2025 Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps - F1 Fantasy Race Preview, Strategy, and Analysis

Euan Leith's preview of the 2025 Belgian Grand Prix for F1 Fantasy includes weather updates, differentials for your squads, and predictions for the sprint, qualifying, and the race.

Happy Belgian Grand Prix, RotoBallers! Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps is one of the most anticipated tracks on the calendar for the drivers. This weekend introduces even more racing, as it's a Sprint weekend. Combining the extra points-scoring session with unpredictable weather will make it a tricky task for F1 Fantasy managers.

The deadline for the Belgian Grand Prix in F1 Fantasy is Saturday, July 26, at 6 a.m. EDT, when the Sprint race starts. Also, check out the rest of our excellent DFS racing coverage to get you through every NASCAR and Formula 1 race.

Want to build a winning fantasy F1 lineup? Check out our How To Play F1 Fantasy (Formula 1): Overview Guide, Tips, Chips, and Rules for all the essential tips and strategies to get you started on the right foot.

2025 Rotoballer F1 Fantasy League Update

We are officially halfway through the 2025 F1 Fantasy campaign, and it's very tight at the top. So tight in fact, that we have a tie. Both of the top two teams have 2,942 points after 12 races, and will look to pip each other to the top of the charts before the summer break rolls around.

If you want to join the battle with the rest of us F1 Fantasy managers, use code P1JOTPHDW09 to join the 2025 league!

Previous Belgian Grand Prix Winners

• 2024: Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes
• 2023: Max Verstappen, Red Bull
• 2022: Max Verstappen, Red Bull
• 2021: Max Verstappen, Red Bull
• 2020: Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes

Belgian Grand Prix Schedule

Friday, July 25

• Practice 1: 6:30 a.m. EDT
• Sprint Qualifying: 10:30 a.m. EDT

Saturday, July 26

• Sprint: 6:00 a.m. EDT (***F1 Fantasy lineup lock***)
• Qualifying: 10:00 a.m. EDT

Sunday, July 27

• Race: 9:00 a.m. EDT

We are so back 😍

It's RACE WEEK at the legendary Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps 🇧🇪#F1 #BelgianGP pic.twitter.com/qtV22TrlGH

— Formula 1 (@F1) July 21, 2025

Belgian Grand Prix Weather

Belgian Grand Prix Predictions

Sprint Race

1. Lando Norris
2. Oscar Piastri
3. Lewis Hamilton

Qualifying

1. Oscar Piastri
2. George Russell
3. Lando Norris

Race

1. Oscar Piastri
2. Lando Norris
3. Lewis Hamilton

ONE BIG PREDICTION

After claiming the first podium of his career at Silverstone, Nico Hulkenberg will not score a point for the first time since Monaco.

Sprint Schedule: Don't Get Caught Out

It's a Sprint weekend at the Circuit de Spa-Francochamps, and that throws a little bit of chaos into the mix for Formula 1 teams and F1 Fantasy managers.

On Friday, we will see the lone practice session of the entire weekend. The Sprint Qualifying takes place in the afternoon to set the grid for Saturday's racing appetizer.

The middle day of the Belgian Grand Prix hosts the Sprint race. It begins at 6 a.m. Eastern, and that is the F1 Fantasy deadline for the weekend. Once the Sprint race is completed, there's about a three-hour break until Qualifying to see where every driver will line up on Sunday afternoon.

Sunday is a regularly scheduled main race where all 20 drivers compete around the longest circuit on the 24-race calendar. Spa can always throw up some changeable conditions, so F1 Fantasy managers may need to watch part of the race behind a couch when the weather gets tricky and DNFs are rising.

Chip Strategy

We are officially halfway through the 2025 F1 Fantasy season, and it's time for the business end of the season to slowly rear its head. Deploying your chips at the optimal moment will be key to your overall goals in this game, whether that's winning your mini-leagues or climbing the global leaderboard.

With it being a sprint weekend (have I mentioned that once or twice?), there are plenty of options for chip strategy in Belgium.

Limitless

It's probably the most important chip of the season. However, Belgium may not be the best time to use the Limitless chip. Yes, you'll score the most points on Sprint weekend because there are more points on offer, but that's not the be-all end-all in F1 Fantasy.

You want to target the best delta between your regular lineup and a Limitless lineup. For me, that chance comes in Hungary, where it is likely to be dry; there will be three practice sessions to collect data, and there will be a low number of overtakes.

If the Tier B drivers are scoring single digits while the heavy hitters are getting 20-30 points, that's the best time to use the Limitless chip. It worked like a charm in Saudi Arabia and Monaco, so I reckon F1 Fantasy strategists should hold off on activating it this weekend.

No Negative

Now this is where things get interesting. With the possibility of rain hovering over the entire weekend, using the No Negative chip to protect yourself from those devastating DNFs is a great play. In a sprint weekend where a DNF in the Sprint costs us the same amount of points as a DNF in Sunday's race, so avoiding those penalties is key.

Extra DRS

This is similar to Limitless in its power to score points, but it's ideal to play it on a sprint weekend. It's totally weather dependent because a spin from one of your two main drivers can send this chip spiraling down the drain.

Considering we have very dry tracks in Austin and Qatar on the calendar, it may be a safer play to be patient and wait until the final six races of the 2025 season.

However, if I were going to play it, I would bring in the two McLaren drivers, Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris, to try to blast the field away around the longest circuit on the F1 calendar.

Auto Pilot

If you are set on bringing in a second premium driver to your squad, Auto Pilot could save your blushes when it comes to picking your DRS Boost. Essentially, it takes the best score from a driver on your team and doubles it. With weather always a factor around here, not having your DRS Boost on a leader that collects a DNF will be a massive boost to your F1 Fantasy squad.

Final Fix

There's been some rumblings about potential engine penalties this weekend, but Spa showed us last year that it's tough to overtake in these cars on this track. In 2022 and 2023, Max Verstappen used this strategy to great effect as he sliced his way through the field in both editions to take the win.

However, in 2024, it didn't work as well, and the four-time World Champion was left frustrated by the inability to pass the leaders and finished fifth before being moved up to fourth after George Russell's disqualification.

Unless we hear something during Thursday's media day or are announced during Friday's sessions, I'm okay keeping the Final Fix chip in my back pocket for another day.

Here's my updated F1 Fantasy Chip Strategy guide from my latest episode on YouTube. It covers every race and every chip possibility.

You can watch the rest of the episode right here ⬇️https://t.co/9sc5LNJiRo pic.twitter.com/1tXmpQSVYh

— Euan Leith (@F1FantasyEuan) July 17, 2025

F1 Fantasy Drivers to Target and Avoid

Drivers to Target (A Tier, >$18.5m)

• Lando Norris, McLaren
• Oscar Piastri, McLaren
• Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari

Drivers to Avoid (A Tier, >$18.5m)

• Max Verstappen, Red Bull
• Charles Leclerc, Ferrari
• George Russell, Mercedes

Drivers to Target (B Tier, <$18.5m)

• Esteban Ocon, Haas
• Lance Stroll, Aston Martin
• Nico Hulkenberg, Sauber
• Oliver Bearman, Haas
• Pierre Gasly, Alpine
• Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin
• Liam Lawson, Racing Bulls

Drivers to Avoid (B Tier, <$18.5m)

• Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes
• Yuki Tsunoda, Red Bull
• Alex Albon, Williams
• Carlos Sainz, Williams
• Isack Hadjar, Racing Bulls
• Gabriel Bortoleto, Sauber
• Franco Colapinto, Alpine

📊Tier B Driver Rankings in #F1Fantasy

We covered the Tier A drivers earlier, but what about our favorite budget builders?

🇩🇪1. Hulkenberg
- No explanation needed. 🐐

🇬🇧2. Bearman
- His consistency over the last 2 races (14 PPR) makes him a good hold for Spa and Hungary if…

— Euan Leith (@F1FantasyEuan) July 23, 2025

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