Antonelli wins Belgian Grand Prix from pole as Russell's Spa misery ends on lap one

Antonelli takes Spa from pole, Russell out on lap one

Kimi Antonelli converted pole position into victory at the 2026 Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps on 19 July, finishing 1.952 seconds ahead of Charles Leclerc's Ferrari with Max Verstappen third, according to the FIA's official race classification. George Russell, who qualified third, retired without completing a racing lap. ¹³

The result was Antonelli's sixth grand prix victory of the 2026 season and the eighth for the Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS team, as reported in the team's own Sunday report. Antonelli ran a one-stop strategy, starting on Medium tyres and switching to Hards, and his fastest race lap of 1:49.098 was bettered only by Lando Norris's 1:48.890 in the FIA's fastest-lap table. ¹³

Toto Wolff, Head of Mercedes-Benz Motorsport, called it 'a bittersweet day here in Spa', saying Antonelli 'has been strong all weekend and drove a brilliant race to take the win' and that the victory 'was very well deserved'. Trackside Engineering Director Andrew Shovlin noted the win was particularly sweet after the chance to catch and pass Leclerc's Ferrari had been denied at Silverstone. ¹

Formula1.com's race-day team report described Antonelli as showing 'plenty of maturity in chasing down his quarry and passing on track to take the lead and then the win', having been unable to break free in the first stint before losing track position to Leclerc. ⁴

How the race was won: VSC luck, then a determined chase

Antonelli started from pole with Russell alongside in third, but both Mercedes cars suffered from a lack of boost that affected power on the run out of Turn 1, costing them speed on the straight before Turn 5. Antonelli lost the lead to Verstappen into Turn 2 but reclaimed it at Turn 5. Russell was more severely affected, losing several positions before contact with Lewis Hamilton's Ferrari ended his race, with Wolff saying the cause is being investigated. ¹

After the subsequent Safety Car period, Antonelli ran a conventional one-stop Medium-to-Hard strategy, pitting to cover Verstappen and retaining track position. Ferrari's Charles Leclerc then gained the lead by pitting during a Virtual Safety Car phase, leaving Antonelli with a three-second deficit to close. The Mercedes driver hunted the Ferrari down and retook the lead about ten laps from home, eventually easing clear of Leclerc's overtake-mode window. ¹

Formula1.com's team-by-team report records Leclerc's own account of a strong start: 'I had a good start, passing George (Russell) and Max (Verstappen) out of Eau Rouge with strong deployment. The Virtual Safety Car helped to put us in contention for the win.' Team principal Fred Vasseur acknowledged Antonelli 'had the quicker car and we were losing to him on the straights'. Verstappen settled for third after pitting first of the front runners, with his out-lap hampered by the VSC, and Red Bull marked its 300th podium and Verstappen's 130th. ⁴

Hamilton penalised as Russell rues another winless Sunday

Hamilton received a five-second time penalty for the first-lap incident, which dropped him back after his pit stop, and Ferrari was fined post-race after an unsafe release in which Hamilton tagged a mechanic following an erroneous green light, according to Formula1.com's race-day team report. Hamilton recovered to fourth, picking off Oscar Piastri late on, and said he was grateful to come away with points given the damage and the penalty. ⁴

Ferrari team principal Vasseur said of the penalty: 'I feel it was definitely harsh because it was a first-lap incident, but there's no point discussing it any further.' ⁴

Russell left Spa with no points for what he described as too many recent winless weekends, noting the boost problem on the opening lap was different to what the team had been trying to solve earlier in the weekend. 'We are working flat out as a team to improve our reliability. We know it has cost us too many points so far this season,' Russell said, per Formula1.com's race-day team report. ⁴

Piastri's penalty grievance and Norris's lost opportunity

Piastri finished fifth for McLaren after contact with Leclerc at Les Combes cost him floor damage that he said cost two to three tenths per lap, according to team principal Andrea Stella. The stewards ruled no further action, judging Leclerc was not crowding and that Piastri was not far enough alongside, and The Race reported Piastri's bewilderment at that decision: 'I don't really know where I was supposed to go so the fact that was no... at least a black and white flag or something like that.' ⁴⁶

Norris finished seventh for McLaren after starting 13th due to a 10-place grid penalty for taking a fourth power electronics unit. He ran a long first stint on the hard tyre, briefly led after others pitted, but lost out through the VSC timing and a slow pit stop caused by a technical issue. He described the McLaren's pace as 'incredible' and said it 'was good enough for a podium, or even to win', while Stella cautioned that Spa's characteristics helped the car rather than it being indicative of a breakthrough. ⁴⁶

Hadjar stars and Audi converts in the midfield

Isack Hadjar recovered from the back of the grid to sixth for Red Bull, using an early Safety Car to cycle through the tyre compounds and later a 'cheap' Virtual Safety Car stop. Team principal Laurent Mekies called it 'his best race with us, no question', noting his pace was 'top-three pace', and Hadjar said pitting early under the Safety Car 'worked out perfectly'. He just managed to hold off a charging Norris late on. ⁴⁶

Gabriel Bortoleto took eighth for Audi, securing the team's first back-to-back points of the season thanks to a good call to pit under the Virtual Safety Car, as The Race reported. Audi has been working to improve its first F1 power unit, which it accepts has been down on power and too peaky, including a slightly smaller turbo design introduced from the Spanish Grand Prix, and Bortoleto said Racing Bulls is 'a little bit ahead of us, but we are catching'. Haas introduced a new front wing at Spa described by head of car engineering Hoagy Nidd as 'quite a big change', and Ollie Bearman said after finishing 14th that the car felt much better to drive but still needed more performance. ⁶

Spa context: tyres and a testing 2026 calendar

The Belgian round was held on Pirelli's standard 2026 allocation at Spa, with the C4 as the Soft, C3 as the Medium and C2 as the Hard compound, according to the Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS team's tyre preview. Spa is the longest circuit on the Formula 1 calendar at 7.004km, meaning the race ran over 44 laps, and the circuit has been on the championship calendar since the inaugural 1950 season. ⁵²

The Race also noted wider regulation growing pains: the 2026 cars are at their worst in flowing, high-speed corner sequences because of energy management and drag, which is why Spa's high-speed sections drew criticism from drivers such as Piastri, who called the circuit 'sad' in that respect. Mercedes, meanwhile, still saw problems to solve despite the win, with Shovlin saying the team is 'still finding issues with these regulations' and needs to keep improving to fight for the championships. ⁶¹