SPA, Belgium — Kimi Antonelli returned to glory with victory in a closely contested Belgian Grand Prix Sunday at Spa-Francorchamps.
Antonelli held off Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc by 1.952 seconds to collect his sixth victory of the season for Mercedes.
Red Bull driver Max Verstappen got off to a sublime start as he stormed past Antonelli on the opening lap at Eau Rouge, but couldn’t quite stay ahead of the Mercedes driver and quickly gave up the lead.
While Antonelli clung on at the front, there was heartbreak for his teammate who fell behind both Ferraris and made early contact with Lewis Hamilton, spinning George Russell into the gravel and bringing his race to an end, with far-reaching implications in the title battle.
The Italian resisted the pressure of a Safety Car restart as well as a late challenge from Leclerc after retaking the lead to score his first victory since the Monaco Grand Prix.
“I think the momentum was always there,” said Antonelli. “Was just about getting the result and today we were a bit lucky in terms of what happened with the championship but that’s why you’ve got to take every opportunity.
“We saw that it can swing really easily, the situation, so we [have] just got to keep performing, keep bringing the result and we’ll see what happens at the end of the year.”
Leclerc missed out on claiming consecutive victories but confidently held onto second place ahead of Verstappen, who crossed the line ahead of the second Ferrari of Hamilton – who had to serve a five-second time penalty for the collision with Russell and will also be investigated after the race for an unsafe release – and McLaren’s Oscar Piastri.
The top five were followed by Isack Hadjar, the Frenchman charging from the back of the grid to a mighty points haul in P6, with Lando Norris similarly improving from P13 to P7. Gabriel Bortoleto scored for Audi in eighth, while Arvid Lindblad and Franco Colapinto rounded out the top 10.
