Antonelli Holds Off Leclerc to Win 2026 Belgian Grand Prix

• Kimi Antonelli won the 2026 Belgian Grand Prix from pole position, crossing the line 1.952 seconds ahead of Charles Leclerc for his sixth victory of the season and his first since the Monaco Grand Prix.
• George Russell’s race lasted less than a lap after contact with Lewis Hamilton at Turn 6 sent his Mercedes into the gravel, triggering a Safety Car and earning Hamilton a five-second time penalty.
• Isack Hadjar charged from the back of the grid to finish sixth, while Lando Norris climbed from 13th to seventh after both served power unit grid penalties.

2026 Belgian Grand Prix Race Report

Kimi Antonelli took the chequered flag at the 2026 Belgian Grand Prix after 44 laps of Spa-Francorchamps, beating Charles Leclerc by 1.952 seconds in a race that lost one of its leading contenders before the end of the opening lap. The Italian started from pole and was briefly passed by Max Verstappen through Eau Rouge, only to reclaim the lead on the Kemmel Straight using the straight-line speed advantage of the Mercedes. From there, Antonelli controlled the race through a Safety Car restart and a late push from Leclerc to record a winning time of 1:24:42.479, his sixth victory in a season where his championship lead continues to stretch.

Verstappen crossed the line third, 11.586 seconds behind Antonelli, for what was his third podium finish of the 2026 campaign. The Dutchman had run an older-specification rear wing throughout the weekend and extracted the maximum from it, passing Leclerc at Les Combes during the middle stint before the Ferrari driver fought back to reclaim second. Hamilton finished fourth, 17.245 seconds off the win, after his five-second penalty for the Russell incident was applied. Oscar Piastri rounded out the top five for McLaren at +18.988 seconds.

Lap One Chaos: Russell Out, Safety Car Deployed

The drama started immediately. Antonelli held the lead through La Source but Verstappen launched past him on the run through Eau Rouge, getting alongside through the compression and completing the move before the crest of Raidillon. Antonelli did not concede for long. The Mercedes had enough straight-line pace to pull back ahead on the Kemmel Straight before the braking zone at Les Combes, putting Antonelli back into the position he had started from.

Behind the lead battle, the race unravelled quickly for Russell. The second Mercedes lost speed out of La Source and dropped behind both Ferraris of Leclerc and Hamilton. Russell tried to fight back at Turn 6, darting across the track to challenge Hamilton, but the two made contact and the impact sent Russell’s car skating into the gravel trap. His race was over. Hamilton reported over team radio that he was “right behind another car so had no front end” in the incident, though the stewards handed him a five-second penalty and opened a separate post-race investigation into an unsafe release during the race.

Elsewhere on the opening lap, Esteban Ocon picked up a front-left puncture after separate incidents with Carlos Sainz and his own Haas team mate, dropping the Frenchman to the back of the field. The Safety Car was deployed to clear Russell’s stranded Mercedes, and several drivers took the opportunity to pit for fresh tyres under caution, including Hadjar, Ollie Bearman, and both Cadillac cars of Sergio Perez and Lance Stroll’s team.

The Restart and the Fight for Points

Racing resumed at the start of lap 5. Antonelli went early from the front of the pack and held his position cleanly ahead of Leclerc and Verstappen. Further back, Hamilton briefly muscled past Piastri at La Source on the restart, but the Australian immediately fought back and reclaimed fourth within metres.

The Racing Bulls pair of Liam Lawson and Arvid Lindblad were among the early beneficiaries of the opening-lap chaos, running sixth and seventh and locked into a three-way fight with Alpine’s Franco Colapinto. All three were competing for what would become hard-fought points positions, and both Racing Bulls drivers held strong through the middle stint as the field settled into its rhythm.

Verstappen continued to push forward and found a way past Leclerc at Les Combes, using the Red Bull’s straight-line speed into the heavy braking zone to take second. He began closing the gap to Antonelli, who had failed to break clear and held a lead of roughly one second. The Mercedes, however, had enough pace in hand to keep the Red Bull at arm’s length, and Antonelli was never seriously threatened for the lead.

Late Race: Leclerc Charges, Antonelli Holds

Leclerc was not finished. The Monegasque regrouped after losing ground to Verstappen and fought his way back into second place in the closing stages, using the Ferrari’s tyre management advantage to close on Antonelli in the final laps. His late charge put Antonelli under genuine pressure, but the Mercedes driver managed his gap to the line and took the flag with 1.952 seconds in hand. Leclerc’s runner-up finish denied him back-to-back victories after his win at the previous round, but second place keeps his championship challenge alive.

Verstappen settled into third and never looked likely to lose the final podium position, finishing 11.586 seconds behind Antonelli. Hamilton’s fourth place was confirmed after his five-second penalty was applied, though a further investigation into the unsafe release remained pending at the time of the classification. Piastri took fifth, completing a quiet afternoon for McLaren after team mate Norris spent the race recovering from his grid penalty.

Grid Penalties and the Drives of the Day

Five drivers started out of position after taking new power unit components beyond their season allocation. Norris qualified third but was demoted to 13th, while Hadjar and Fernando Alonso were sent to the back row. Sainz started 19th and Stroll 20th. The reshuffled grid created opportunities that two drivers in particular seized.

Hadjar produced the most impressive recovery. Starting from the very back, the Frenchman carved his way through the field across the 44-lap distance and crossed the line in sixth place, banking a strong points haul from a weekend that could easily have been written off. Norris made similarly steady progress from 13th on the grid, eventually finishing seventh after choosing to start on the hard compound while the majority of the field went with mediums.

Gabriel Bortoleto scored points for Audi in eighth, while Lindblad held on for ninth and Colapinto completed the top ten. Pierre Gasly, Lawson, and Nico Hulkenberg finished just outside the points in 11th through 13th, with Bearman further back in 14th for Haas. The Williams pair of Alex Albon and Sainz came home 15th and 16th. Ocon, Valtteri Bottas, and Alonso all finished but well outside the points, while Stroll and Perez joined Russell on the retirement list with car problems.

Classification

Antonelli (Mercedes) won in 1:24:42.479. Leclerc (Ferrari) finished second at +1.952s, Verstappen (Red Bull) third at +11.586s, Hamilton (Ferrari) fourth at +17.245s including his five-second penalty, and Piastri (McLaren) fifth at +18.988s. Hadjar took sixth, Norris seventh, Bortoleto (Audi) eighth, Lindblad ninth, and Colapinto tenth. Russell (Mercedes), Stroll, and Perez did not finish.

Kimi Antonelli – 1st

“It’s good to be back on the top step of the podium after a couple of difficult weekends. It was a hard-fought win and didn’t come easily. We lost the lead on the run to Eau Rouge but got it back on the opening lap. We looked in control but then lost it again when Leclerc was able to pit under the Virtual Safety Car. We kept calm though and slowly closed the gap down. He was very quick and, even after I passed him, it was a struggle to break overtake mode. We eventually did though and could bring the win home.

We saw how competitive several teams were again today. We need to keep working hard, keep performing, and keep scoring points. It’s going to be a long battle all the way to the end of the season. We will keep taking it one weekend at a time and try to do our best every time we get in the car.”

Charles Leclerc – 2nd

“I believed in the possibility of taking the win until the end. I had a good start, passing George (Russell) and Max (Verstappen) out of Eau Rouge with strong deployment. The Virtual Safety Car helped to put us in contention for the win, and it was really enjoyable to lead the race and fight for that position until the closing laps, even if it was down to a bit of luck on our side. Overall, we had good pace, which is something we didn’t expect on a track such as Spa-Francorchamps. A big thank you to everyone at the track and back in Maranello for continuing to push so hard.”

Max Verstappen – 3rd

“I think we had a very good race, and hopefully we can have more weekends like this. I had too much deployment from turn one to turn two, and when I looked at my battery, I knew that I was going to have a difficult run. We were then a bit unlucky with the VSC, and it affected the strategy and our ability to fight for P2 in the end. The Medium tyre was pretty decent, but we struggled a bit on the Hard tyres in terms of grip and had few balance limitations, so we just need to analyse why it was a bit trickier than expected. However, we had the car in a good window, and I think we can be happy with the whole weekend and pleased to be on the podium. Overall it was a good result and a pretty solid weekend!”

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Written by

Jack Renn

Jack Renn is an editor at F1 Chronicle and a veteran motorsport journalist with 25 years of experience covering Formula 1 and international motorsport. A member of the Association Internationale de la Presse Sportive (AIPS), the global body representing accredited sports journalists, Jack has spent his career reporting from paddocks and press rooms across the F1 calendar. His work spans race analysis, technical insight, and in-depth features, giving readers authoritative coverage grounded in decades of firsthand experience at the highest level of the sport.

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