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Hello and a very warm welcome to the late-breaking F-1 podcast presented by Sam Sage and me, Ben Hocking, preview, today.

The Belgian Grand Prix, and we're in preview mode because it's F1 at the weekend, Sam.

Yeah, we actually make it true.

We hang a weird mini summer break there between races. Two races now are the actual summer break, but we're here. It's Belgium time. Everyone loves a bit of spa, don't we bear? It's blooming spa. Top quality. It's Belgium time. Ready for the spa. Love that. Here we go. No one will understand, but we are ready for the spa. There's no reference. I'm just excited, mate. Yeah, Belgian GP. We've got plenty coming up on today's preview. We've got under pressure, of course, making a return. We've got our bold predictions. We've got not poll 1, 2, 3. We've got Sprint Poll, Sprint, Win, Pole 1, 2, 3. There's going to be a lot there. Ferrari, their upgrades.

But let's start with a bit of an overview of this Belgian GP, round 13 of the 2025 season,

and it's the penultimate race before we head to the actual summer break, not the mini summer break that we've just had. Hell, that circuit de spa franco chomp.

Its history in Grand Prix racing goes back about 100 years.

In fact, exactly 100 years to 1925, and it has been a regular feature on the calendar.

The current circuit is about half the length of what it used to be, but it's still the

longest circuit on the calendar at just over seven kilometers.

High speed, 19 corners, probably turn seven after the Kemmel Strait is your best opportunity at overtakes.

But many other iconic corners on this circuit, including Blanchemont, very high speed corner,

and of course, the Radion and O Rouge complex.

As reference, it's a third sprint race weekend of the season

so far. So that is another thing to, there's another thing to, there's a word in there somewhere.

Just keep it in mind, it's a sprint weekend. Be aware of it? Yeah, be aware of it. That'll do.

And we'll get into that a little bit later on as well.

Lewis Hamilton won this race last year. And although not on track, if you remember, George Russell actually won this race on track, leading home a Mercedes-1-2 until he was disqualified. And it remains his last victory, if you don't include sprints, which, of course, he won the Chinese sprint earlier this year. Let's start out front though, Sam.

Eight points separate the two championship leaders, Oscar Piastri, the Aussie, in front, and then Lando Norris in second. Who's leading coming out of this weekend? Gosh, Spar is absolutely steeping history, the way you ran through that lovely synopsis to welcome us back to racing. So many different layouts. So you look at some of the old clips of them racing past hay bails to go through towns nearby, right? It's crazy. Even, you know, the modern layout that we have now is a brilliant racetrack. So, so excited to be back there. And I do think that Landon-Nor-Skoskapiastri will come back into the racing foray, in the action, as close as ever. I really do think that Landon or a Scotsky Pastri will come back into the racing foray, the action, as close as ever. I really do think it's going to be a really, really tight rompree between the two of them. I think that because it's a sprint weekend and the way that sets up the weekend, we've got less practice, of course, only one practice session that takes place before we get into the action. The sprint qualifying is a slightly different format, of course, the main qualifying. The sprint race takes place on Saturday morning. Because of this immediate entry into the racing, essentially, the lack of warm up, the lack of buildup, I think Oscar Piascri has the upper hand here. So often we've seen Landon Norris build himself into weekends really, really well. And more often than not, the second half of races, the latter half of races, it tends to be that that's where he's the fastest man on track. He's often hunting down his teammate in Oscapriiastri. Canada springs to mind the way he pulled away Austria was fantastic. The way he caught up to the back of Oscapia Street in Silverstone. I know the penalty and then deciding things,

but,

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