Max Verstappen battled hard with Scuderia Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc for the final step on the podium, but the Dutchman lacked the pace needed to complete the overtake. Further back, teammate Yuki Tsunoda was unable to capitalize on his strong starting position and slipped out of the points.
2025 Belgian Grand Prix – Red Bull Racing
Rain delayed the start of the 2025 Belgian Grand Prix, forcing drivers and teams into over an hour of waiting before the race began behind the Safety Car. The real action got underway after four laps, when the Safety Car returned to the pit lane and green flag racing resumed. At the front, Max Verstappen remained locked behind the Ferrari SF-25 of Charles Leclerc, unable to mount a successful challenge for third place. Meanwhile, Red Bull Racing’s second driver, Japanese talent Yuki Tsunoda, held on to his seventh-place grid slot early in the race but progressively fell down the order, eventually finishing in twelfth position and outside the points.
The McLaren duo dominated the event with a commanding one-two finish, while Charles Leclerc crossed the line in third, fending off Verstappen’s attacks. For the Dutch driver, who had won Friday’s Sprint Race at Spa, Sunday’s outcome was a disappointment. He ended the Grand Prix in fourth place, missing the podium and conceding more ground to championship leader Oscar Piastri. Verstappen now trails the McLaren driver by 81 points in the Formula 1 Drivers’ Championship standings.
On the other side of the Red Bull garage, Yuki Tsunoda failed to convert what had been a promising start to the weekend. Despite demonstrating competitive performance during practice and qualifying in the RB21, the Japanese driver once again failed to bring home points. He currently sits seventeenth in the drivers’ standings with just 10 points to his name. This ongoing lack of results continues to hurt Red Bull Racing, which has slipped to fourth place in the Constructors’ Championship—now clearly behind all the top teams: McLaren, Ferrari, and Mercedes-AMG.
2025 Belgian GP – Max Verstappen voices criticism: “We could have started earlier. The choices were extreme”
Following the race, Max Verstappen was asked whether he believed Race Control handled the start of the Grand Prix appropriately, or if the event could have commenced sooner. The reigning World Champion didn’t hold back, stating: “I think they were overly cautious. There was definitely a window in which we could have started the race.” He elaborated further, saying: “At one point, the rain stopped and we could have taken advantage of that window to run several laps behind the Safety Car. That would have been the right call and could have worked for everyone. But instead, they went with an overly extreme approach today.”
Max Verstappen emphasized that Formula 1 must not shy away from wet conditions: “It’s a shame, because if we continue like this, we’ll never have a proper wet race again. In fact, after just seven laps on intermediate tyres, we were already forced to pit for slicks. That’s not how it should be.”
The Dutch driver also addressed the impact of setup decisions: “Given the weather forecast, we opted for a higher-downforce configuration, which normally should have been beneficial. But the delay in starting the race penalized us even more.”
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