Damon Hill reacts to Oscar Piastri beating Lando Norris to win the F1 Belgian GP

Australian F1 star Oscar Piastri won the 2025 Belgian GP and beat his teammate Lando Norris to the chequered flag. The #81 McLaren driver started the race behind Norris, but made a crucial move early on and led the race from then on. Former F1 champion Damon Hill has reacted to Piastri's win at Spa Francorchamps.

Oscar Piastri seemed to have the edge over Lando Norris going into the qualifying session for the Belgian GP as the Australian driver beat his teammate by six-tenths in the Sprint qualifying and also finished ahead of the Briton. However, the tables turned during the qualifying for the race on Sunday as Norris beat Piastri to the pole position.

The start of the 2025 Belgian GP was delayed due to rain, and the race started nearly 1.5 hours after the scheduled start. After three laps under the safety car, the race got underway with a rolling start, which gave Norris a slight advantage compared to a standing start.

Yet, Oscar Piastri was able to get a good exit out of Turn 1, kept the McLaren pinned through Eau Rouge and Raidillon, and passed his teammate on the Kemmel straight on the first racing lap to take the lead.

Piastri maintained the race lead from that moment, and was the first of the two McLaren drivers to pit for the dry tires, and was pitted with a set of medium tires. Lando Norris, who pitted the next lap, decided to go for the hard tires to chase down the Australian driver.

In the last 10 laps, Norris started to eat into the lead that Piastri had created, while the Australian driver struggled with the tire degradation on the softer tire compound. Yet, the #81 McLaren driver came out on top and won the race by over three seconds.

Damon Hill took to the social media platform X and reacted to Piastri's calm and collected driving despite the pressure from Lando Norris and the degrading medium tires, as he wrote,

“Ocsar is cool as a 🥒”

The win means Piastri further extends his lead in the F1 championship standings.

Oscar Piastri extends his championship lead to 16 points in the Driver's standings after the 2025 Belgian GP win

Lando Norris won the last two races at the Red Bull Ring and Silverstone to cut Oscar Piastri’s lead down to just eight points. However, Spa Francorchamps has always been a happy hunting ground for Piastri, who extended the lead to nine points by finishing ahead of Norris in the Sprint race.

F1 Grand Prix of Belgium - Source: Getty

In the main race, Oscar Piastri's win and Lando Norris' P2 meant that the Australian driver added another seven points buffer to the Briton in the championship, extending the lead to 16 points.

However, the upcoming race is in Budapest, which has historically been a strong circuit for Norris. But Piastri took his first F1 win at Budapest last time around, and will give strong competition to his teammate at the Hungarian GP.

Edited by Rupesh