F1 Belgian GP: 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.

Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes, Charles Leclerc, Ferrari, Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing (Photo by: Andy Hone/ LAT Images via Getty Images)

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

RACE

All Stats

Cla	Driver	#		Laps	Time	Interval	km/h	Pits	Points	Retirement	Chassis	Engine
1	A. Antonelli Mercedes	12		44	-			1	25		Mercedes	Mercedes
2	C. Leclerc Ferrari	16		44	+1.952 1.952	1.952		1	18		Ferrari	Ferrari
3	M. Verstappen Red Bull Racing	3		44	+11.586 11.586	9.634		1	15		Red Bull	Red Bull
4	L. Hamilton Ferrari	44		44	+17.245 17.245	5.659		1	12		Ferrari	Ferrari
5	O. Piastri McLaren	81		44	+18.988 18.988	1.743		1	10		McLaren	Mercedes
6	I. Hadjar Red Bull Racing	6		44	+23.307 23.307	4.319		3	8		Red Bull	Red Bull
7	L. Norris McLaren	1		44	+24.014 24.014	0.707		1	6		McLaren	Mercedes
8	G. Bortoleto Audi	5		44	+49.140 49.140	25.126		1	4		Audi	Audi
9	A. Lindblad Racing Bulls	41		44	+50.406 50.406	1.266		1	2		RB	Red Bull
10	F. Colapinto Alpine	43		44	+1'16.037 1'16.037	25.631		1	1		Alpine	Mercedes
11	P. Gasly Alpine	10		44	+1'16.991 1'16.991	0.954		1			Alpine	Mercedes
12	L. Lawson Racing Bulls	30		44	+1'17.523 1'17.523	0.532		1			RB	Red Bull
13	N. Hulkenberg Audi	27		44	+1'18.348 1'18.348	0.825		1			Audi	Audi
14	O. Bearman Haas F1 Team	87		44	+1'34.465 1'34.465	16.117		2			Haas	Ferrari
15	A. Albon Williams	23		44	+1'44.684 1'44.684	10.219		1			Williams	Mercedes
16	C. Sainz Williams	55		44	+1'45.856 1'45.856	1.172		1			Williams	Mercedes
17	E. Ocon Haas F1 Team	31		44	+1'50.925 1'50.925	5.069		2			Haas	Ferrari
18	V. Bottas Cadillac F1 Team	77		43	1 lap			2			Cadillac	Ferrari
19	F. Alonso Aston Martin Racing	14		42	2 laps			2			Aston Martin	Honda
dnf	L. Stroll Aston Martin Racing	18		25	19 laps			2		Retirement	Aston Martin	Honda
dnf	S. Perez Cadillac F1 Team	11		13	31 laps			3		Retirement	Cadillac	Ferrari
dnf	G. Russell Mercedes	63		0	44 laps					Collision	Mercedes	Mercedes
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