Antonelli Wins Belgian GP After Late Pass on Leclerc

Kimi Antonelli won the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps from pole position, passing Charles Leclerc in the closing stages to claim his sixth Formula One victory of the season. The Mercedes driver finished 1.952 seconds ahead of Leclerc, with Max Verstappen third for Red Bull, and the result extended Antonelli’s lead in the Drivers’ Championship and strengthened Mercedes’ title position.

Antonelli had taken pole in a disrupted qualifying session with a final Q3 lap of 1:44.361, beating Verstappen by 0.317 seconds. Red Bull used teammate Isack Hadjar to give Verstappen a slipstream, and Verstappen said the tow was worth about three-tenths of a second. He also ran with an older rear wing after recent crashes with an upgraded part, and said the team had extracted the most from a car that lacked straight-line speed.

The race was shaped early by contact between Lewis Hamilton and George Russell, which ended Russell’s run on lap one and brought out an early safety car. Hamilton was penalized but recovered to finish fourth, followed by Oscar Piastri in fifth, Hadjar in sixth after climbing from 21st on the grid, and Lando Norris seventh after a penalty and an alternative strategy. Verstappen briefly led but said a Virtual Safety Car came at the wrong time for Red Bull’s strategy, leaving him with what he called a very good podium result.