Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen dreams reignited as Red Bull and Ferrari roll the dice

Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen will both receive significant upgrades for the Belgian Grand Prix as Ferrari and Red Bull take the fight to McLaren. Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris are currently running away at the top of the Drivers' Championship standings, but that could soon change. After Norris delivered his second successive win, and a first on home soil, at the British Grand Prix, McLaren extended their advantage at the top of the Constructors' Championship standings to 238 points.

While that title fight is all but over at the season's halfway stage, the other World Championship battle is alive and well. Piastri and Norris are now separated by just eight points, while Verstappen is 69 points behind the Australian at the top of the standings. Hamilton, meanwhile, is still hunting his first podium as a Ferrari driver with the Scuderia currently winless in 2025. Both Fred Vasseur's squad and Red Bull are looking to hunt McLaren down in Belgium, though.

According to a report from German outlet Auto Motor und Sport, Ferrari will bring an upgraded rear axle to Spa-Francorchamps, designed to bring the best out of the new floor and underbody that delivered a stronger weekend at Silverstone last time out.

Red Bull are also planning their own upgrade package for the sprint weekend in Belgium. The Milton Keynes-based squad, which parted ways with long-serving team principal Christian Horner last week, are putting together a new aerodynamics update that aims to give Verstappen the tools necessary to reign the McLaren duo back in.

The reigning world champion was powerless to defend from Piastri and Norris at Silverstone last time out, despite dragging his ill-handling RB21 machine onto pole position with one of the most memorable laps of the season.

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Helmut Marko confirmed the upgrade plans in his latest Speedweek column. "We soon have the sprint GP weekend in Belgium and then the Hungarian GP ahead of us," he wrote. "The Spa-Francorchamps circuit should suit our car better, especially given the normally very changeable weather conditions.

"We are optimistic about that. Hungary is likely to be a little trickier for us due to the track layout and the typically high temperatures. But we will have new parts on the car for both weekends and hope this will have a positive effect."

Hamilton and Ferrari, meanwhile, will hope to be in contention for their first win of the season. While the Brit crossed the line at his home race in P4, it was a significant step forward for the 40-year-old, who demonstrated front-row pace in qualifying on Saturday before a late Q3 error left him on row three.