Leclerc fended off a race-long challenge from reigning Formula One world champion Max Verstappen to claim his fifth podium of the season

Lewis Hamilton is still searching for his first podium since joining Ferrari, as the wait extended through another Grand Prix weekend. Ferrari had high hopes heading into Belgium, bringing one of their most significant update packages of the season since the last race at Silverstone.

Despite the arrival of much-vaunted new rear suspension geometry for the SF-25, a distant fourth place in the Belgian GP sprint race wasn’t “far off the maximum potential” of the Ferrari at Spa-Franco