F1 2025 Standings: Max Verstappen suffers as FIA ruling hits champion hard

The 2025 Belgian Grand Prix has had a huge impact on Max Verstappen's title chances as a FIA ruling hit F1 champion Lewis Hamilton hard at Spa.

Sunday's race in Belgium may not have been a thriller, with Oscar Piastri only needing one overtake to speed off ahead of Lando Norris, but for others further down the grid it has had huge consequences.

Despite a sprint race win on Saturday, Verstappen was unable to finish any higher than fourth in the grand prix and has suffered even further in the standings.

Verstappen is now a huge 81 points behind championship leader Piastri, as his chances of a fifth world title continue to slip further away.

Elsewhere, a deleted lap time in qualifying cost Hamilton at Spa, with the champion forced to start from the pitlane on Sunday.

While Hamilton managed to fight back into seventh and secure six points, he was hit hard in his inter-team battle with Charles Leclerc and remains behind the five-time podium finisher in 2025.

Leclerc has extended his lead over Hamilton in the standings to 30 points, with the 40-year-old unable to pick up a single point in Saturday's sprint.

In the constructors' standings, Ferrari remain protected with a 28 buffer over Mercedes, despite Hamilton's deleted lap, with Kimi Antonelli unable to score a single point after also being knocked out in Q1.

F1 Drivers' Standings after 2025 Belgian Grand Prix

F1 Constructors' Standings after 2025 Belgian Grand Prix

2025 rule change removes fastest lap point

The fastest lap point has been removed for the 2025 season. Since 2019, drivers have picked up an extra point if they finish in the top 10 and achieve the fastest lap.

However, in the past, this led to some drivers abandoning their races to pit and fit a new set of tyres in the final stages of the race in order to claim the fastest lap point or prevent a rival from getting the extra point, playing the tactical long game in the championship standings.

The most famous example of this last season came during Daniel Ricciardo's final F1 race, when the Australian finished last but claimed the fastest lap on the final lap of the Singapore GP, taking the extra point away from Norris and helping Verstappen's 2024 title bid.

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Written by

Sheona Mountford - F1 Journalist

Sheona Mountford is a motorsport journalist specialising in F1. As a writer and contributor, she covers a wide range of motorsport series from F1 to F1 Academy, responsible for breaking news, live race coverage and in depth analysis of the sport and the culture around it.

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