Belgian Grand Prix result: Kimi Antonelli wins to extend title lead after George Russell crashes on lap one

Antonelli measured his speed carefully in the opening stint, looking after his tyres, until he was told to speed up as his pit stop approached.

Over the course of lap 17, he showed how fast he was when he extended his lead over Verstappen from 2.3 seconds to 3.5 seconds, before stopping on the following lap.

However, after two laps, a virtual safety car (VSC) period for some debris on the track gave Leclerc a cheap stop – a stop under the safety car costs almost half the race time compared to green flag conditions – and Leclerc was able to pit for fresh tires and rejoin in front of Antonelli.

By this stage Norris was in the lead, but Leclerc soon passed the McLaren on lap 26, and the question now became how long it would take Antonelli to close the three-second gap to Ferrari.

Antonelli was behind after eight laps and passed the Ferrari right over Kimmel on lap 34.

Leclerc was able to stay with Antonelli, whose lead was never more than two seconds, and there was added pressure from the fact that the Mercedes driver was on the verge of a five-second penalty for exceeding the track limits several times.

But Antonelli calmly kept things under control to cross the finish line with less than two seconds to spare and regain control of the championship.

This is his first victory since Monaco in early June, after retiring in Spain, his third in Austria, and obtaining points in the British Grand Prix.

Ferrari showed better race pace than expected, and Leclerc’s second place was an impressive performance after his win at Silverstone, which was helped by a component failure in Antonelli’s Mercedes.

Leclerc was lucky to escape a penalty for pressing Oscar Piastri when he was attacked by McLaren during the first stint, but a fine drive ensured his recovery after a difficult period during the early summer races.

But Hamilton has been in the wars. The incident with Russell resulted in him receiving a five-second penalty to be added at his pit stop, and when he came for new tyres, he was released before all the mechanics got out of the way.

Hamilton hit the mechanic on the right front tire as he accelerated away, and immediately radioed to check he was okay, which the team confirmed.

That incident will be investigated after the race, so there is another possible penalty for Hamilton.

Hamilton, who was further exasperated when Ferrari failed to add the front wing he wanted at the pit stop, recovered well from behind to catch and pass McLaren’s Oscar Piastri to finish fourth, behind Verstappen, who consolidated third place despite complaining that his second set of tires were not gripping.

Norris drove expertly through the first stint, moving calmly through the midfield to challenge the better cars and taking the lead as they stopped.

He was going to challenge Ferrari on his alternative strategy of starting with hard tires instead of medium until VSC.

He had to stay out because it was the wrong time to change tires, and the tires were too marginal for the finish.

This meant that he lost a lot of time to the leaders when they caught him after they stopped.

First, Leclerc passed him, then Antonelli and finally Verstappen and was just ahead of Piastri – and was warned not to waste race time by racing with him – when he finally pitted on lap 30, with 14 minutes remaining.

Norris was able to pass Audi’s Gabriel Bortoletto for seventh place but did not have enough time to get past Red Bull’s Isak Haggar in sixth, crossing the finish line 0.7 seconds behind the Frenchman.

British rookie Arvid Lindblad, a Racing Bulls player, finished ninth, while Alpine driver Franco Colapinto took the final point in tenth place.