The second half of the 2025 season gets underway at one of the truly classic circuits, as Spa-Francorchamps hosts the Belgian Grand Prix from 25 to 27 July.

After the races in Shanghai and Miami, this will be the third weekend of the year run to the Sprint format: just one free practice session on Friday, after which it's Sprint Qualifying, with the Sprint race itself run over 15 laps on Saturday, following by qualifying. The usual 44 laps of the Belgian Grand Prix proper take place on Sunday. It's the second time this circuit has hosted a Sprint, following on from the one in 2023.

The Compounds

For this event, Pirelli has chosen three dry weather compounds that are not consecutive: the Hard is the hardest in the 2025 range, the C1, but then there's a jump to the Medium (C3) and the Soft (C4). That has not happened since the 2022 Australian Grand Prix, when the trio consisted of the C2 as Hard, the C3 as Medium and the C5 as Soft.

The new compound here is the Hard, as the Medium (C3) and Soft (C4) are the same as last year. According to the simulations, this trio should make a two-stop strategy even more competitive in Sunday's race, while adding a greater degree of uncertainty to tyre management over the course of the weekend, especially as it is a Sprint event, with just one hour of free practice and a different dry tyre allocation. With this format, the regulations stipulate one fewer set of tyres than on a normal weekend: each driver has 12 sets, six of Soft, four of Medium and two of Hard. Furthermore, the Medium is the only tyre permitted for the first two parts of Sprint Qualifying and the Soft must be used in the third.

The circuit nestles in the forest of the Ardennes hills and is famous for its changeable weather, even from one part of the track to another and even in the height of summer. Therefore, it's not out of the question that both types of wet weather tyre, the Intermediate and Extreme Wet, could come into play over the weekend.

In 2024

The vast majority of drivers lined up on the grid on the Medium. The exceptions were Sainz and Zhou who went for the Hard and Ricciardo who opted for the Soft.

The two-stop proved to be the preferred choice with the Hard compound working best in terms of degradation and performance. Of the 19 drivers who finished the race, Zhou being the only retirement, just five of them, Russell, Alonso, Stroll, Magnussen and Tsunoda, who took the chequered flag in that order, pitted only the once to switch from Medium to Hard. Russell won and Alonso finished ninth, the only two of this group to score points. However, following post-race FIA scrutineering, Russell was disqualified as his car was under the minimum regulation weight, which handed the win to team-mate Lewis Hamilton, who had gone for a Medium-Hard-Hard strategy.

The Track

Spa-Francorchamps is fourth on the list of circuits that have hosted the most rounds of the world championship, including in the first season, 75 years ago. It is one of the most spectacular tracks, very popular with teams and drivers because of its technical complexity and the challenges it presents. It is the longest track on the calendar, exceeding the seven kilometre mark by four metres. Its three sectors have very different characteristics: the first is the quickest and includes what are probably the most famous corners, Eau-Rouge and Raidillon, after which comes a long straight and the braking area at the end of it has been the scene for some epic overtaking moves; the second is more twisty, featuring a mix of medium-speed corners, several of them downhill; the third is more flowing with a slight but nevertheless noticeable incline. Finding a competitive set-up for all three sectors is quite a task and it is often the case that cars are fast in one sector and slow in another.

Prior to last year's Grand Prix, much of the track was resurfaced with the aim of increasing grip and smoothing out some bumps. This led to a much lower level of abrasiveness and with more grip available, lap times were significantly quicker.

Keyword: TWI (Tread Wear Indicator)

TWI is the acronym for Tread Wear Indicator. Just like road tyres, Formula 1 slicks have a physical indication to measure tread wear. On their surface are six small cylindrical holes spread across the width of the tyre, with varying depths depending on their position. They are numbered from one to six, the first one located on the inner edge of the tyre. At the end of every session, the surface where these TWIs are located is scraped using a special tool to remove debris and reveal the holes. The Pirelli engineers then insert a depth gauge in each one on all four tyres and measure how much the tread has worn. This data is then compared and a percentage wear scale can be created from it, for all tyres from all cars, starting obviously from zero in the case of a brand-new tyre. The teams are provided with data from their cars along with recommendations for tyre use over long distances.

Statistics Corner

This weekend's race is the 70th edition of the Belgian Grand Prix to count for the World Championship, the 57th to be held at Spa-Francorchamps. Nivelles has hosted the race twice and Zolder ten times.

The most successful driver at Spa-Francorchamps is Michael Schumacher with six wins to his name. The German made his Formula 1 debut at this track in 1991, taking the first of his 91 wins one year later and Spa was also where he clinched his seventh and last world title in 2004. Lewis Hamilton leads the way when it comes to pole positions with 6 and podium places (11). Of the teams, Ferrari tops the tables for wins (18), pole positions (17) and podium places (51).

It's the third round of the season run to the Sprint format, a discipline in which Max Verstappen is the undoubted master. Of the 20 Sprint races run to date, the four time world champion has won 11 of them and finished on the podium a further five times. A total of seven drivers have won at least one Sprint: two wins apiece for Valtteri Bottas, Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris and one each for George Russell, Sergio Perez and Lewis Hamilton. 19 drivers have scored points in the short format, a table headed naturally enough by Verstappen on 117 points.