.png)
1 day ago
9
Key events
Lap 8 of 44: Contact between Piastri and Leclerc as they collide in the braking zone! Some debris came off the back of Leclerc’s car, but he holds the position and now Hamilton is all over the back.
Piastri on the radio says that could have been a “massive crash”.
Lap 7 of 44: Verstappen is within one second of Antonelli! Antonelli flies through Eau Rouge and down the straight, just 0.8s clear of Verstappen. Leclerc is 0.8s further back, Piastri off the back of the Ferrari.
Lap 6 of 44: Antonelli has not quite broken free of Leclerc, but fortunately for him, the Ferrari driver is busy defending for the time being – Leclerc is picked off by Verstappen at the end of the Kemmel Straight. Norris up to P9.
Lap 5 of 44: Antonelli controls the restart perfectly and opens up a gap to Leclerc that he maintains.
Lap 4 of 44: The Safety Car heads into the pits at the end of the lap after marshals quickly clear Russell’s stricken Mercedes. Antonelli leads the field back to green flag conditions, but faces immediate pressure from Leclerc and Verstappen, who are poised to challenge into the opening corners.
Further back, Norris produces an impressive recovery drive, climbing from 13th on the grid into the points in 10th, while Lawson moves from ninth to sixth in the opening laps.
Lap 3 of 44: Hamilton has dropped behind Piastri, who is up to fourth. Norris has gained three early places to get up to 10th. Antonelli is first, Leclerc is second and Verstappen has dropped to third after his earlier aggressiveness. The Safety Car continues to lead the pack.
Lap 2 of 44: The Safety Car is deployed after the dramatic opening-lap, neutralising the race as marshals recover Russell’s stranded Mercedes from the gravel. Russell climbs out of the car and walks away unharmed, but his race is over.
The incident occured after Russell attempted a late move around the outside of Hamilton, with the pair making contact. Hamilton believes Russell cuts across his front, but the Ferrari driver escapes damage and continues in fifth place. The collision has been noted by the stewards.
Hamilton on his radio: “Car crossed over in front of me. I was right behind another car so I had no front end.”
The Safety Car period also prompts several teams to gamble on an early pit stop. Bearman, Hadjar, Perez, Bottas and Ocon all dive into the pits to switch strategy.
Russell goes out on opening lap
Lap 1 of 44: The race bursts into life from the opening corner as Antonelli initially held off Verstappen to keep the lead. However, the Red Bull driver uses his superior speed on the run up to briefly snatch first place.
Antonelli responds immediately, using the Mercedes’ straight-line pace to reclaim the lead before the end of the straight, while Leclerc also capitalises to overtake Verstappen and move into second, dropping the Dutchman to third.
Behind the leading trio, drama strikes for Mercedes as Russell’s race ended almost instantly. Contact with Hamilton sends Russell spinning into the gravel, where he becomes beached. Crushing blow for Russell, whose championship hopes suffer a major setback with a pointless finish.
Lights out
And away we go at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps! As expected, the medium C3 rubber is the tyre of choice for most, but there are some outliers. Five drivers have gone for the hards: Norris, Perez, Hadjar, Stroll and Alonso. Sainz and Bottas have gone for the soft ones.
Weather watch: Light rain is trickling down during the formation lap. It will be our first time seeing how these cars truly perform in these conditions.
Weather watch: The clouds are rolling in and it looks like we may get some light rain on the track at the start of the race.
Max Verstappen speaking to Sky Sports says: “It looks like maybe there is a little bit of rain, and I might jinx it now, but I don’t think its going to rain.” while Oscar Piastri says: “It looks pretty grey and we’re in Spa so I wouldn’t be surprised [if it rains].”
Ferarri: It is not just the leading trio who will be hoping to capitalise when the lights go out at Spa. Ferrari will line up directly behind them, with the Scuderia showing stronger race pace than qualifying speed in recent rounds.
Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton were separated by a mere 0.002 seconds in qualifying, earning fourth and fifth on the grid respectively. That puts both drivers in prime position to take advantage of any drama or mistakes ahead of them in the opening laps.
Confidence will also be high within the Ferrari camp, with Leclerc and Hamilton having claimed a victory in the last three races. Leclerc’s most recent triumph came at the British Grand Prix, where he made a decisive move on Kimi Antonelli at the start before going on to secure the win.
Silverstone was an example of Ferrari getting away off the line better than Mercedes but even if that does not prove to be the case at Spa, they have shown an ability to put pressure on Mercedes in recent races.
Red Bull: Away from the championship battle, Verstappen remains one of the biggest talking points heading into today’s grand prix. The four-time world champion will once again enjoy huge support from his travelling “Orange Army,” but questions surrounding his future continue to dominate the headlines after another frustrating weekend for Red Bull at Silverstone, where technical issues led to a second consecutive retirement.
Kimi Antonelli’s lead in the standings looked insurmountable after Monaco, but now George Russell is potentially within one race win of wiping it out.
Russell still has ground to make up and the pre-season favourite has been honest in admitting how he has struggled to adapt to the new cars. How well he does so, at Spa and in the future, will be key to his title tilt. In Belgium he painted a picture of the task.
“It’s like if somebody asked you to draw the Mona Lisa and you’ve got the Mona Lisa next to you, do you think you could achieve it straight away?” he said. “Maybe with practice, you will. With these new power units, with these new tyres, with these new cars, I’m having to set the car up in a way that has not been suited to my driving. I’m having to drive in a way that I haven’t driven in my whole career and I’m having to adapt to this.”
There has been no enigmatic smile from Russell, rather he has been forthright all season, not hiding from the problems he is having but equally refusing to be cowed. Even when Antonelli had built that immense lead, the British driver stoically kept his head down and insisted there was still a long way to go. It is unlikely even he expected it to quite turn on a dime in three races, however.
Read Giles Richards’ full feature below.
Today’s grid, after penalties
1 Kimi Antonelli Mercedes 1:44.361
2 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1:44.678
3 George Russell Mercedes 1:44.869
4 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:44.893
5 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari 1:44.89
6 Oscar Piastri McLaren 1:45.016
7 Arvid Lindblad Racing Bulls 1:45.143
8 Gabriel Bortoleto Audi 1:45.628
9 Liam Lawson Racing Bulls 1:46.120
10 Pierre Gasly Alpine 1:46.331
11 Franco Colapinto Alpine 1:46.392
12 Nico Hülkenberg Audi 1:46.671
13 *Lando Norris McLaren 1:44.801
14 **Oliver Bearman Haas 1:46.779
15 Alexander Albon Williams 1:47.120
16 Esteban Ocon Haas 1:47.801
17 Valtteri Bottas Cadillac 1:47.823
18 Sergio Pérez Cadillac 1:47.971
19 *Carlos Sainz Williams 1:46.777
20 *Lance Stroll Aston Martin 1:50.177
21 †Isack Hadjar Red Bull no time
22 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin 1:50.002
*10-place grid penalty; **20-place grid penalty; †30-place grid penalty and set no time in Q3
Preamble
The Formula One championship battle is heating up as we arrive at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit for the final double-header before the summer break and what once looked like a comfortable advantage for the Mercedes rookie Kimi Antonelli has quickly become one of the closest title fights of the season. His lead over his teammate, George Russell, reduced to just 25 points after a dramatic British Grand Prix.
Despite a difficult outing at Silverstone, Antonelli secured a second consecutive pole position at Spa by comfortably outpacing Max Verstappen and Russell.
Behind him, Russell’s runner-up finish at Silverstone has reignited his championship hopes, while Lewis Hamilton sits just seven points further back after another podium finish. Ferrari have also found form at the perfect time, with Charles Leclerc racing the Scuderia to a second victory in three races.
With dry weather expected at Spa, teams are likely to favour aggressive race strategies, but the 7km circuit leaves little room for mistakes. Join me for lights out at 2pm BST/3pm CEST.
