Kimi Antonelli after his Belgian victory: “Leclerc kept me on my toes”

That was the performance of a future world champion: championship leader Kimi Antonelli has secured victory at the historic Belgian Grand Prix at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, winning the race in the Ardennes for the first time in his F1 career.

This is Kimi’s sixth Grand Prix victory of the 2026 season and also his eleventh podium finish in the premier class. For his Mercedes team, it is their 139th Grand Prix victory and their seventh at the Belgian circuit.

Kimi now has the same number of Grand Prix victories as Tony Brooks, John Surtees, Jochen Rindt, Gilles Villeneuve, Jacques Laffite, Riccardo Patrese, Ralf Schumacher and Sergio Pérez.

Kimi on his cool-down lap: “Let’s go! Many thanks to the whole team, that was a great job.” Antonelli never lost his cool during this race and, for his age, once again displayed astonishing maturity.

Amazing: with his sixth victory, matching Patrese’s tally, Kimi is now the second most successful Italian Grand Prix driver – behind the great Alberto Ascari!

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Antonelli is over the moon after his first-class drive and says: “It feels so good to be back on top after a few really tough races for me.”

“I lost the lead during the virtual safety car phase and had to fight my way back up. I’m very happy that I managed to do that. It wasn’t easy today, because Charles had good pace and kept me on my toes right until the end.”

Antonelli has further extended his lead in the World Championship. “But I don’t want to think about the title. The last few races before Belgium showed just how much can go wrong. I was lucky today, and I’ll gladly take that. My strategy for the remaining races – simply to keep scoring top results consistently; the rest will take care of itself.”

How the race unfolded

Under cloudy skies and with a few timid first drops of rain around La Source, with an air temperature of 16.8 degrees (the track at just 28.1 degrees), Kimi Antonelli made the most of his pole position, holding onto the lead, Max Verstappen overtook him after La Source with a burst of power, but the Italian countered before Les Combes, with Leclerc also getting past Max.

Behind them, there was contact between Hamilton and Russell; the Mercedes driver ended up in the gravel and was out – crucial for the World Championship – Safety Car! Further back, Ocon also went off the track after contact with Bearman and a puncture to his front left tyre. The FIA launched an investigation into the Hamilton/Russell collision.

The order behind Bernd Mayländer’s leading Mercedes was: Antonelli, Leclerc, Verstappen, Piastri, Hamilton, Lawson, Lindblad, Colapinto, Bortoleto and Norris, with Hülkenberg in P13.

Hadjar was called into the pits under yellow so he could, in theory, finish the race on hard tyres.

At the end of the fourth lap (of 44), the field was released again. Antonelli managed a good restart, whilst the Mercedes teenager immediately pulled away from Leclerc.

Hamilton snatched Piastri’s position at La Source, but the Australian fought back before Eau Rouge; the Ferrari driver Lewis had used up too much battery power.

Antonelli had everything under control at the front. On lap 6, Verstappen clashed with Leclerc in the battle for second place, whilst further back, Audi driver Bortoleto lost P10 to Gasly.

On lap 7, Piastri attacked Leclerc ahead of him; the Monegasque driver shut the door on Oscar at the Bus Stop chicane. Piastri made another attempt – contact before Les Combes! But both were able to carry on, although some carbon fibre parts flew off the McLaren.

Piastri: “Charles didn’t leave me enough room; that could have been a nasty crash.” Here too, the FIA launched an investigation into causing a collision.

On lap 9, Hamilton overtook Piastri, putting Lewis back in P4; Oscar’s car appeared to be damaged on the front right underbody.

On lap 10, the FIA announced a five-second penalty for Hamilton for the collision with Russell.

Standings on lap 10 (of 44): Antonelli 1.5 seconds ahead of Verstappen, followed by Leclerc, Hamilton, Piastri, Lindblad, Norris, Lawson, Colapinto and Gasly. The Audis were in 11th (Bortoleto) and 13th (Hülkenberg).

On lap 12, Hamilton put pressure on his Ferrari team-mate Leclerc, but Charles shut the door on him once again. Norris overtook Lindblad to move up to P6.

On lap 13, Hamilton launched another attack on Leclerc; once again, the Monegasque driver played hardball. Lewis said over the radio: “I’m quicker than Charles.”

Lap 14: the second retirement of the race, with a broken suspension on Sergio Pérez’s Cadillac.

On lap 16, the FIA finally responded to the Leclerc vs Piastri incident – no penalty. “Strange,” said GP veteran Martin Brundle, “because normally the FIA shows no mercy for such pushing in the braking zone.”

At the end of lap 17, Verstappen pits for hard tyres. This leaves both Ferraris – Leclerc’s and Hamilton’s – behind leader Antonelli, who was instructed: “The tyres are in good condition; you can pick up the pace if you want.”

Then a virtual safety car period (track marshal at Blanchimont, due to debris on the track). Kimi Antonelli pitted to respond to Max’s stop; Leclerc became the new leader.

Lap 19: Leclerc 3.1 seconds ahead of Hamilton, then Piastri just ahead of Norris, followed by Antonelli 2 seconds ahead of Verstappen. At the Bus Stop chicane, Oscar let Lando past, no doubt following a radio message from the McLaren pit.

Piastri overtook Norris again; another VSC (again due to debris); Ferrari brought Leclerc into the pits, as did Hamilton, who still had a five-second penalty to serve.

Ferrari made perfect use of the VSC, as Leclerc was now behind Norris (who hadn’t stopped), but ahead of Antonelli and Verstappen.

A moment of shock for Ferrari: Hamilton’s right front wheel knocked a mechanic to the ground; he was there to adjust the front wing and had received the relevant instruction very late – apart from some grazes, nothing serious happened. Lewis was immediately on the radio: “Is he okay?” – “Yes, he’s okay.”

Lap 22 of 44: Norris ahead of Leclerc, then Antonelli, Verstappen, Piastri, Hamilton and Hadjar. It’s hard to say why McLaren didn’t use the VSC phase to their advantage for Norris.

Lap 23: Leclerc whizzed past Norris; at the same time, a new investigation was launched against Hamilton – for driving off whilst the track was unsafe. This will be looked into after the race. Normally, this carries a penalty of five or ten seconds.

Hamilton on the radio: “Did you adjust the front wing?” – “No, there wasn’t time.” – “Bloody hell, I can’t turn in.”

Antonelli attacked Norris on lap 25, but Lando spread his McLaren very wide. Much to the delight of race leader Leclerc. Silverstone winner Charles, on hard tyres, was now setting a very good pace in the Ferrari.

On lap 26, championship leader Antonelli finally overtook Norris, whilst Kimi set off in pursuit of race leader Leclerc.

Third retirement of the race: Lance Stroll (Aston Martin), due to a clutch failure.

Standings on lap 28: Leclerc 2.8 seconds ahead of Antonelli, who was 2.4 seconds ahead of Norris; Lando just ahead of Verstappen, who had Piastri hot on his heels, followed by Hamilton, Hadjar, Bortoleto, Lindblad and Lawson, with Hülkenberg in P12.

On lap 29, Verstappen snatched the lead from Norris’s McLaren on the approach to Les Combes; Norris was the only driver who hadn’t changed tyres.

Instruction to Norris over the radio: “I don’t want any yo-yo racing with Oscar; I’ll explain why later.” Translation: Don’t hold Piastri up unnecessarily.

It wasn’t necessary anyway, as McLaren finally brought Lando in for a pit stop to switch to medium tyres – Norris dropped back to P8 behind Bortoleto in the Audi.

Standings on lap 30: Leclerc still 1.7 seconds ahead of Antonelli, Verstappen third, 5.4 seconds behind, followed by Piastri, Hamilton, Hadjar, Bortoleto, Norris, Lindblad and Colapinto in the top ten.

Lap 32: Norris overtook Bortoleto for P7; race leader Leclerc complained about a sloppy gear change from first to second.

Antonelli had now worked his way into Leclerc’s slipstream; on lap 34, Antonelli overtook him seemingly effortlessly on the approach to Les Combes.

On lap 39, Hamilton began to make his presence felt in Piastri’s rear-view mirror, with P4 behind Verstappen at stake. One lap later, the record-holding champion overtook the Australian.

Kimi cruised home with Leclerc in P2 and Verstappen in P3. Hamilton, in fourth, had to report to race control, so there could still be a grid penalty for the Ferrari superstar.

P5 for Piastri, followed by Hadjar ahead of Norris, Bortoleto in the Audi in P8, ahead of Lindblad and Colapinto in the top ten.