strategy insight

“For this event, Pirelli has chosen three dry weather compounds that are not consecutive: the hard is the hardest in the 2025 range, the C1, but then there’s a jump to the medium (C3) and the soft (C4),” reads Pirelli’s weekend preview.

“That has not happened since the 2022 Australian Grand Prix, when the trio consisted of the C2 as hard, the C3 as medium and the C5 as soft.

“The new compound here is the hard, as the medium (C3) and soft (C4) are the same as last year. According to the simulations, this trio should make a two-stop strategy even more competitive in Sunday’s race, while adding a greater degree of uncertainty to tyre management over the course of the weekend, especially as it is a Sprint event, with just one hour of free practice and a different dry tyre allocation.

“With this format, the regulations stipulate one fewer set of tyres than on a normal weekend: each driver has 12 sets, six of soft, four of medium and two of hard. Furthermore, the medium is the only tyre permitted for the first two parts of Sprint Qualifying and the soft must be used in the third.

“The circuit nestles in the forest of the Ardennes hills and is famous for its changeable weather, even from one part of the track to another and even in the height of summer. Therefore, it’s not out of the question that both types of wet weather tyre, the intermediate and extreme wet, could come into play over the weekend.”

Current form

Oscar Piastri maintains his lead at the top of the Drivers’ Championship entering into the Belgian Grand Prix weekend – but that advantage has now been cut to eight points following Lando Norris’ victory last time out at Silverstone, the Briton’s second win in a row after also triumphing in Austria one week earlier.

Can Norris carry that momentum into Spa and claim a hat-trick of victories, or will Piastri – who left the British Grand Prix unhappy after receiving a 10-second penalty during the race – return to the top step of the rostrum?

While McLaren still look to be the class of the field, the pecking order will be particularly interesting to keep an eye on in Belgium. Ferrari just missed out on a podium at Silverstone after Lewis Hamilton’s P4 result – will they be able to build on that promise this time out?

Mercedes, meanwhile, remain in third place of the Teams’ Championship and will likely be hoping for cooler temperatures at Spa, with the W16 known to favour such conditions. George Russell’s win at the circuit last year was taken away following his disqualification for a technical infringement, but it remains to be seen if the Silver Arrows can fight for the top spot again this time.

Over at Red Bull, much talk will be focused on off-track matters after Christian Horner’s departure as Team Principal earlier this month. How will the squad perform this weekend, at a circuit where Max Verstappen has claimed three Grand Prix wins?

Behind them, the midfield battle took a fascinating turn at Silverstone when Nico Hulkenberg scored a long-awaited podium in P3, putting Kick Sauber just behind Williams in the standings. Can the team continue that level of performance at Spa, or will their rivals be the ones to watch instead?

Iconic moment

Another classic venue on the F1 calendar, there are plenty of dramatic moments and epic overtakes to choose from when it comes to the Belgian Grand Prix. This time, we’re taking it back to the 2000 season...

Hunting down title rival Michael Schumacher, and after an earlier run-in, Mika Hakkinen pulled off one of the most iconic moves in F1 history by using backmarker Ricardo Zonta to his advantage at the exit of the Eau Rouge/Raidillon complex.

While Schumacher went to the left of the BAR-Honda, Hakkinen darted out of the double slipstream to the right, duly storming past both drivers under braking for Les Combes and taking a lead he would not relinquish.

Watch the magic move from various angles in the video player below...