Antonelli wins eventful 2026 Belgian Grand Prix at Spa to extend championship lead as Russell retires on lap one
Kimi Antonelli claimed his sixth victory of the 2026 Formula 1 season at Spa-Francorchamps on 19 July, beating Ferrari's Charles Leclerc by 1.952 seconds after a race shaped by a lap-one collision that eliminated George Russell, grid penalties and late-race strategy swings.
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A sixth win of 2026, decided in the closing laps
Kimi Antonelli won the 2026 Belgian Grand Prix at Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps on Sunday 19 July, crossing the line 1.952 seconds ahead of Charles Leclerc after 44 laps, with Max Verstappen third, 11.586 seconds behind Antonelli. The FIA's final race classification lists Lewis Hamilton fourth (+17.245s) and Oscar Piastri fifth (+18.988s), with Isack Hadjar, Lando Norris, Gabriel Bortoleto, Arvid Lindblad and Franco Colapinto completing the points-scoring top ten. 45
The FIA's own race report records Antonelli as securing his sixth win of the season, passing Leclerc in the closing stages with ten laps remaining on the approach to Les Combes before managing tyres and energy deployment to the flag. Formula 1's race report notes it was his first win since the Monaco Grand Prix, and quotes the Mercedes driver: "It's great to be back on the top step after obviously a few difficult rounds. Was a hard-fought race. We lost first place with a VSC but then we managed to make our way back." 58
Verstappen was the first front-runner to pit, on lap 18 according to the FIA report, with Antonelli responding to cover the threat. A subsequent Virtual Safety Car allowed Ferrari to pit both drivers at reduced time loss, and Leclerc emerged ahead of Antonelli to take the effective race lead before the Mercedes driver fought back in the final stint. 5
A lap-one collision ends Russell's race and reshapes the title fight
The defining incident came immediately after the start. The FIA report describes Russell losing momentum early, then making contact with Hamilton at Les Combes, sending the Mercedes into the gravel and ending his race, with a Safety Car neutralising the event. Formula 1's race account states Russell spun into the gravel after the contact and brought his race to an end, while Hamilton was later handed a five-second time penalty for causing the collision. 58
Hamilton still recovered to fourth. The FIA classification records him finishing 17.245 seconds behind Antonelli despite serving the penalty, and both the FIA report and Formula 1's coverage note he was also investigated after the race over an unsafe release during his pit stop. McLaren's race report states that investigation eventually did not materialise into a penalty for the driver, though the team had instructed Piastri to stay within five seconds of Hamilton at the flag while it was pending. 4586
Leclerc and Piastri also made contact while fighting for a podium position, with Formula 1's report describing a piece of carbon fibre flicked onto the circuit; it reports that Leclerc faced no further action for that contact. McLaren's race report says the floor damage cost Piastri between two and three tenths of lap time and accelerated tyre degradation in the second half of both stints. 86
Qualifying and a grid reshaped by power-unit penalties
Antonelli took pole position in qualifying on 18 July with a 1:44.361, ahead of Verstappen (1:44.678) and Norris (1:44.801), with Russell, Leclerc, Hamilton and Piastri following in that order. The 22-car qualifying classification and the official starting grid are published in full by Formula 1. 1
The starting grid differed substantially from qualifying because of power-unit component penalties. Formula 1's grid document records Norris, Sainz and Stroll each dropping ten places for the use of additional power unit elements, while Alonso and Hadjar were required to start from the back of the grid after 20- and 30-place penalties respectively for multiple additional elements. That placed Piastri sixth, Russell third, and Norris 13th, with Hadjar 21st. 2
No Sprint was held at Spa in 2026. Formula 1's event schedule for the weekend lists three practice sessions, qualifying on 18 July and the race at 13:00 on 19 July, with no Sprint session or qualifying-style Sprint format included. 9
McLaren's mixed Sunday: Piastri fifth, Norris seventh on an alternate strategy
Oscar Piastri was the leading Australian finisher in fifth. McLaren's own race report describes the Australian making an excellent start from sixth on the grid, avoiding the Russell–Hamilton collision at Les Combes and ending the first lap in fourth before the race was neutralised. The team reports that floor damage from the contact with Leclerc compromised his pace, and that he slipped from fourth when both Ferraris passed him decisively. The team's data lists his fastest lap as a 1m49.562s on lap 23. McLaren recorded his sole pit stop on lap 20, switching from Medium to Hard tyres in a 2.9-second stop. 6
Lando Norris charged from 13th to seventh, having accepted a ten-place grid drop after exceeding the permitted number of allocated power electronics units, according to McLaren's report. The team states he ran an alternate Hard-tyre strategy, briefly led on track, then lost several seconds to a technical problem on his lap-30 pit stop. McLaren records his fastest lap of 1m48.890s on lap 44 as the race's quickest, his 20th career Fastest Lap. 6
Team principal Andrea Stella acknowledged in McLaren's report that the team left Spa "with a smaller points haul than our potential", citing the penalty, the pit-stop issue and Safety Car timing that did not suit the Hard-tyre strategy, while pointing to braking and cornering upgrades planned from the Hungarian Grand Prix onward. These are the team's own statements about its car and plans, not independently verified findings. 6
Championship picture after Spa, as recorded by the FIA
The FIA's post-race championship points document (Document 66, dated 19 July 2026) records Antonelli leading the drivers' championship on 204 points, ahead of Hamilton on 159, Russell on 154, Leclerc on 126, Norris on 103, Piastri on 92, Verstappen on 91 and Hadjar on 60. In the constructors' championship, the same document lists Mercedes-AMG Petronas first on 358 points, ahead of Ferrari (285), McLaren (195), Red Bull (151), Alpine (61) and Racing Bulls (61). 3
Those figures are corroborated by Crash.net's post-race standings table, which lists the same top-ten totals, including Antonelli on 204 with six wins and Hamilton's promotion to second after his fourth-place finish. Crash.net's reporting also noted Hamilton had a potential post-race penalty hanging over him at the time of publication, referencing the unsafe-release investigation covered separately by Formula 1. 78
The FIA document carries a note that the standings were subject to notices of intention to appeal by McLaren Mastercard F1 Team and Oracle Red Bull Racing. Retirements beyond Russell were recorded in the final classification for Stroll (25 laps) and Perez (13 laps), with Bottas and Alonso the last of the classified finishers. 34
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