Charles Leclerc’s Formula 1 sprint race during the Belgian Grand Prix weekend followed a depressingly familiar pattern for Ferrari this season: heroics on the first lap, followed by a slow deflation of the team’s hopes as the SF-25 slipped backwards.
From fourth on the grid, Leclerc slipstreamed McLaren’s Lando Norris up the Kemmel Straight on the opening tour and went around the outside into Les Combes to annex third place. But, while Norris’s team-mate Oscar Piastri was unable to get close enough to Max Verstappen’s Red Bull to retake the lead he’d lost at the first corner, Norris had sufficient pace in hand over the Ferrari to pass Leclerc at Les Combes on lap four.
