#F1: #Antonelli clinches #BelgianGP victory as @GeorgeRussell63 retires.

Antonelli Belgian GP Victory – After a difficult few races plagued by misfortune, Andrea Kimi Antonelli took his sixth-victory of the season at the Belgian GP and extended his championship lead over Mercedes team-mate George Russell who retired on the opening lap after contact with Ferrari’s Sir Lewis Hamilton and being beached in the gravel at Les Combes. Charles Leclerc took second in the other SF-26 entry as Red Bull’s Max Verstappen completed the top three.

 

 

Antonelli narrowly held on to beat Leclerc in a closely-contested battle by 1.952 seconds.

 

Antonelli holds a 45-point advantage over Hamilton in the World Driver’s Championship standings as the sport heads to the Hungaroring next weekend (204-159).

 

In the World Constructor’s Championship standings, Mercedes’ lead was at 73 points over nearest rivals Ferrari (358-285).

 

When the 44-lap Belgian GP began, pole-sitter Antonelli got a good start heading to La Source as Verstappen covered Russell.

 

And through the Eau Rouge-Radillon sequence Verstappen passed Antonelli to take the lead onto the Kemmel Straight.

 

Antonelli made his way back in-front of Verstappen to take the lead and both Ferrari’s had a solid slipstream up to Les Combes, Hamilton and Russell made contact with each other and the latter spun into the gravel trap and became the first retiree of the Grand Prix.

 

The safety car was deployed to clear Russell’s Silver Arrow.

 

The third tour – Antonelli was leading the race, with Leclerc on his tail as they crawled behind the Safety Car.

 

Replays showed Russell dropped back down the straight, losing out to both Ferraris. The Briton then accelerates and tries to go around the outside of Hamilton, the two squeeze and tangled. Racing incident most likely, but the stewards could take a look.

 

Further back, Williams’ Carlos Sainz tagged Haas’s Esteban Ocon at the start, and Oliver Bearman ended up in the gravel too.

 

Hadjar had pitted twice so he was trying to go to the end on a set of the C2 harder compounds. Bearman was in after his gravel trip, Cadillac’s Sergio Perez, Valtteri Bottas and Haas’s Ocon have all also pitted.

 

Many were now saying the rain was missing and the race will be dry from this stage onwards.

 

The stewards were currently investigation the opening tour turn six incident involving Hamilton and Russell.

 

We were still behind the Safety Car at this stage of proceedings. Antonelli lead from Leclerc, Verstappen and Piastri.

 

Hamilton was next, with Lawson, Lindblad and Colapinto following and then came Bortoleto and Norris.

 

When the safety car came in on the fifth lap, race leader Antonelli bolted away from Leclerc as Hamilton made his way ahead of Piastri into La Source.

 

Piastri reacted immediately and got back Hamilton into Eau Rouge with the latter managing to keep the two RB’s behind into Les Combes.

 

On lap six with Overtake and Straight Mode down the Kemmel Straight on the run-down to Les Combes, Verstappen overtook Leclerc to jump into second place.

 

Behind them, reigning World Champion Lando Norris was up into ninth passing Audi’s Gabriel Bortoleto.

 

Lap seven saw Antonelli’s lead at 0.8 seconds over Verstappen with Leclerc a further 0.8 seconds behind in third, Piastri holding fourth, Hamilton fifth, Lawson sixth, Lindblad seventh, Colapinto eighth, Norris ninth whilst Gasly rounded out the top ten runners.

 

On lap eight, Leclerc and Piastri almost ran wheel-to-wheel down the Kemmel Straight as both made contact with debris flying off the latter’s MCL40 racer as Norris passed Colapinto for eighth.

 

“He didn’t leave enough space,” said Piastri.

 

On the ninth tour in the battle for fourth Hamilton with Overtake and Straight mode breezed his way in-front of Piastri to move up into fourth place.

 

Hamilton was hit with a five-second-timed-penalty for causing a collision with Russell at turn six on the opening tour as Norris overtook Lawson for seventh.

 

On the tenth lap – Race leader Antonelli was holding a 1.7 second gap over Verstappen with Leclerc third, Hamilton fourth, Piastri fifth, Lindblad sixth, Norris seventh, Lawson eighth, Colapinto ninth whilst Gasly completed the top ten.

 

The 11^th lap – Antonelli was finally starting to build a lead over Verstappen, not by much. The Italian was 1.9 seconds clear of the Dutchman, helped by all the battles behind.

 

Verstappen was second, but he had Leclerc right on his tail. Hamilton was also in that fight, and further back, Norris was lining up a move on Lindblad for sixth.

 

Piastri was told he was carrying damage to his floor edge aboard his MCL40 racer.

 

Leclerc was also under investigation for his collision with Piastri.

 

Lap 12 – Piastri was dropping back due to that floor damage, but further ahead, Hamilton was all over the rear of Leclerc. Those two appeared to be allowed to battle it out on track at this stage of proceedings.

 

Norris overtook Lindblad, and he was 8.2 seconds behind his slightly struggling team-mate.

 

On the 13^th tour in the battle for third, Hamilton believed he had more pace than team-mate Leclerc.

 

Russell explained in the pen: “I just got totally swallowed up down the straight, I lost three positions down the straight, and the incident was a racing incident. Maybe I could have gone wider, maybe he could have braked a bit more. I have no words at the moment. I appreciate everyone is working hard on the problem, but I am stood here on Lap 5 of the race.”

 

Lap 15 saw Antonelli’s lead over Verstappen increased to 2.3 seconds with Leclerc third, Hamilton fourth, Piastri fifth, Norris sixth, Lindblad seventh, Lawson eighth, Colapinto ninth as Hadjar rounded out the top ten.

 

Perez was in the pits, Gasly had also come in. Sainz was in for a new nose for his FW48 entry.

 

Both Lawson and Colapinto pitted from eighth and ninth on lap 16 for a fresh set of the harder compounds and emerged in 13^th and 16^th respectively.

 

Lindblad pitted from seventh on lap 17 for his new set of C2’s and came out behind team-mate Lawson with both switching places putting the former in-front of the Kiwi.

 

Leclerc and Piastri – no further action. So, Leclerc was free to race on, and he was now 1.9 seconds clear of his team-mate, who was starting to struggle a little with his tyres.

 

The 18^th tour – Verstappen stopped from second for his fresh set of the harder tyres and came out in sixth place behind Norris as the Virtual Safety Car was deployed.

 

“Your tyres are looking good Kimi, better than others so you can afford to use them,” Bono told Antonelli.

 

After the brief VSC ended on lap 19 with the debris cleared – Antonelli pitted from the lead for his newer sets of the hards, a 2.6 second stop for the championship leader and came out crucially in-front of Verstappen in fifth place.

 

Norris made his way passed his team-mate Piastri on the rundown to the Bus Stop Chicane.

 

Lap 20 – Piastri made his way ahead of Norris to retake third place as the Virtual Safety Car was out again for more debris clearing.

 

Leclerc and Hamilton both took advantage of a free pit-stop to pit for their fresh sets of the harder tyres and the latter served his five-second-timed-penalty.

 

Hamilton actually caught a mechanic – he got the green light and went, and he had checked to see if the mechanic was okay, which the team said he was.

 

Leclerc emerged in second place behind the yet-to-pit Norris as the VSC ended, whilst Hamilton was down in sixth place behind Piastri.

 

The 22^nd tour – Norris was leading the race having started on the harder tyres – he still needed to pit.

 

Leclerc was 2.5 second in-front of Antonelli.

 

Verstappen was 3.8 seconds back; Piastri was a further 1.3 seconds and then came Hamilton.

 

Hadjar held seventh ahead of Bortoleto, Lindblad and Lawson.

 

Bortoleto jumped the Racing Bulls pairing with a cheap VSC stop.

 

Lap 23 – Hamilton was under investigation for an unsafe release in the pit-stop.

 

Leclerc was all over the back of Norris – Leclerc swept past at the end of the Kemmel Straight to take the lead.

 

The 24^th tour – Perez retired – the Mexican reported a rear spring/damper issue, so was retired as a precautionary measure.

 

The Mexican and Russell were the two retirees of the race.

 

Up-front, Leclerc was flying, the Monegasque driver was 1.3 seconds in-front of Norris, who now had Antonelli for company.

 

Mercedes and Ferrari were going well on the harder compounds, Verstappen less so. The four-time World Champion was complaining about a lack of grip.

 

Lap 26 – In the battle for second place – Antonelli with Overtake and Straight Mode down the Kemmel Straight made his way ahead of Norris to take the position – the Italian was three seconds behind Leclerc.

 

Piastri had come back into this race a bit, his fresh tyres were negating the loss of downforce from his floor damage. The Australian was one second behind Verstappen, those two the next to chase up to Norris.

 

Hamilton was dropping back in sixth and did not get his front wing adjustment from his pit-stop.

 

The 27^th lap – Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll was called into the pits with a clutch problem. The Canadian could be the third race retiree.

 

Out on track, Verstappen was reporting that his tyres don’t work.

 

And out-front, the gap was 2.8 seconds between Leclerc and Antonelli.

 

The 28^th tour – Antonelli never massively pulled away in the opening stint, his rivals seemingly had quite good race pace. And that pattern was holding – Leclerc had grown his lead by a couple of tenth.

 

And Leclerc’s tyres were two laps fresher compared to Antonelli’s.

 

Lap 29 in the fight for third – Verstappen running down the Kemmel Straight, passed Norris just before Les Combes and closed the door on the Briton to snatch the place.

 

The 30^th lap – Leclerc’s lead over Antonelli was down to 1.6 seconds with Verstappen third, the yet-to-pit Norris fourth, Piastri fifth, Hamilton sixth, Hadjar seventh, Bortoleto eighth, Lindblad ninth whilst Colapinto jumped into tenth overtaking Lawson and Gasly.

 

On lap 31 – Norris finally pitted for a fresh set of the C3 yellow-marked medium compounds and with a slow left-rear pit-stop – the McLaren driver emerged in eighth place behind Bortoleto.

 

Lap 32 – Norris with his fresher medium rubber, Overtake and Straight mode breezed his way past Bortoleto’s Audi down the Kemmel Straight weaving slightly to break the slipstream to move up into seventh place.

 

Up-front – Leclerc was complaining about his gear shifts between first and second. The gap was down to 1.4 seconds.

 

Further back, Verstappen was 2.2 seconds in-front of Piastri in the battle for the final podium place.

 

Hadjar in sixth was told to get a move on, given Hamilton in-front could be in line for a post-race penalty for the unsafe release. The gap between those two sat at 7.1 seconds.

 

On the 34^th tour – Antonelli with Overtake and Straight Mode down the Kemmel Straight reclaimed the lead off Leclerc.

 

Lap 35 – Antonelli was powering on, as he posted a new fastest lap. The championship leader had pulled seven tenths on Leclerc, so his rival would have Overtake Mode this tour. Antonelli was comfortably clear.

 

The 36^th lap – Leclerc closed back up to race leader Antonelli bringing the gap down to 0.3 seconds on the Mercedes – it was not enough to make a move.

 

Further back, Verstappen was holding on to the final podium place, 2.2 seconds in-front of Piastri.

 

Norris was now 7.7 seconds adrift of Hadjar, those two projected to come together on the penultimate tour.

 

 

Lap 37 – The lead was just nine tenths of a second between the top two, Leclerc doing everything he can to hold onto Antonelli’s gearbox.

 

Norris was 6.8 seconds back on Hadjar, and the other driver on the move a bit was Hamilton – he was just 1.6 seconds behind Piastri.

 

The 38^th tour – If Antonelli can hold on here, the Italian would have a 50-point lead over Mercedes team-mate Russell heading to Budapest next weekend.

 

Antonelli remained 0.9 seconds in-front of Leclerc, the duo well clear of Verstappen in third.

 

Lap 39 in the fight for fourth – Hamilton had a look on Piastri down the Kemmel Straight towards Les Combes – but the McLaren covered the Ferrari.

 

Antonelli finally broke the second mark out-front – he was 1.1 seconds ahead of Leclerc. Then came Verstappen and Piastri, who had Hamilton right on his rear wing.

 

Hadjar was 5.1 seconds in-front of Norris, with Bortoleto, Lindblad and Colapinto the others in the points paying positions.

 

Gasly was 1.3 seconds behind his team-mate Colapinto in 11^th.

 

Lap 40 – Hamilton made a clean move at the end of the Kemmel Straight to pass Piastri for fourth.

 

Up-front, Antonelli lead by 1.5 seconds as he was reminded about track limits.

 

The 41^st tour – Antonelli was 1.3 seconds ahead of Leclerc, as the laps tumbled.

 

And behind, Piastri was told about Hamilton’s possible post-race penalty and given the hurry up to keep behind and not let the Ferrari pull away.

 

Lap 42 – Norris was closing in rapidly on Hadjar – the lap times were half-a-second faster by the McLaren driver. But would he run out of laps was the question?

 

Further back, the fight for tenth looked intense, Colapinto 0.9 seconds clear of team-mate Gasly who had Lawson and Hulkenberg both within a second.

 

The penultimate lap – Hamilton in fourth was told to get a move on, especially with the team worried about a possible post-race penalty. The seven-time World Champion was 3.1 seconds in-front of Piastri.

 

Norris had posted a new fastest lap and was 1.7 seconds behind Hadjar.

 

Antonelli crossed the line to take the Belgian GP victory by 1.952 seconds over Leclerc as Verstappen rounded out the top three.

 

Hamilton came home fourth – but has a potential post-race-penalty looming for his unsafe release with the Briton under investigation by the stewards.

 

Piastri and Norris were next in fifth and seventh respectively as Hadjar split the McLaren pairing in sixth place.

 

Bortoleto brought his Audi R26 entry over the line in eighth as Lindblad and Colapinto completed the top ten.

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2026 Belgian GP – The Top Three

 

 

2026 Belgian GP Winner – Andrea Kimi Antonelli, #12, Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula 1 Team, F1 W17 – (25 Points):

“It’s great to be back on the top stop after a few difficult rounds. It was a hard-fought race. We lost the first place with the Virtual Safety Car, we made our way back and it was a touch win as Charles was quick.”

 

2^nd Place – Charles Leclerc, #16, Scuderia Ferrari HP, SF-26 – +1.952s – (18 Points):

“I believed in the win until the end. We had a bit of luck with the VSC at the right place for us. The pace was relatively strong. I felt better with the car, there is still some work to do but it is a step forward.”

 

3^rd Place – Max Verstappen, #3, Oracle Red Bull Racing, Ford-RBPT, RB22 – +11.586s – (15 Points):

“I tried everything I could in the race. Kimi and I, we got a little bit unlucky with the VSC so for us, a podium is good. I gave it everything I had.”

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Formula 1 Moet & Chandon Belgian Grand Prix 2026 Race Results Classification (44 Laps)

 

Pos.	No.	Driver	Team	Laps	Time / Retired	Pts.
1	12	Kimi Antonelli	Mercedes	44	1:24:42.479	25
2	16	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	44	+1.952s	18
3	3	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing	44	+11.586s	15
4	44	Lewis Hamilton	Ferrari	44	+17.245s	12
5	81	Oscar Piastri	McLaren	44	+18.988s	10
6	6	Isack Hadjar	Red Bull Racing	44	+23.307s	8
7	1	Lando Norris	McLaren	44	+24.014s	6
8	5	Gabriel Bortoleto	Audi	44	+49.140s	4
9	41	Arvid Lindblad	Racing Bulls	44	+50.406s	2
10	43	Franco Colapinto	Alpine	44	+76.037s	1
11	10	Pierre Gasly	Alpine	44	+76.991s	0
12	30	Liam Lawson	Racing Bulls	44	+77.523s	0
13	27	Nico Hulkenberg	Audi	44	+78.348s	0
14	87	Oliver Bearman	Haas F1 Team	44	+94.465s	0
15	23	Alexander Albon	Williams	44	+104.684s	0
16	55	Carlos Sainz	Williams	44	+105.856s	0
17	31	Esteban Ocon	Haas F1 Team	44	+110.925s	0
18	77	Valtteri Bottas	Cadillac	43	+1 lap	0
19	14	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin	42	+2 laps	0
NC	18	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin	25	DNF	0
NC	11	Sergio Perez	Cadillac	13	DNF	0
NC	63	George Russell	Mercedes	0	DNF	0

 

* Provisional results.

 

FORMULA 1 MOËT & CHANDON BELGIAN GRAND PRIX 2026 – RACE RESULT

Click here for the 2026 Formula 1 World Driver’s (Top 10) and Constructor’s Championship Standings

Round 11 of the 2026 FIA Formula One World Championship heads straight to the famous Hungaroring, in Mogyorod, Hungary for the Formula 1 AWS Hungarian Grand Prix 2026 from Friday July 24-Sunday July 26.