Russell nursed his hard tyres for 34 laps to take a surprise win at Spa. Hamilton and Piastri complete podium.
George Russell pulled off a bold one-stop strategy to win the Belgian GP ahead of Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton. The duo handed Mercedes its first one-two finish since Sao Paulo 2022. McLaren’s Oscar Piastri completed the podium in third place.
- Russell wins, 0.526 secs ahead of Hamilton
- Verstappen extends championship lead over Norris
Mercedes 1-2 at Spa
Polesitter Charles Leclerc held the lead initially, but was overtaken by Hamilton within two laps. From there on, the seven-time F1 world champion looked on course to collect his fifth win at Spa-Francorchamps, but Russell had other plans.
Russell had pitted for hard tyres early on Lap 10 and while all the front-runners opted for a two-stop strategy, the Mercedes driver gambled on the alternate strategy. Hamilton closed in towards the end, but couldn’t find a way past his teammate. Russell took a surprise win, just 0.526 secs ahead of Hamilton, having nursed his tyres for 34 laps.
“Amazing result, definitely didn’t predict this win this morning in our strategy meeting. But the car was feeling really awesome and we made a lot of changes from Friday night and the tyres just felt great,” said Russell, who now has two wins so far this season.
“I just kept saying, ‘I think we can do the one-stop, I think we can do the one-stop’ and the strategy did a really great job. Also well done to Lewis because he really controlled that race and if circumstances were slightly different I’m sure he’d have got the victory. But one-two for the team was such an awesome result and such a great way to go into the break.”
Piastri finished a close third. The McLaren driver caught up to both Mercedes drivers in the closing laps, but had lost too much time in the early stages of the race along with a slow pit stop. Leclerc had to settle for fourth place.
Damage control for Verstappen
Despite setting the fastest time in qualifying, Max Verstappen started the race from P11 after taking his engine-change grid penalty. He couldn’t quite battle for the win, but he did recover to finish fifth. More crucially, he finished ahead of his nearest title rival Lando Norris, who crossed the line in sixth place.
Carlos Sainz passed Sergio Perez with six laps to go to finish P7. Fernando Alonso and Esteban Ocon completed the top 10.
2024 F1 championship standings
Verstappen has now gone four races without tasting victory, but he did extend his championship lead in Belgium. He now holds a 78 points advantage over Norris. Leclerc is third overall, 23 points behind Norris.
F1 action will now resume after the summer break, with the Italian GP on August 30 – September 1.
2024 Belgian GP results
| 2024 Belgian GP results | ||
|---|---|---|
| Pos | Driver | Team |
| 1 | George Russell | Mercedes |
| 2 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes |
| 3 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren |
| 4 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari |
| 5 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull Racing |
| 6 | Lando Norris | McLaren |
| 7 | Carlos Sainz | Ferrari |
| 8 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull Racing |
| 9 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin |
| 10 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine |
| 11 | Daniel Ricciardo | RB |
| 12 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin |
| 13 | Alex Albon | Williams |
| 14 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine |
| 15 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas |
| 16 | Valtteri Bottas | Stake Sauber |
| 17 | Yuki Tsunoda | RB |
| 18 | Logan Sargeant | Williams |
| 19 | Nico Hulkenberg | Haas |
| NC | Zhou Guanyu | Stake Sauber |
Also see:
Hungarian GP: Piastri secures first F1 win amidst McLaren drama
