Antonelli reels in Leclerc to win, Russell out after Hamilton clash

Kimi Antonelli put a pass on Charles Leclerc to secure victory at the Belgian Grand Prix, as his Mercedes Formula 1 team-mate George Russell retired on the opening lap after contact with Lewis Hamilton.

Aside from the briefest of stints in the lead from fellow front-row starter Max Verstappen, who took the lead on the exit of La Source, Antonelli found his way back past on the Kemmel Straight run to ensure the lead remained in his custody in the early stages of the race.

Two laps after Antonelli had made his switch to the hard tyre, a virtual safety car was called on the 20th lap to clear debris at Blanchimont, which offered a wide enough window for Ferrari to pit both cars at a significantly cheaper cost. Leclerc, who had been behind both Antonelli and Verstappen, used this opportunity to switch to the hard tyre and cycled out ahead for the lead. 

The Monegasque was able to build a lead gap once he’d cleared the off-strategy Lando Norris, who was yet to pit after starting on the hard tyre, as Antonelli also needed a few laps to clear the McLaren.

There was about three seconds between them once Norris was cleared, but Antonelli demonstrated the strong pace characteristic of his weekend and closed in on the Ferrari, helped when Leclerc was baulked by Valtteri Bottas’ Cadillac through Turn 15. Antonelli broke past at Turn 5 on the following lap after stalking the Ferrari up the hill.

Leclerc stayed with Antonelli for a few tours of the Spa-Francorchamps circuit, just about holding on in overtake range, but had been unable to eke out an opportunity to return to the lead. Instead, Antonelli maintained enough pace in hand to open the gap beyond the requisite one-second barrier needed to evade a potential Leclerc fightback.

The Italian teen continued to manage his lead, ultimately finishing 1.9s ahead of Leclerc to extend his championship lead as Russell failed to score following his first-lap contact with Hamilton’s Ferrari.

Russell had been battling Leclerc through the first couple of corners. Misfortune struck when he ran out of battery half-way along the Kemmel Straight on the opening lap, which led to the Mercedes driver being swamped by the cars around him on the entry to Les Combes.  He was side-by-side with Hamilton; the Ferrari driver’s snap of oversteer led to contact between the two, pitching Russell into the gravel.

Verstappen finished third, albeit somewhat distant to the leading pair after being overlapped by Leclerc during the VSC pitstops. The Dutchman had put pressure on Antonelli in the opening laps, but fell back as Leclerc began to find pace ahead of the pit phase.

Hamilton took fourth, despite serving a five-second penalty for the contact with Russell. Another potential penalty looms through an unsafe release; the seven-time champion had the green signal from his pit gantry post-stop, and hadn’t seen a mechanic attempting to implement a last-minute wing adjustment.

He’d passed Piastri to reach fourth, but the Australian had been able to hang onto the Ferrari’s tail in the event of a penalty; Piastri had suffered contact earlier in the race with Leclerc, causing minor damage to his car which hurt his race pace.

Isack Hadjar worked his way up to sixth after using the early safety car to conduct his mandatory tyre swaps, later using the VSC to pick up a lightly used set of hard tyres in the middle of the race. Arguably, this helped the Frenchman evade a late fightback from Norris, whose alternate strategy was undone by a very slow pitstop. A slow left-rear wheel change put the Briton behind Gabriel Bortoleto on-track, but he soon passed the Brazilian for seventh.

Bortoleto finished eighth ahead of Arvid Lindblad, who at one point was investigated for potential contact with team-mate Liam Lawson, while Franco Colapinto pulled off a two-for-one move on Pierre Gasly and Lawson along the Kemmel Straight to take the final point.

F1 Belgian Grand Prix – Race results

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