Belgian Grand Prix Race Review

Spa-Francorchamps rarely does things quietly, and in this Belgian Grand Prix race review, the 2026 running delivered its usual cocktail of chaos and class, with Kimi Antonelli emerging from the fray to beat Charles Leclerc by 1.9 seconds and stretch his grip on the championship even as his own Mercedes garage descended into crisis.

Antonelli converted pole position into his sixth win of the season, but he had to work for every inch of it. Max Verstappen produced the moment of the race on lap one, snatching the lead away from the polesitter with a bold move around the outside at Eau Rouge, only for the Mercedes to reassert itself down the Kemmel Straight moments later. From there Antonelli never really let go, weathering a Safety Car restart and a late, probing challenge from Leclerc, who made the Italian sweat for the final ten laps before having to settle for second.

The defining moment of the afternoon, though, had nothing to do with the lead battle. At Turn 6, George Russell dropped behind both Ferraris and dived back at Lewis Hamilton, only to lock up, run out of road and spear into the gravel trap, ending his race on the spot and triggering the Safety Car. Hamilton, who said he was “right behind another car so had no front end” in the clash, was handed a five-second time penalty for causing the collision and was also investigated for an unsafe release, dropping him from a stronger position to fourth by the flag. It made for an ugly day at Mercedes, with Russell’s frustration spilling out afterward and prompting fresh talk in the paddock about tension inside the team, even as his teammate cruised to victory a few hundred metres away.

Verstappen made the best of what Red Bull had, riding an aging-specification rear wing to third, passing Leclerc at Les Combes on his way there before running out of pace to trouble the front two. Piastri rounded out the top five for McLaren, but the standout drive of the day belonged to Isack Hadjar, who tore through from the back of the grid after a power unit penalty to snatch sixth, while a penalized Lando Norris matched the feat almost lap for lap, climbing from P13 to seventh after insisting beforehand that a top-six finish was the target. Gabriel Bortoleto scored for Audi in eighth, and Arvid Lindblad and Franco Colapinto completed the top ten after a scrappy, entertaining scrap with Racing Bulls stablemate Liam Lawson that went right down to the wire for the final points.

Further back, Esteban Ocon’s afternoon unraveled after two separate coming-togethers with Sainz and his own Haas teammate left him with a punctured front-left and no chance of recovery, while Sergio Perez, Lance Stroll and Russell were the race’s only retirements.

The championship picture, already lopsided, tilted further toward Antonelli. He arrived at Spa with a 25-point cushion and leaves with a 45-point lead over Hamilton, who now sits second on 159 points after his penalty-affected fourth place. Russell’s DNF was the bigger blow, though: the Briton now trails his own teammate by 50 points with barely half the season gone, a gap that raises real questions about whether Mercedes’ championship fight is now a one-driver affair. Leclerc’s second place keeps him fourth overall on 126 points but well adrift of the top two, while Verstappen’s podium nudges him up to 91 points, still far off the pace in a season Red Bull have largely struggled to match Mercedes’ consistency.

In the constructors’ standings, Mercedes’ 1-4 finish extended their advantage at the top to 358 points, with Ferrari a distant second on 285 and McLaren holding third on 195 ahead of Red Bull. With Hungary up next before the summer break, the storylines are plentiful: can anyone stop Antonelli’s surge, can Hamilton claw back momentum after a bruising weekend, and just how much longer can Russell’s title hopes survive days like this one.