Kimi Antonelli won the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps on Sunday, 19 July 2026, extending his championship lead after a lap-one collision between Lewis Hamilton and George Russell reshaped the race and the title fight.
The victory returned Antonelli to the top step after a run of difficult rounds and came by 1.9 seconds over Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, as reported by Sky Sports.
It stretched the Mercedes driver’s advantage at the top of the drivers’ standings with the season entering its closing stretch.
How Antonelli sealed the Belgian Grand Prix win
Antonelli briefly lost the lead to a virtual safety car before recovering the position and holding the gap to the finish. He described a demanding afternoon at Spa-Francorchamps, where a quick Ferrari kept the outcome in doubt through the closing laps.
Speaking after the race, Antonelli said:
“It’s great to be back on the top step after obviously a few difficult rounds. Was a hard-fought race. We lost first place with a VSC but then we managed to make our way back. Was a tough win because Charles was quick and we had to hold onto that.”
The win marked a turnaround after a lean spell that followed his earlier victory in Monaco, and Antonelli made clear its timing mattered. With the championship tightening through the second half of the season, he cast every strong finish as something that could no longer be left on the table.
Asked about the championship fight, he said:
“that’s why you’ve got to take every opportunity.”
The Hamilton and Russell collision on lap one
Russell’s race ended within seconds of the start. He was hit by Hamilton mid-corner and pushed into the gravel, an incident that brought out the safety car and drew a five-second penalty for the Ferrari driver. The retirement dropped Russell out of the points entirely.
Russell was measured about the crash afterwards:
“The incident with Lewis was a racing incident. He didn’t do it on purpose. He was more to blame than I. But he didn’t do anything reckless.”
He was blunter about the toll of another early exit:
“I am numb to the disappointment. When it happens so often you just get used to it.”
Where the Belgian Grand Prix result leaves the title
The result widened Antonelli’s cushion at the top of the standings. He now sits 45 points clear of Hamilton, who finished fourth on the day, and a further five points ahead of Russell, leaving the Mercedes driver in firm control of the championship with rounds still to run.
Antonelli carries a commanding lead into the next round, with Hamilton his closest pursuer and Russell, his own teammate, a further five points back. Ferrari must now find a way to close that gap over the remaining races if the title fight is to reopen.
