Italian teenager Kimi Antonelli ended a three-race winless streak on Sunday to extend his lead in the Formula One drivers’ championship with a solid fighting victory for Mercedes in the Belgian Grand Prix.

The 19-year-old Mercedes driver came home 1.9 seconds ahead of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc with four-time champion Max Verstappen finishing third for Red Bull.

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Antonelli’s teammate George Russell, who began the race in second place in the championship, just 25 points behind the Italian, crashed out of the race on the opening lap after tangling with Hamilton.

Russell was furious over team radio, sending back an expletive-laden message.

“I am out. What the f**k happened with the SoC (State of Charge) down the straight,” he began.

“I had no f**king battery down the straight.

“Guys, unacceptable. Un-f**king acceptable this whole weekend.”

Hamilton was fourth for Ferrari after an incident-filled race in which he almost hit a mechanic during a pit-stop.

The incident was referred to the stewards but the seven-time world champion escaped any further penalty. Instead, Ferrari was fined €30,000, €10,000 of which is suspended for a year.

‘MASSIVE CONSEQUENCES’: Star’s awkward cooldown room moment as Piastri crash sparks outrage

“The green light went and so I went. You’re looking over here [to the left at the lights] you’re not looking over there so that’s more probably on the team, ultimately,” Hamilton explained.

“But when it happened, then I noticed him and I stopped and it just went through my mind in that moment was back when Kimi [Raikkonen in 2018] hit and broke a leg [of a Ferrari mechanic] and my heart really sank for a second.

“I’m really grateful he’s ok.”

Oscar Piastri climbed from sixth on the grid to fifth in arace that was again hampered by some damage to his front wing following contact with Charles Leclerc.

The pair made contact on Lap 8 which left Piastri angry over team radio.

“He didn’t leave enough space. That could have been a massive crash,” Piastri said, but Leclerc avoided any penalty.

Piastri appeared to be still fuming after the race, not responding over team radio to his race position, while he was blunt when asked post-race what was missing for him.

“A few parts of my car after the contact with Charles,” he said.

Sitting through the replay in the cooldown room, Leclerc appeared awkward over the move, before Max Verstappen joked: “It was calculated”.

Isack Hadjar, who began at the back of the grid, did superbly to work his Red Bull up to sixth, just holding off reigning world champion Norris, who started 13th, in the second McLaren.

Gabriel Bortoleto (Audi), Arvid Lindblad (Racing Bulls) and Franco Colapinto (Alpine) rounded out the top 10.

It was Antonelli’s sixth win of the season and came from his sixth pole of the year, the first driver to win from pole in Belgium since 2021.

It lifts him to 204 points in the championship, 45 clear of Hamilton with Russell third on 154.

“It feels very nice to be back on the top step,” said Antonelli. “We just have to keep performing, keep bringing the results and then we will see what will happen at the end of the year.” The race started in cool conditions under a grey sky with rain in the air as Antonelli made a good start to lead up to La Source, but he had no answer when Verstappen deployed his power pack to pass him through Eau Rouge.

The Dutchman was then immediately vulnerable to a counter-attack and both the Italian and Leclerc drafted past him into Les Combes where behind them Hamilton clashed with Russell.

– ‘Racing incident’ –

The four-time champion continued in fifth, but Russell bounced off into retirement as a Safety Car (SC) was deployed.

Hamilton reported that he “had no front end” control as a result of a car ahead moving across him and the incident was investigated by the stewards who gave Hamilton a five-second penalty.

A downcast Russell, whose title bid had taken a heavy blow, said: “It was a racing incident, but it shouldn’t have happened if I’d had the speed down the straight.”

Mercedes driver Andrea Kimi Antonelli of Italy celebrates on the podium after winning the Formula One Grand Prix at the Spa-Francorchamps racetrack in Spa, Belgium, Sunday, July 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Omar Havana)Source: AP

Racing resumed on lap five with Piastri fighting and resisting Hamilton before Verstappen swept past Leclerc for second. Piastri then chased Leclerc and they touched at Les Combes, where the Monegasque defended and the Australian lost a piece of front wing end plate.

The stewards investigated again, but took ‘no further action’ while Hamilton advanced and passed Piastri for fourth on lap nine as the race settled after a frantic start with Antonelli two seconds clear of Verstappen at the front ahead of both Ferraris.

Further Virtual Safety Cars (VSC) intervened and on lap 20, Ferrari went for a ‘double-stack’. Leclerc went through cleanly but Hamilton, who had to serve his five-second penalty, made a messy exit touching a mechanic on exit.

The mechanic was reported to be fine but the stewards decided to investigate again for an unsafe release.

That left Norris, who had started 13th with a 10-place grid penalty, for taking a new battery, leading ahead of Leclerc, Antonelli and Verstappen until the Ferrari cruised by to take command on lap 23.

Charles Leclerc drove into Oscar Piastri but wasn’t penalised.Source: Twitter

Antonelli swept past Norris three laps later and surged after Leclerc while Hamilton, who had requested a wing adjustment in vain during his pit-stop, fell back to sixth.

Norris finally pitted to swap his old hards for mediums on lap 31, rejoining eighth after a slow stop due to a sticky left rear, Hadjar rising to sixth behind Hamilton.

Leclerc led until lap 34 when, as he feared, Antonelli’s superior power carried him through at Les Combes.

But he hung on tight, within a second of the silver arrow, while Hamilton passed Piastri for fourth with five laps to go.

TOP FIVE IN CHAMPIONSHIP

1) Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes – 204 points

2) Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari – 159 points (-45)

3) George Russell, Mercedes – 154 points (-50)

4) Charles Leclerc, Ferrari – 126 points (-78)

5) Lando Norris, McLaren – 103 points (-101)