Charles Leclerc took the first Formula One victory of his career in emotional scenes at Spa-Francorchamps, just one day after witnessing the death of close friend Anthoine Hubert.
The Ferrari driver saw the jubilation of Saturday's pole-position quickly turn to tragedy as Hubert was killed in a Formula Two accident in a near-170mph accident. A number of tributes were staged before the start of Sunday's Grand Prix, including a minute's silence in memory of Hubert.
When the race got underway, an immediate safety car was required when Max Verstappen collided with Kimi Raikkonen at the first corner and broke his Red Bull's suspension, which resulted in his driving uncontrolled into the tyre barrier at Eau Rouge. When the action resumed, Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas pressed Sebastian Vettel into an early pit stop, which while momentarily gave him the lead when his three rivals pitted, left him exposed on worn tyres and cost him a podium finish.
Once promoted to second, Hamilton set his sights on Leclerc and cut the gap to under a second, but despite a chaotic final lap as Antonio Giovinazzi spun off heavily into the barrier and Lando Norris stopped on the start-finish straight with a lap to go, Leclerc held on to clinch the maiden win of his career and Ferrari's first victory in a year.
Re-live the action below.
Welcome to The Independent's Belgian Grand Prix live blog as we prepare for what should have been one of the most exciting rounds on the calendar.
Instead, F1 is in mourning following the death of Formula Two driver Anthoine Hubert in Saturday's feature race. The young Frenchman was involved in a horrible accident at around 170mph with Juan Manuel Correa, which resulted in him suffering serious injuries that he succumbed to shortly after the crash.
Correa has undergone surgery on fractures in both of his legs as well as a minor spinal injury, but is in a stable condition in intensive car.
The FIA took the decision to continue with today's race - although the morning's F2 sprint race was cancelled - meaning that Charles Leclerc will start from pole position ahead of his Ferrari teammate Sebastian Vettel and championship leader Lewis Hamilton.
Lights out is scheduled for 2:10pm, but we will have a tribute to Hubert before the the race gets underway.
We start looking back on Saturday's tragic events. Once qualifying wrapped up, the main support F2 feature race was barely two laps old when a horrific accident occurred at the top of Eau Rouge - one of the most iconic corners in the world.
A bad accident for Anthoine Hubert suddenly turned catastrophic when he was struck by Juan Manuel Correa, who had to take evasive action to avoid the spinning Giuliano Alesi as they arrived at Raidillon. The collision occurred at close to 170mph, and was visually one of the worst seen in motorsport.
The race was immediately red flagged and no restart was signalled, with the seriousness of the situation soon confirmed by the FIA when they announced the death of 6:35pm local time, an hour and 28 minutes after the accident.
The drivers are just returning from the track parade where along with the usual stream of classic cars, a French flag has been displayed out of the safety car window in tribute to Hubert.
We've also had confirmation from Liberty Media that a minute's silence will be held for the late F2 driver ahead of the race.
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When the accident happened yesterday, nearly the entire F1 field were carrying out their media duties post-qualifying, which lead to the rather uncomfortable moment of everyone - drivers and reporters - pausing their interviews to watch the harrowing events unfold.
Red Bull team principal Christian Horner, the founder of the Arden team that lost Hubert yesterday, has spoken of the impact on the team in the 24 tragic hours since his death:
"Sometimes this sport can be very cruel. Yesterday was one of those days. My heart goes out to his family and friends, and the Arden team is absolutely broken. It was a shocking accident but he paid the ultimate price that comes with the sport. He was the ultimate racer and for sure he was going to be in this paddock at some stage in the future.
"For Monza that car won't run. It's withdrawn from the event in Monza and they'll run one car in the other one in Tatiana Calderon's. It's also tough for Max and Alex as they raced against him as kids. All the teams as a mark of respect are carrying his name."
As we move into the hour before lights out, let's try to shift our build-up towards today's race - starting with qualifying.
It was by all accounts a frantic session. Two red flags in Q1 caught out a few drivers including McLaren's Carlos Sainz, while the desire to get a slipstream almost saw Hamilton and Bottas run into the back of cars before they'd started their lap.
But there was no stopping Charles Leclerc as he powered to a dominant pole position, lapping three-quarters of a second FASTER than any other driver without any slipstream whatsoever.
Then came the penalties ... so many penalties.
Three drivers arrived at Spa knowing they would take penalties in Ricciardo, Hulkenberg and Sainz as Renault upgraded to the 'Spec C' power units - only to then revert back to the 'Spec B' versions before qualifying.
Joining them is Alex Albon, who takes a new engine that drops him to the rear and takes the pressure off him somewhat, and Daniil Kvyat, who also drops back.
And then came qualifying, when Robert Kubica's Williams engine let go in a big way before he could set a lap time, meaning he will have to start from the pit lane, while soon after Antonio Giovinazzi's Alfa Romeo went bang to see him drop back.
So with all that taken into account, here's how the grid actually lines up today:
1 Charles Leclerc (Mon) Ferrari 1min 42.519secs
2 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Ferrari 1:43.267
3 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) Mercedes GP 1:43.282
4 Valtteri Bottas (Fin) Mercedes GP 1:43.415
5 Max Verstappen (Ned) Red Bull 1:43.690
6 Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) Alfa Romeo Racing 1:44.557
7 Sergio Perez (Mex) Racing Point 1:44.706
8 Kevin Magnussen (Den) Haas F1 1:45.086
9 Romain Grosjean (Fra) Haas F1 1:44.797
10 Daniel Ricciardo (Aus) Renault 1:44.257 + 5-place penalty
11 Lando Norris (Gbr) McLaren 1:44.847
12 Nico Hulkenberg (Ger) Renault 1:44.542 + 5-place penalty
13 Pierre Gasly (Fra) Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:46.435
14 George Russell (Gbr) Williams 1:47.548
15 Carlos Sainz (Spa) McLaren 1:46.507 + 5-place penalty
16 Lance Stroll (Can) Racing Point 1:45.047 + 10-place penalty
17 Antonio Giovinazzi (Ita) Alfa Romeo Racing no time set
18 Alexander Albon (Tha) Red Bull 1:45.799 + 10-place penalty
19 Daniil Kvyat (Rus) Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:46.518 + 15-place penalty
20 Robert Kubica (Pol) Williams no time set (didn’t set qualifying time) - will start from pit lane
Most drivers have already said that they would rather not speak on the grid, and in fact most of them have driver out from the pits only to then make their make back into the refuge of the paddock, which is of course completely understandable.
With that in mind, let's take a quick look at what drivers said leading up to the weekend.
We met with Renault's Daniel Ricciardo in the week to discuss how his move from Red Bull has gone, considering how his former team is performing this season with Max Verstappen.
But he insists that while they might be winning races here and there, it's still not a car capable of winning the championship.
A relevant point for today is that while Ricciardo starts in 11th, he qualified 6th and proved the fastest of the mid-field pack, and he will certainly be one to watch throughout the afternoon.
The drivers are making their way to the front of the grid, where there will now be a minute's silence for Anthoine Hubert in what is an extremely sad moment for the sport.
The minute's silence is honoured impeccably, with all 20 drivers at the front of the grid surrounded by legends of the sport, the likes of Sir Jackie Stewart, Alain Prost and Jean Alesi who all tragically experienced death in F1 during their careers.
They are also joined by Hubert's mother and brother, who have with them a replica of the helmet that he wore yesterday. He will be remembered as one of the great young promises that never made it to F1, and of course the last ever GP3 world champion.
The silence leads into the Belgian national anthem.
Now the mentality shifts. The drivers put on their helmets, click into gear to go racing and try their best to put thoughts of yesterday's events out of their minds. For the next two hours, hopefully we can go racing and forget about the dangers of motorsport, even if they constantly loom in the shadows.
Lights out in just over 10 minutes.
Some lovely tributes across the field for Anthoine Hubert:
The engines kick into life and the grid starts to clear...
**Formation lap underway!**
It's a lengthy formation lap here around the 7.2km Spa-Francorchamps circuit, so here's a look at the final grid:
1 Charles Leclerc (Mon) Ferrari 1min 42.519secs
2 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Ferrari 1:43.267
3 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) Mercedes GP 1:43.282
4 Valtteri Bottas (Fin) Mercedes GP 1:43.415
5 Max Verstappen (Ned) Red Bull 1:43.690
6 Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) Alfa Romeo Racing 1:44.557
7 Sergio Perez (Mex) Racing Point 1:44.706
8 Kevin Magnussen (Den) Haas F1 1:45.086
9 Romain Grosjean (Fra) Haas F1 1:44.797
10 Daniel Ricciardo (Aus) Renault 1:44.257 + 5-place penalty
11 Lando Norris (Gbr) McLaren 1:44.847
12 Nico Hulkenberg (Ger) Renault 1:44.542 + 5-place penalty
13 Pierre Gasly (Fra) Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:46.435
14 George Russell (Gbr) Williams 1:47.548
15 Carlos Sainz (Spa) McLaren 1:46.507 + 5-place penalty
16 Lance Stroll (Can) Racing Point 1:45.047 + 10-place penalty
17 Antonio Giovinazzi (Ita) Alfa Romeo Racing no time set
18 Alexander Albon (Tha) Red Bull 1:45.799 + 10-place penalty
19 Daniil Kvyat (Rus) Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:46.518 + 15-place penalty
20 Robert Kubica (Pol) Williams no time set (didn’t set qualifying time)
Strategy
LIGHTS OUT! THE BELGIAN GRAND PRIX IS UNDERWAY!
Lap 1: It's a mess through La Source! Leclerc lead but Hamilton gets past Vettel into second! The pair go side-by-side down the Kemmel Straight and the power of the Ferrari gets Vettel back into second!
SAFETY CAR! Verstappen is into the wall at Eau Rouge, but he's out the car and ok.
Lap 1: That looks to be Verstappen's doing. He gets a poor start from fifth and Raikkonen gets past him. As Kimi turns into La Source, Verstappen dives up the inside and the two make contact to send the Alfa Romeo into the air on two wheels. Raikkonen comes back to earth with a thud, but the damage is done to Verstappen's front left as the suspension is broken. That means when he gets to the next corner of Eau Rouge - albeit at reduced speed - the steering snaps and he goes straight on into the tyre barrier. It draws a huge gasp from the crowd, which is predominately Dutch.
Lap 2: Sainz bogged down off the start and is running last, and to make matter worse his McLaren cut out when he came into the pits. Raikkonen has pitted twice to check the damage cause by that accident, while Ricciardo has also stopped after getting caught up in the melee.
Safety car is due in this lap, but Sainz has stopped somewhere near the start-finish straight.
What time does it start?
The Belgian Grand Prix starts at 2:10pm on Sunday 1 September.
Where can I watch it?
The race will be shown live on Sky Sports F1 from 12:30pm. Online users with Sky subscriptions can watch in on Sky Go at the same time.
Highlights will be shown on Channel 4 from 7pm.
Starting grid
1 Charles Leclerc (Mon) Ferrari 1min 42.519secs
2 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Ferrari 1:43.267
3 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) Mercedes GP 1:43.282
4 Valtteri Bottas (Fin) Mercedes GP 1:43.415
5 Max Verstappen (Ned) Red Bull 1:43.690
6 Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) Alfa Romeo Racing 1:44.557
7 Sergio Perez (Mex) Racing Point 1:44.706
8 Kevin Magnussen (Den) Haas F1 1:45.086
9 Romain Grosjean (Fra) Haas F1 1:44.797
10 Daniel Ricciardo (Aus) Renault 1:44.257 + 5-place penalty
11 Lando Norris (Gbr) McLaren 1:44.847
12 Nico Hulkenberg (Ger) Renault 1:44.542 + 5-place penalty
13 Pierre Gasly (Fra) Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:46.435
14 George Russell (Gbr) Williams 1:47.548
15 Carlos Sainz (Spa) McLaren 1:46.507 + 5-place penalty
16 Lance Stroll (Can) Racing Point 1:45.047 + 10-place penalty
17 Antonio Giovinazzi (Ita) Alfa Romeo Racing no time set
18 Alexander Albon (Tha) Red Bull 1:45.799 + 10-place penalty
19 Daniil Kvyat (Rus) Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:46.518 + 15-place penalty
20 Robert Kubica (Pol) Williams no time set (didn’t set qualifying time)
