Italian teenage sensation Kimi Antonelli won the Belgian Grand Prix for the Mercedes team on Sunday to stretch his Formula One championship lead, according to reports from Reuters and Al Jazeera. The victory allowed the 19-year-old driver to build a commanding 45-point advantage over Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton on what proved to be a disastrous day for his teammate George Russell. Heading into the highly anticipated race, Russell had been his closest title rival.
Before the start at the iconic Spa-Francorchamps circuit, Russell posed the biggest threat to the young Italian driver. The British driver, however, spun off the track and into the gravel during a chaotic opening lap. The devastating crash occurred following a collision with Hamilton while Russell was aggressively trying to make up positions he had lost immediately after the lights went out. The incident forced Russell into early retirement and severely damaged his championship aspirations.
Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc secured second place in the grueling 44-lap race. Despite leading at one point, he finished just under two seconds behind the race winner. Leclerc lost his crucial advantage after making a pit stop while a virtual safety car was deployed on the track. Max Verstappen crossed the finish line in third place, earning a historic milestone for Red Bull Racing as the team celebrated its 300th Formula One podium finish.
Hamilton managed to finish fourth despite serving a five-second penalty for his early collision with Russell. The veteran driver remained under active investigation by race stewards for an unsafe release from a pit stop later in the afternoon. What remains unclear is whether a negative ruling could drop him down to fifth place, a move that would further stretch the championship lead currently held by the Mercedes driver.
The victory at Spa marked the sixth win for Antonelli in just ten rounds this season, leaving him 50 points clear of Russell in the overall standings. The Italian driver had already secured first place in the qualifying rounds, maintaining a perfect clean sweep of pole positions for the Mercedes team this year. Speaking after the race, Antonelli expressed immense relief at returning to the top step of the podium following a few difficult rounds where he had failed to score.
The race winner noted that despite losing the lead during the virtual safety car period, his team managed to fight their way back to the front. He acknowledged that while they were slightly fortunate regarding the championship standings, capitalizing on every available opportunity remains essential in such a volatile sport.
Further down the grid, McLaren driver Oscar Piastri secured a solid fifth-place finish. Isack Hadjar delivered a stunning performance for Red Bull, climbing from last on the grid to finish sixth. Reigning champion Lando Norris finished seventh for McLaren after starting deep in the pack due to a ten-place grid penalty. Audi secured points with Gabriel Bortoleto in eighth, while Arvid Lindblad finished ninth for Racing Bulls, and Argentine driver Franco Colapinto completed the top ten for Alpine.
