F1 LIVE | Cadillac snatches Bottas, Verstappen and Hamilton criticise

It took some time for the 2025 Belgian Grand Prix to get underway, however, a repeat of the 2021 season did not take place. The race began around an hour and twenty minutes later after it was planned.

Because of a mistake into Turn 1 after the rolling start, Oscar Piastri immediately took the lead from pole sitter Lando Norris, and did not look back afterwards. Meanwhile, Max Verstappen was stuck behind Charles Leclerc, as he finished in fourth place just behind the Ferrari driver.

With this outcome, Oscar Piastri could extend his lead in the drivers' standings ahead of Norris in the standings, which currently stands at 16 points. Meanwhile, Verstappen's deficit has increased to 81 points. According to Martin Brundle, that means he is out of contention.

Some drivers were satisfied with the delay of the Belgian Grand Prix's start time.

To begin with, Verstappen was disappointed with this decision. Talking to GPblog among others, he said, "[I would have started] 3 o'clock straight away. It was not even raining. And of course between Turn 1 and 5 was quite a bit of water, but if you do two or three laps behind the safety car, then it would have been a lot more clear. And the rest of the track was anyway ready to go and it's a bit of a shame."

Verstappen received new updates for the weekend as well. Here is how newly-appointed saw the new parts function on the RB21.

Lewis Hamilton was also on the same page as the four-time world champion. The Briton added: "We obviously started the race a little too late I would say."

Read our analysis of the Sunday at Spa here.