Italian teenager Kimi Antonelli ended a three-race winless streak on Sunday to extend his lead in the Formula One drivers’ championship with a solid fighting victory for Mercedes in the Belgian Grand Prix.
The 19-year-old Mercedes driver came home 1.9 seconds ahead of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, with four-time champion Max Verstappen finishing third for Red Bull. Antonelli’s teammate George Russell, who began the race in second place in the championship, just 25 points behind the Italian, crashed out of the race on the opening lap after tangling with Hamilton.
Hamilton was fourth for Ferrari after an incident-filled race in which he almost hit a mechanic during a pit stop. The incident was referred to the stewards, leaving the seven-time world champion with the possibility of a further penalty.
Isack Hadjar, who began at the back of the grid, did superbly to work his Red Bull up to sixth, just holding off reigning world champion Lando Norris, who started 13th in the second McLaren. Gabriel Bortoleto (Audi), Arvid Lindblad (Racing Bulls) and Franco Colapinto (Alpine) rounded out the top 10.
It was Antonelli’s sixth win of the season and came from his sixth pole of the year, making him the first driver to win from pole in Belgium since 2021. It lifts him to 204 points in the championship, 45 clear of Hamilton, with Russell third on 154.
“It feels very nice to be back on the top step,” said Antonelli. “We just have to keep performing, keep bringing the results and then we will see what will happen at the end of the year.”
The race started in cool conditions under a grey sky with rain in the air as Antonelli made a good start to lead up to La Source, but he had no answer when Verstappen deployed his power pack to pass him through Eau Rouge. The Dutchman was then immediately vulnerable to a counter-attack, and both the Italian and Leclerc drafted past him into Les Combes where, behind them, Hamilton clashed with Russell.
The four-time champion continued in fifth, but Russell bounced off into retirement as a Safety Car was deployed.
Hamilton reported that he “had no front end” control as a result of a car ahead moving across him, and the incident was investigated by the stewards, who gave Hamilton a five-second penalty.
A downcast Russell, whose title bid had taken a heavy blow, said: “It was a racing incident, but it shouldn’t have happened if I’d had the speed down the straight.”
Racing resumed on lap five with Piastri fighting and resisting Hamilton before Verstappen swept past Leclerc for second. Piastri then chased Leclerc and they touched at Les Combes, where the Monegasque defended and the Australian lost a piece of his front wing endplate. The stewards investigated again but took ‘no further action’, while Hamilton advanced and passed Piastri for fourth on lap nine as the race settled after a frantic start with Antonelli two seconds clear of Verstappen at the front ahead of both Ferraris.
Further Virtual Safety Cars intervened and, on lap 20, Ferrari went for a ‘double-stack’. Leclerc went through cleanly, but Hamilton, who had to serve his five-second penalty, made a messy exit, touching a mechanic on departure. The mechanic was reported to be fine, but the stewards decided to investigate again for an unsafe release.
That left Norris, who had started 13th with a 10-place grid penalty for taking a new battery, leading ahead of Leclerc, Antonelli and Verstappen until the Ferrari cruised by to take command on lap 23.
Antonelli swept past Norris three laps later and surged after Leclerc, while Hamilton, who had requested a wing adjustment in vain during his pit stop, fell back to sixth. Norris finally pitted to swap his old hards for mediums on lap 31, rejoining eighth after a slow stop due to a sticky left rear, with Hadjar rising to sixth behind Hamilton.
Leclerc led until lap 34 when, as he feared, Antonelli’s superior power carried him through at Les Combes. But he hung on tight, within a second of the silver arrow, while Hamilton passed Piastri for fourth with five laps to go. | AFP
