Britain’s George Russell won the Belgian Grand Prix, leading a Mercedes one-two with Lewis Hamilton. Russell’s clever one-stop strategy helped him outsmart everyone. McLaren’s Oscar Piastri, who won his first F1 GP in Hungary last weekend, finished third. Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, the championship leader, came in fifth after starting 11th due to a 10-place grid penalty for taking a fifth engine.
Hamilton seemed likely to win his fifth Belgian GP after he passed Red Bull’s Sergio Perez at the start to move into second place and then took the lead on lap three by overtaking Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc on the Kemmel straight. Leclerc finished fourth.
Russell started sixth on the grid and made his first pit stop on lap 10. Hamilton pitted two laps later but had to stop again on lap 27. Mercedes decided to keep Russell out until the end. Hamilton closed the gap in the final laps but couldn’t overtake Russell, finishing 0.526 seconds behind him. This was Russell’s second win of the season.
Piastri finished 1.173 seconds behind the leader. His final pit stop cost him two valuable seconds as he ran over his marks.
Russell celebrated his third career win by running to his team. Lando Norris, second in the drivers’ championship, finished sixth for McLaren, and Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz was seventh. Perez, starting from the front row, finished eighth but posted the fastest lap.
Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso finished ninth, and Alpine’s Esteban Ocon, who will drive for Haas next season, finished 10th.