Belgian GP: George Russell troubles and Lewis Hamilton collide with Martin Brandl, Kimi Antonelli wins in Spa race verdict | F1 News

The Kimi Antonelli Show, also known as the 2026 Belgian Grand Prix, took place in remarkably sunny and dry conditions throughout, if occasionally interrupted by the deployment of an actual safety car to clean a beached car and a few more virtual safety cars to clear high-tech debris from the racing surface.

The Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps is beautifully developed and polished in almost every respect, even as there seem to be new systems and rules every day when it comes to entering and moving around the venue in time-honored fashion. To be fair, there is a huge area and a lot of fans to control

As usual I was out and about on Friday during practice and the cars looked very fast and impressive in front of the numerous grandstands. I’ve been running here for 45 years, and I couldn’t quite believe my eyes at the scale of the crowds.

It was enjoyable to watch drivers jockey for extra power on grip through the medium-speed chicken exit, but trackside ‘wow’ like Silverstone had a hidden story as well, and drivers were too restrained through the event to complain too much about it.

We’ve long since lost Eau Rouge and Redillon as corners of refined high-downforce cars with grippy tires and a manicured racetrack, meaning that Turn One La Source Hairpin to Turn Five Les Combes Chicken is effectively a straight.

But with the need to charge the hybrid batteries at this fast track, the longest on the calendar, just as with Silverstone at Copse, Becketts and Stowe, as the engine is used to charge those batteries, the speed coming into corners like Pouhon at Spa is so dull that the corner is effectively a straight.

On such circuits we are missing the driver-defining, and thrilling, high-speed corners. It was the same at Suzuka.

Fortunately that won’t be a problem this weekend in Budapest, and normal service will resume, albeit with no high-speed corners worth their name.

We’ve known about these issues for a while, and are addressing them where possible in 2027 and again in 2028, but the last two races have confirmed unequivocally that we need a major power unit philosophy change very soon.

There are always going to be teething problems in terms of reliability but the words ‘detail issues’ and ‘no battery’ figure prominently as we rush towards the summer break.

Russell’s Mercedes problems and the ‘racing incident’ controversy

George Russell is clearly not a direct descendant of Alessandro Volta, Michael Faraday, Thomas Edison or Nikola Tesla because he never seems to have the right battery power at this point.

Whether it was the lack of straight-line speed compared to his teammate Antonelli in qualifying, the mystery, or the hill climb with five spins on the opening lap.

Antonelli went well at the start and Verstappen’s Red Bull also started unusually well. But Max appeared to pull off a sly move before Eau Rouge at the bottom of the hill, but his post-race comments said his car had too many batteries installed suggesting he had nothing to do with this sly plan…

Both Antonelli and Russell’s Mercedes started the race with a lower battery charge than needed and this particularly hurt Russell during the long climb at the critical turn of five braking points and three cars, including Lewis Hamilton, robbed him.

George braked impressively late trying to make up for his poor arrival pace and left the racing room ahead of Lewis. Lewis, behind Max, slipped wide and made contact with George who retired and suffered a massive blow to his chance of a championship comeback.

With full fuel and sub-optimal brake and tire temperatures the pack is inevitably given more referee leeway in the first lap. I called it a racing incident on commentary, unless the stewards were satisfied that Lewis had lost control of his car, which doesn’t seem to be the case.

George returned to the pits on a scooter and called it a racing incident while becoming increasingly upset about his ongoing electrical problems.

Ferrari called it a racing incident, I guess you could say they would, and most people I know agreed. But with whatever additional information the stewards had, they reduced the standard from 10 seconds to a five-second penalty. It probably cost Lewis a podium but that is speculative.

Later in the race, Charles Leclerc caught Oscar Piastre in the T5 braking zone and there was contact that slightly damaged Piastre’s aero parts. For me it was a clear movement into the braking zone which could mean anything from a caution flag through a penalty in the guidelines to a full pit-lane drive.

The stewards, however, decided it was about relative front axle position and who had the right corner. Leclerc’s telling reaction when it was played in the cooldown room tells us all we need to know about that.

What pit stops did – and didn’t – make the difference

Hamilton had a tumultuous weekend with a crash in practice, a five-second penalty with Russell and almost running one of his mechanics into a pit stop through no fault of his own. The incident resulted in a team penalty rather than a race penalty, and so Lewis was relieved to finish fourth for perhaps the first time in his life.

Piastre finished fifth in a spirited race despite damage to his car despite his lack of pace, which threatened to make the podium early after switching to hard compound tires on lap 20 of 44.

Lando Norris drove beautifully all weekend but had to start 13th due to regulations requiring power unit control electronics outside of allowances, designed to keep costs down so rich teams can’t throw new parts into the car every weekend.

Curiously McLaren opted not to use the Virtual Safety Car or indeed a straight pit stop, until Landau finally pitted on lap 30 to get rid of his starting hard-compound tyres. This left him with a lot to do to catch Isaac Hajjar who started his Red Bull from the back row of the grid, also due to numerous power unit penalties, to finish an impressive sixth.

Red Bull attended the first lap, and then lap two again behind the Russell safety car to cycle through the mandatory use of two different tire compounds, and then again under a virtual safety car for 20. Nicely done.

That same lap 20 VSC played nicely for Leclerc in his Ferrari as the time loss is only around 11 seconds when your rivals are lapping at lower speeds. Antonelli pitted on lap 18 in full green conditions as Mercedes were covering Red Bull’s pit stop for Verstappen on lap 17.

Through it all, Leclerc jumped the pair and now effectively leads, although Norris is still unstoppable in front of him. Antonelli would find him but perhaps not as quickly as hoped, Leclerc driving beautifully.

‘What a difference a year makes’

Eventually, and apparently inevitably given his pace throughout the event, the Italian teenager would take the lead, but Leclerc did not give up and finished second, just two seconds behind.

Verstappen would finish a solid third, Leclerc’s safety car fortunately denying him a shot at second.

Eighth-placed Gabriel Bortoletto and Audi, ninth-placed Arvid Lindblad and Racing Bulls and tenth-placed Alpine’s Franco Colapinto were awarded the final points. Safety cars played a role both for and against.

What a difference a year makes. Antonelli never ran higher than 14th on his F1 debut here last year, but he has been in a class of one this season.

Mercedes are also on fire, with their eighth win of the season, more than the last four ‘ground effect era’ seasons combined. This combination would be a bit short of winning both championships in great style.

Formula 1 heads to Budapest for the Hungarian Grand Prix live from this Friday with every session on Sky Sports F1. Stream Sky Sports now – no contract, cancel anytime