Russell was forced to retire after a collision with Lewis Hamilton, who, having finished fourth behind Antonelli, Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen, also faces a post-race investigation for an unsafe release.
The 44-lap Belgian Grand Prix got underway with gloomy grey skies overhead and the threat of rain in the air. After all, this is Spa.
Kimi Antonelli lined up on pole position ahead of Max Verstappen and George Russell, the latter benefitting from Lando Norris’ grid penalty.
The McLaren driver had qualified third, but dropped to 13th. He was one of five drivers hit with grid penalties with Carlos Sainz, Lance Stroll, Isack Hadjar and Fernando Alonso making up the final four places on the grid.
Antonelli made a good start from pole position before Verstappen stormed ahead of him. Antonelli fought back down the Kemmel Straight with Charles Leclerc on a charge and also past the Red Bull driver into Les Combes.
Russell and Lewis Hamilton made contact, the Mercedes driver out at Turn 6. Oscar Piastri was up to fourth, ahead of Hamilton and Liam Lawson.
As Russell put his hands to his helmet, Hamilton told Ferrari: “Car crossed over in front of me. I was right behind another car so I had no front end.” Race Control noted the incident.
The Safety Car was out at the start of Lap 2.
Esteban Ocon was limping back to the pits with his Haas scraping on the ground, Isack Hadjar was already in but only for a tyre change, and the two Cadillacs also pitted. Hadjar pitted for a second time, to go hard-medium-hard. He would not need to stop again.
The Safety Car ended at the end of Lap 4, with Antonelli bunching up the field before flooring it and staying ahead of Leclerc. Verstappen was comfortably third while Piastri lost out to Hamilton but regained the position through Eau Rouge and Raidillon.
Verstappen took second place from Leclerc into Les Combes, powering past and with the help of the slipstream. Oliver Bearman complained about Carlos Sainz’s Williams, telling Haas (and Race Control): “Sainz’s wing looks quite dangerous, it’s hanging off.”
Piastri attacked Leclerc into Les Combes on Lap 8, but the Ferrari driver shut the door – hard. The two made contact. “He didn’t leave enough space, that could’ve been a massive crash,” Piastri complained.
Piastri was told by McLaren that he had damage to the front right of his MCL40. Race Control noted that incident, but ruled no further action.
Hamilton was hit with a five-second time penalty for causing the Lap 1 collision with Russell. Worse yet, Hamilton also had damage to his Ferrari from that incident.
Away from the drama behind him, Antonelli made good use of the clean air ahead of him as he slowly pulled away from Verstappen. His lead was up two seconds on Lap 13, with Verstappen a second up on Leclerc.
Onto Lap 14, Hamilton told Ferrari that he had better pace than Leclerc and almost pulled alongside his teammate to prove it. Ferrari, though, did not swap positions.
Sergio Perez’s race ended on Lap 14, the Cadillac driver’s race over with, as Perez put it over the radio, a “suspension failure”. Carlos Sainz also pitted, his FW48 fitted with a new front wing.
Verstappen was the first of the frontrunners to pit, in on Lap 18. He pitted from second, just over two seconds down on Antonelli, and came out P6. Ferrari faked a response but ran back into the garage.
Virtual Safety Car! Verstappen escaped a huge disaster as the VSC was out briefly for marshals to clear debris from the track. Antonelli came in as the VSC ended, dropping to fifth but still two seconds ahead of Verstappen.
And the VSC was back out a lap later for marshals on the track. Just before, Piastri and Norris were squabbling for position, Liam Lawson and Arvid Lindblad were noted for their intra-team battle, and Ferrari double-stacked, Leclerc in and then Hamilton. The latter, who had to sit stationary for five seconds, also had a moment with a mechanic.
Midway through the 44-lap race, Norris was up in P1 by 1.4s ahead of Antonelli. Verstappen was third ahead of Piastri, Hamilton and Hadjar. Gabriel Bortoleto, Lindblad and Lawson running in the points-paying positions. Norris had yet to pit, Hadjar had been in three times.
Lap 23, Leclerc was in P1 having overtaken Norris on the track, Antonelli was all over the McLaren’s rear wing, Verstappen in fourth was complaining about a lack of grip, and Hamilton was not happy that Ferrari didn’t put more front wing on his SF-26. The seven-time world champion had been noted for an unsafe release that would be investigated after the race.
After a brief defence from Norris, Antonelli made his way past the McLaren to run second behind Leclerc. He was three seconds off the lead, but quickly began to make inroads into Leclerc’s lead.
Stroll’s race ended on Lap 26 as he pulled into the Aston Martin garage in the final race before the team’s much-anticipated B-spec AMR26 debuts in Hungary.
Verstappen overtook Norris on the track, with the Briton then having to deal with his teammate on his rear wing. McLaren told the reigning world champ, they don’t want any “yo-yo racing” and they’d explain later. Norris pitted Lap 31, but it was a slow stop due to a sticky rear left. He dropped to eighth.
With 10 to go, Leclerc was under threat from Antonelli who powered his way into overtake mode, the Ferrari driver not helped by traffic in the form of Valtteri Bottas. Powering down the Kemmel Straight, Antonelli retook the lead of the race.
The battle, though, was by no means over. Leclerc was not giving up the fight and stuck to Antonelli’s rear wing, running within overtake mode. As Leclerc chased Antonelli around the circuit, Verstappen was in a lonely third place ahead of Piastri, Hamilton and Hadjar.
As Antonelli broke Leclerc’s challenge, Hamilton launched one on Piastri but the Australian held his nerve, and P4. Hamilton took fourth off Piastri while Mercedes warned Antonelli that he already had two track limit violations.
Heading into the final lap, Antonelli had cleared the Leclerc challenge and was racing to the victory three seconds ahead. Behind them, Verstappen was alone in third place while Hamilton was trying to put time between himself and Piastri in the event of a penalty for his unsafe release.
Championship leader Antonelli took the chequered, adding 25 points to his tally, with Leclerc and Verstappen joining him on the podium. Hamilton was fourth at the line, but under investigation, followed by Piastri, Hadjar, Norris, Bortoleto, Lindblad and Colapinto.
Hamilton, though, is still facing an investigation for an unsafe release.
