P1 with Matt and Tommy - Belgian GP Sprint Race review

Episode Date: July 26, 2025

Come for our reaction to the Belgian GP sprint race, STAY for our demolition of the entire sprint race format.We chew over the highlights (and lowlights) from a tense session in Belgium!You can listen to an extended version of every Race Review this season over on our Patreon! You'll also access to every P1 episode ad-free, early access to tickets & merch, and access to our Discord server where you can chat with us and other F1 fans! Click here to sign up now: http://patreon.com/mattp1tommyFollow us on socials! You can find us on Twitter, Instagram, Twitch, YouTube and TikTok. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hello everybody and welcome back to the B1 podcast with Matt and Tommy. Sprint race edition, Belgian Grand Prix, did it deliver? Did it do things? Well, we'll get into it, won't we, Tommy? We sure will. It's always fun, right? You know, would you rather have a free practice three? Would you rather have a sprint race? We were obviously doing our watchalong where a lot of chat said,

yes, I'd rather have FP3 and I don't know if they were fully baiting us with that one. But how are you feeling after that? I'm feeling it was a disappointing race. There was obviously the tension that you had the slower car in front. I'm also feeling a little smug because it did go exactly as I predicted

yesterday of course as well. But that was mainly thanks to just the way Max basically delivered and it was won like many races in 2025, not quite turn one, but I guess in a weird way the way he positioned the car

to turn one. Absolutely. So let's dive into it and begin with the max start, of course, who, yeah, did exactly what he needed to do. Now, some people have criticised his sim racing and the amount of sim races and does he put things, where's his priorities for things. I guarantee he has done that move virtually a million times what he did and how he position the car.

Because I guess some people, maybe people that haven't watched Formula One for a very long time, and I thought, oh, he's got a pretty bad run out of term one. And he's quite far behind Oscar going towards the, towards Arujean up Radion. But no, that was absolutely what he wanted to do. He wanted that gap so that he could then slingshot out of term one, not have to do any silly games as he goes up the hill, and just get the momentum as he reaches the crest of the hill and then down the straight. and he could not have judged that more to perfection.

And after that, I was even surprised to see him be able to hold on, but we'll get on to that. As for the max start, he could not have done that better. It was perfection. It really was. We said it in the watcherlorn, like you say, that that is, you're watching a guy that just lives and breathed motorsport and racing and knows the tricks and everything to do with racecraft

and how you position your car exactly right. There's a very famous clip of Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel where Hamilton eases off before Eurug and Radion, because he knows you don't want to be too close because then you don't get that amazing slipstream effect because, of course, no DRS on the first lap. That was all just Max getting an amazing slipstream and having the advantage of the skinny wing that he had.

But what he did brilliantly was just take turn one, and he just gave enough of a gap where, like you say, you kind of maybe people that weren't aware going, oh, he's not really that close. That was all judged to perfection. And then he could just get that amazing run up. And he knew that taking that lead into Lecom, it would be incredibly difficult.

But once he's in the lead, he just hopes that it ends up a kind of another boring, 24 race where it's very difficult to overtake and it and 24 sorry 2025 race sorry I was reading the words 2024 in the sheet uh 2025 race where um yeah it just it's very hard to overtake and of course you don't have a pit stop so as long as he could hold on uh and basically just fight piastri off down the straight with with the rs which he he did he was was fine for the rest of the race Yeah, and I think that even that is understating the drive that he's done today. To say that he gets the lead, he has low down force set up, he's done it.

That's not what I'd probably just label the entire race for Max Verstappen. I think it was a brilliantly judged race. Like his car is not as fast as the McLaren's. We've seen that. We saw it in qualifying. And I don't think he could have obviously made a mistake, didn't he, which allowed Piastri a little bit of a look towards the end of the race. but I was thoroughly impressed with how Max was able to keep his ties in a good window, be able to do that middle sector good enough to be able to not allow Oscar anywhere near

and then utilise, of course, in the first and third sectors, his low drag setup. And yeah, just phenomenal work because had he messed up lap one, no chance he wins that race. If he had not got through on Oscar, Oscar wins that. And I back the fact that Oscar would have walked it. but he didn't. Not only Oscar wins it, then Max is under huge pressure probably from Lando as well.

Whether it's the same situation where Max can hold him off, but obviously he'd be under pressure. I don't, it's hard to say if Lando would have beat an M, it would have been touch and go, but obviously it puts him under pressure from that car. Oscar would have been off in the distance because of just how quick he was in the middle sector.

But as we kind of said, like you can't really overtake in that middle sector, you can get close. But the advantage for Max was where Oscar got close. They of course have very skinny wings and we'll get onto this, that it is incredibly hard to overtake when that DRS is just not as powerful. Because, of course, when a DRS wing is so thin, it doesn't, it's not as extreme, is it? Exactly. Yeah, I guess for the initial part of this podcast,

I just want to essentially emphasize that the car doesn't drive itself and that Max was phenomenal, I think, in this sprint to be able to keep the McLaren's at bay. Because I fully, fully, I fully expected the McLaren to get through even if Max got through on lap one. I thought that they'd have a great chance. Turns out obviously not. But I think that was down to Max.

And maybe this is turning into a glazing podcast. He made the race boring because of, yeah, like him fighting. I said this in the watch long. It reminds me, we're seeing quite a few races this season where it feels like such a repeat of 2020 when Max was just trying to hang on in occasional races to those 2020 Merks, the Hambot Verre if you were watching that time where that became such a meme, where the Red Bull is not as good as the McLaren. The McLaren is mighty at every single track. And just occasionally when Max kind of puts an almost faultless race in and can do what he's, you know, do what he's.

does as a four-time champion, he can take the fight to them and occasionally get the odd win. Exactly. Question from DC Russell. What tweaks do McLaren need to, or should make to, address the same problem happening tomorrow? I don't think they need to make any changes whatsoever, DC Russell, because sprint races don't have strategy, doesn't open up an undercut, an overcut, essentially some free air for the McLaren to do that middle sector correctly. And with fun, No dirty air, to put it in simple layman's terms. I think the Max, should he get into the lead on lap one again? McLaren can just do something different to whatever Max decides to do.

I think Max is destined for third place. Should it be a dry race? But the problem is, we have rain in the air. It could be a wet star and then it turns dry. We don't know exactly, but the highest chance of rain is tomorrow. Does that help him or hinder him? Well, you would think that with the really skinny wings that he's running, it would hinder him if we're taking Silverstone as any kind of evidence of how a low downforce Red Bull

negotiates those kind of conditions. So I don't think it's going to be panic stations for McLaren. Second and third in the sprint is not a disaster. They're fighting each other for the drivers. The constructors is wrapped up. Oscar gets one extra point. It's kind of like the sprint never happened, really. Yeah.

It's, there's no problem at all for McLaren. They are in the absolute pound seats because their setup, of course, means you saw what happened in the sprint. They were very close to winning it. They couldn't quite do it. But if you had that exact scenario and weather conditions and much as to happen leading at term one again, that might be very different had we had pit stops and, yeah, like you say, undercuts and things like that, where they can maybe get an advantage and get ahead in that

situation. Yeah, because they could just play an alternate strategy. One of them follows Max, the other one goes into the pits, Max is screwed either way. Exactly. So they're fighting at the front there. And then also, if it rains, they still have a high downfall setup that it's good in wet conditions and there'll be miles clear like they wear at Silverstone where they just basically lap the whole field.

I reckon we're in big trouble if it's wet tomorrow. I think the McLaren's could lap everybody. Yeah, I genuinely do. So they're in the pound seats for it. They don't need to change things. it's a million times more of a gamble. They don't, they won't watch that race and go, we should do what Max has done there. They definitely won't be the case.

Like, I would be amazed if, you know, clip this if it's wrong. But they're not going to turn up with a skinny rear wing because there's the chance of rain. The gamble did not work at Silverstone for Max. McLaren don't need to take that risk. They're going to be good either way. And also as well, you know, Lando was, you know, compared to his teammate, pretty poor in sprint qualifying. Realistically, we're probably looking at a front row lockout for McLaren into the qualifying session we have later. Max can't do that same thing from third, in my opinion.

Maybe we'll be able to. But it's a lot harder if Max is trying to slings shot both the McLaren's on lap one to take the lead. So realistically, that will be a buffer as well to stop Max from trying to dictate the race as well. Next question. P.1P.m. Remember, Tony Soprano. They shortened to the Kemmel straight DRS zone prior to the 2024 race, and it was a disaster. Why didn't they learn from that lesson and extend it again? I don't know.

What? Spa has struggled for quite some time with overtaking. It is very much an Italian Grand Prix kind of problem now, where skinny wings means everyone's going faster, and there's not enough discrepancy between the car at the front. with a load downforce setup and the one trying to slip stream them. And this is a problem that has maybe led to this alternate year on, year off for spa, where it's not maybe getting the same eyeballs as it once did as one of the most exciting races on the calendar. It's just not anymore.

It's an iconic circuit. It's amazing to watch these cars go round it. But if we're being real, the racing spectacle has been poor for quite some time. So I am surprised that they haven't made some adjustments. You know, some people question why isn't their DRS in the last sector? Well, it's hard to with that very fast left-hander at the end. So, yeah, I'm surprised maybe they didn't try to give some kind of chance. Just start the DRS earlier, please.

I'm the opposite, actually, because I think that when they had that, everyone was moaning that it was too much of a slam dunk overtake. And I'm pretty sure you could go. back to our podcast and watch back and I'm pretty sure we'd probably be saying you don't need a DRS own that long they've already got the slip stream and you know when max was flying through the field from 14th and just passing everyone like they weren't even there we're all going oh this is a joke like spa you can't overtake anywhere else and then they just breeze past in the DRS so I don't I don't want to beat up too much on the people that have to decide the DRS zone because it's a real it's not a job

I'd want to do because it's a weird situation where you're, you're kind of, you don't have a simulated race until, well, I guess you kind of do with the sprint a little bit, but like in a normal circumstance, you don't have a simulated race. So you don't know how it's going to play out until we're kind of there and then they kind of have to stick with it. And then next year, you've got completely different cars and you don't know how it's going to be again. So, but we haven't had different cars from this year to last year and surely I still think that's a simulated race going to this year and and maybe this is the Maxer Stepan you know this is only much wins the sprint now yeah if you had the you know you put the you put the DRS

a little bit further piastri overtakes max on lap two and Piastri clears off, wins race by 12 seconds. In my opinion, what's more exciting? Piastri on Max's gearbox for 15 laps and can't overtake versus he overtakes once and is miles clear. I'd almost argue that the 15 laps is more exciting to have him behind. Yeah, yeah. In an ideal world, I'd like to see side-by-side action.

We didn't see that. But I think the bigger test pool here is not just the fight for the lead in the top three. No one was overtaking. nobody nobody nobody that everybody Hamilton and Antonelli made no progress I think Hamilton made one overtake yeah and they're in the top cars

that's more of the takeaway right is the fact that we're not seeing overtakes anywhere and this kind of unless tomorrow is a changeable condition race we don't need to talk about it we could be in for a bit of a stinker tomorrow if we do indeed get a dry race so there's nothing stopping them

as far as I'm aware of adding 50 meters to the DRS zone ahead of tomorrow's race but I don't think they'll do that. Next question. People on Patreon member, Katie. How sad is it that a track that used to be so good for overtaking has become near impossible? It is. It is really sad to watch, to be honest with you, because I don't want to dislike the Belgian Grand Prix. I don't want to dislike Spar Francashom, but we're here going, like the expectations are now so low going into this race.

And don't get me wrong, there are other stinkers out there. Spara is not the only one to fall foul. especially in these horrible, massive, heavy cars that we currently have. But it's not the problem of the track. It's the problem of the cars. So it's sad to see such an iconic classic circuit fall foul to these new regulations, which were once so promising in 2022. Oh my God, they can overtake.

Ground effect is it, this is the one, to now what we are currently experiencing in 2025, where nobody can get close. The dirty air is too much. The cars are too heavy. The tires are overheating. The engine's overheating. It's just...

I think it's the sport, really, is where it's kind of sad rather than specifically the track. Yeah, we're thankful that we've got this great battle between the two McLaren's, but once that's done and we get to Abu Dhabi, I won't really miss these regulations with how it's going now

because I think we got to, weirdly we had this conversation in 2021 where we kind of said, oh, finally it's close and they're changing the regulations, please no. And we kind of felt like that at the end of 2024. We were kind of going, no, don't change the rules. Weirdly, half a year later, I'm now going, please get in the bin. They can't come soon enough because they are horrible for passing and stuff. And it's not really on SPAR. You look at last year, it was a great race,

but only because George Russell went for a gamble, and then even then there was no overtaking. It was just because he did something different and ended up at the front, and then Hamilton couldn't pass him on track. So it is a shame that these circuits are getting outgrown and not delivering great racing. But fingers crossed for new regulations and spark can deliver.

For next year, where they can't go any fast. than 150 mile an hour without topping out and every other problem that's come out. Yeah, true. I mean, maybe that will help them if they're slower on the straits and then they can take each other. Cars, more mistakes, maybe, who knows. But next, I was going to say tomorrow, next year is going to be fascinating. I just hope to God that there isn't a team that's one and a half seconds clear

because otherwise we are, we're cooked. We're fully cooked. Next question, P1Petriam member Lemixion. Is the sprint looking like a prelude to the race or will bits of, stops be the key to the win. I think it will be, look, changeable conditions. We're manifesting it. No red flags, just a nice little wet to dry race. Then yeah, of course, it's going to be down to strategy. It's going to be down to the pit stops. It's going to be down to who risks it, who doesn't. I guess in one reality where it's wet and then it turns dry and Max is kind of leading

halfway through, maybe he could win. I don't know. But I just, I can't see anything other than the McLaren one. personally. If it isn't a McLaren 1-2, McLaren have done something wrong. They've made a mistake. The drivers have made a mistake because they are clear. They are absolutely miles ahead. Can we please just appreciate this? Like McLaren have an incredible car. So I don't think the sprint is necessarily what we saw today is nothing compared to what we'll see tomorrow. And I think Max will struggle massively as we mentioned earlier. Yeah, I think he will. He's going to basically the front.

front row in theory today should be locked out by the two McLaren's. They'll have more time. It won't be a one lap. So in theory, they won't have to, you know, you do wonder how much of Norris's deficit was a banker, a banker lap yesterday. That when they can put two laps in, they should in theory, because they've got the car to do it, be half a second clear of the entire field. Max is in third. He's not going to be able to overtake both of them into the first turn. however well he plays it like he did today. And then if it's wet, there's going to be no DRS, so it's going to be very hard to overtake, and the McLaren's are going to be so quick. And then I think the excitement will come from, yeah, it will come from the pit stops and people changing tyres. But even if it's dry, I think, unfortunately,

even if it is a dry race from start to finish, that sprint you show does that it will all be down to tie strategy. and do we just hope that the difference in the pearly dry tyres means that it can be a little bit different and exciting and someone takes a risk and does something different? You never know. So the only positive from that sprint is it doesn't look like it's going to be, it's not going to play out exactly the same.

And if it does and Max is in the lead, we're going to have a good race because he's probably not going to be able to stay there. Yeah, Max is in the lead. that is something's kicked off for sure. If you missed our predictions podcast

where I think we mentioned it there is a step difference between the hards and then the mediums and the softs.

So the hards is an extra step harder if you see what I mean. So there's a bigger discrepancy between trying to pull off a

one stop and then going on the fresher stickier rubber of the mediums and the softs. And finally

Holbut 9 comes in with the question why is it such a useless format? Boring! Of course

talking about the sprint format. I know Tommy, you know, we're not, we haven't got another half an hour, but I know Tommy would absolutely cook this, this sprint format if you could, and probably will. But I still think it's, I think it's a good, it's a good format. It's fine. I don't mind it. I, you know, on reflection, in hindsight, we've said this before, we've discussed it before. I quite enjoyed the sprint being part of the weekend, like how the sprint race was kind of like a race qualifying thing and then it led into the main event and then it created this whole weekend of drama whereas now it's sort of like one thing and then the other and it just I don't know

there is there is definitely a problem with it and I agree with you Tommy on that point but I don't think it's useless I think the cars are useless and we have no strategy and therefore we just see that first phase of the race where everyone goes I can't wait for it to start can't wait for the, can't wait for the action to unfold, because it usually comes through the strategy. It does, yeah. I still, you know, like a sprint in the fact that we go straight into a qualifying session instead of another practice session. You don't have, you know, you've said it many times about, you'd rather have a boring sprint race and boring in inverted commas, you know, because don't get me wrong, it's not the greatest race in the world, but I think that.

think we've been spoiled the fact that the top three cars line astern is a boring race. It's within one and a half seconds in the sprint and we're like, boring. By the way, I'm not calling it boring. No, I'm not. Three years ago, we're all complaining that Max was 20 seconds clear and now you've got three cars fighting for the win, although incredibly difficult to pass. You've still got three cars fighting for the win and there's still a chance. So you go, you know, it wasn't the most exciting sprint and this is the problem with the sprint.

I'd rather have it than a free practice session, but that's not to say that it can't be better, and what annoys me about it, is that you're just taking, arguably, other than the race start, which is always the best part of a Grand Prix, the most boring section of the Grand Prix, where everyone just sits there and waits for pit stops,

as a format, and that doesn't work. You need to just say, you know what drivers well it's not even that because every single driver we speak to says change one rule in F1 they go give us reverse I mean that's the guys at the back but

but still you know it's something is something different and it needs to be it needs to be different rather than just a miniature worse version of a Grand Prix because that doesn't work the sprint should be something exciting

it should I think the Formula One, you know, through timings and everything else, they are quite restricted in what they're able to offer because, of course, they don't want to put any big sessions on a Friday because nobody will be watching compared to at the weekend and, you know, plenty of things to drive into. It's also lost momentum. It was so hyped that first year of, oh, there's this crazy new thing. It's called sprints. Oh, my God. Okay, cool.

Oh, fans are really divisive. We're talking about it every single time there's a sprint weekend. What do you think? Oh, I hate it. I love it. Blah, blah, blah. Three races. next year six.

And I think everyone would have bet everything that the year after would be nine. And that's how they'd kind of do it. Because MotoGEP is an example, they have a sprint every single race weekend now. But yeah, it's six, six, six, six. And it's almost just like plateaued. And they're just kind of like, I will leave this for a while. We don't really know what to do with it.

And I think that's a shame. They feel like they're just kind of like, oh yeah, we're kind of stuck with this now. so we'll just do it rather than using it as a thing to like spice up the action or make something exciting happen and evolve and try different formats. It could be a really good test bed for Grand Prix racing. Yeah, or putting more points on offer, having it slightly longer. Who knows?

But like, I completely agree actually because us as fans, I think a lot of us are going, ah, sprint, you know, whatever. I'm sure if we didn't do this as a job, occasionally our sprint quality are actually out with the family I'll kind of I'll catch up in it later now the sprint is before qualifying it doesn't feel like the main event anymore so it feels like a lesser thing where and we find this with our content that people

people watch qualifying and they'll be like alright I'll catch up on the sprint now whereas the sprint should be a race that you're excited for not just oh that's the early thing that kind of is a little bit of a teaser for qualifying yeah now of course there are hard cause out there the ones that obviously join us for our watchalongs and big up to you lot for coming and joining us for every session. But I know, and I completely get it. I understand why people might just be like, I'll catch up on it later. Okay, all right. Well, there you go. We have demolished the sprint format and we'll see if. Same again for the next sprint. Oh, exactly. Even the drivers are

like, well, it's a sprint or whatever. They just take care. It's not the way it should be. Right. That's it. Tommy, what are your final thoughts? Final thoughts? There's a Grand Prix qualifying session at next. And it could, based on qualifying yesterday, which was brilliant, it's going to be another banger, I'm sure qualifying always delivers. And then are very different conditions for the race. So lots to look forward to still.

Hell yeah. We will see you. Well, literally later. There's going to be more podcasts coming out of our ears as well as watchalongs and everything else. We're live for every single competitive session. P1 live share tickets are still available. Go get them if you want to go see us in real life. and we'll see you very soon.

Lots of love to take care. Bye. Bye. P1 is a Stack production and part of the Acast's creator network.