Belgian GP Takeaways: Another what-if for Lando, no more wet-weather racing

We'll offer our takeaways following each race weekend this year. Here are our thoughts after the Belgian Grand Prix.

Moments that decided the race 👀

Piastri, Norris match their reputations

Oscar Piastri has been labeled the cool and poised championship challenger, while his teammate, Lando Norris, has been dubbed the erratic and sometimes mistake-prone contender. Those assessments of the McLaren duo are tough to argue after Spa.

Piastri snatched the lead from Norris on a damp track almost immediately on Lap 1. Coupled with a battery issue, Norris had a few snaps coming out of the first corner. That left him a sitting duck for Piastri, who easily blew past him.

Norris and his engineers opted for the tire compound opposite to Piastri's when it was time to switch from intermediate to slick tires. Norris went for the hard compounds after Piastri dove in for the mediums, which should have given the former a big advantage near the closing stages.

Still, like many times before, Norris was unable to capitalize.

Three noticeable mistakes cost the British driver at least a second during his chase. Add up the time lost, then compare it to the gap between Norris and Piastri at the finish line: 3.4 seconds.

It's not often that it can be said that someone lost a race rather than a driver won a race, but Norris, who now trails in the championship by 16 points, had an important victory in his grasp and couldn't hold onto the moment.

The call to delay the race

It felt like a case of deja vu for Formula 1: another rain-filled race at Spa red-flagged after a formation lap behind the safety car. Unlike 2021, the drivers did eventually go racing, but the timing may have influenced the results.

At the time of the restart, the FIA opted for four laps behind safety car conditions. With a dry line quickly forming, the next decision for a rolling start was even more confusing. What was shaping up to be a wet race full of unpredictability - some drivers had opted for full wet-weather setups - fizzled out into a standard wet-dry race that caught out a lot of drivers.

Two of those drivers were world champions Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton. Verstappen, who ran a skinny rear wing to win the sprint race, opted to change to a larger wing in anticipation of Sunday's rain. While there was rain, there wasn't enough left on the racing line to make the wing choice useful. He called it a shame after the race, saying the decision to delay the start was too cautious. With a larger wing, Verstappen lost his straight-line speed advantage and finished just over a second behind Charles Leclerc, who wasn't carrying as much rear-wing downforce, for the final podium spot.

Ferrari, meanwhile, started Hamilton from the pit lane after changing his car's profile for wet weather. That helped him at the start of the race, but he eventually plateaued once the track moved to slick tires. He also lacked the straight-line speed to pass the Williams of Alex Albon in the closing stages.

Even race winner Piastri was confused, expressing his disappointment with the rolling start because he thought it would subtract an overtaking opportunity.

Other drivers, including George Russell, disagreed.

"The fact is, when you're doing over 200 miles an hour out of Eau Rouge and you literally cannot see anything, you may as well have a blindfold on," the Mercedes driver said, according to The Race's staff. "It isn't racing, it's just stupidity."

It's tough to decide when it's safe enough to go racing around Spa, especially considering the lives lost at the track. Some feel the FIA leaned too far on the side of caution Sunday, while others think better safe than sorry. Perhaps the gamble for wet setups, knowing race control's tendency, should be considered a bad strategy call. Either way, F1's attitude toward heavy wet-weather racing is, clearly, to avoid it if possible.

Driver of the Day 🙌

Charles Leclerc: Piastri and Hamilton are also acceptable shouts here, but Leclerc quietly put together another terrific weekend. Equipped with Ferrari's new upgrade package, he qualified best of all non-McLaren drivers, defended brilliantly against Verstappen in the wet, and then had an answer for the reigning champion's pace in the end stages. A podium well deserved.

They said what? 🗣️

McLaren CEO Zak Brown on Norris' mistakes: "There was a couple untidy errors there."

Norris on mistakes costing him the win: "The conditions were tricky. When you're playing on the edge like that, you're going to make some mistakes, but that's racing and life. In a way, I'm not unhappy. There isn't much more I could have done today. I thought I was quick ... just Lap 1 let me down."

Verstappen on delaying the race 80 minutes because of rain: "It was a bit of a shame. Of course, they took a very cautious approach. We spoke after Silverstone to be a little bit more cautious because of all the water there, but this, for me, was on the other extreme of waiting. It just ruins a nice classic wet race."

Lewis Hamilton on his conversation with Kimi Antonelli: "I can't imagine what it's like at 18. I think he's been doing fantastic. To be thrown in the deep end at 18 - he hadn't even had his driver's license when he started. He's got a lot on his shoulders, and I think he's doing a great job."

What's next?

Formula 1 heads to Budapest for its final race before the summer break.

The Hungarian Grand Prix has featured four different winners over the last five seasons, including Piastri's first career victory in 2024.