3 min
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July 28, 2025 | Katherine McDonald

Belgian GP 2025: Charles on the Podium, A Great Drive from Lewis!

3 min

In a rain-affected Belgian Grand Prix marked by strategic tyre calls and a delayed start, Charles Leclerc secured third place for Scuderia Ferrari’s 834th podium, while Lewis Hamilton charged from the pit lane to finish seventh.

Katherine McDonald
July 28, 2025

The 2025 Belgian Grand Prix was marked by heavy rain and low visibility, forcing all drivers to begin the formation lap on Intermediate tyres. Lewis Hamilton started from the pit lane following an engine change. Due to the poor conditions, the formation lap was red-flagged, resulting in a delay of 1 hour and 20 minutes. When racing resumed, the field completed four laps behind the safety car before the race officially got underway on lap 5 with a rolling start. By lap 11, the track had dried significantly, prompting Lewis to switch to Medium tyres, with Charles Leclerc following suit one lap later. These early stops proved decisive, as both drivers gained track position. Lewis charged from 18th to finish seventh, while Charles held off a late challenge from Verstappen to secure third place—his fifth podium of the season and 48th of his career, marking Scuderia Ferrari’s 834th podium overall.

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Charles Leclerc #16

I'm pleased with the steps forward we are making and I think we should all be proud because I know how much work went in to our upgrades from the whole team back home in Maranello. It definitely helped us to get the podium and to keep Max behind today, which was not easy because he was very close until the very end of the race. Once we were on slicks, I knew I just had to keep my head down and push for P3 to be ours, and it is, so I'm very happy we brought it home.Our upgrades brought what we expected and we need to keep learning how to maximise their potential. We will keep pushing and I hope we can put some more pressure on our competitors soon.

Lewis Hamilton #44

Today’s race was a really positive step forward. The strategy and pit stop were executed perfectly, and the overnight changes we made to the set-up really allowed me to get the most out of the car. I felt much more comfortable behind the wheel, and I’m pleased with how everything came together.It’s been a challenging weekend overall, so to finish on a high note gives me real confidence heading into Budapest. I want to thank everyone back at Maranello for their continued hard work and for bringing this upgrade — I’m looking forward to building on this momentum in the second half of the season.

Fred Vasseur - Team Principal

We introduced a new package this weekend that we had to fine-tune and understand, which is not always easy but I think overall, we did a good job. We had decent pace today on both sides of the garage and picked up good points. Now we must target getting closer to McLaren race by race. Charles did very well in defending from Max to get on the podium and Lewis produced a very strong drive, doing a great job overtaking so many cars in the first ten laps. We know what happened in quali was tough but at the end of the day, the pace was good today. We were aggressive on the strategy with the pit-stops and everything went well.