Britain's George Russell emerged victorious at the Belgian Grand Prix on Sunday, leading a Mercedes one-two finish alongside seven-time Formula One champion Lewis Hamilton. Russell's strategic one-stop approach outmaneuvered his competitors. McLaren's Oscar Piastri, fresh from his maiden F1 win in Hungary, secured third place, while Red Bull's Max Verstappen, the championship leader, finished fifth after a 10-place grid penalty for his fifth engine relegated him to 11th on the starting grid.
Hamilton appeared poised to claim his fifth Belgian GP victory, having outpaced Red Bull's Sergio Perez at the outset to seize second place and then leading from the third lap after overtaking Ferrari's Charles Leclerc on the Kemmel straight. Leclerc, who started from pole, had to settle for fourth.
Russell, who began in sixth, executed his first pit stop on lap 10, with Hamilton following suit two laps later. Despite Hamilton's second pit stop on lap 27, Mercedes opted to keep Russell on track until the end. "Amazing, amazing result, definitely didn't predict this win this morning in our strategy meeting," Russell remarked. "The tyres felt great so I just kept saying we can do the one-stop, we can do the one-stop. Well done to Lewis, he did a great job controlling the race and if circumstances were different he could have won the race."
Hamilton narrowed the gap in the closing laps but fell short of overtaking Russell, finishing 0.526 seconds adrift. Piastri, buoyed by his recent success in Hungary, trailed the winner by 1.173 seconds, with a costly pit stop error adding two seconds to his time. Russell celebrated his third career win by embracing his team.
"It was a team effort. We rolled the dice but it was only possible because the car felt great and the pace was there. A one-two is a great result," Russell noted. Verstappen, hindered by the engine penalty, was unable to navigate through the field effectively, missing out on a fourth consecutive Belgian GP win. Lando Norris placed sixth for McLaren, with Ferrari's Carlos Sainz seventh. Perez, despite starting on the front row, finished eighth but recorded the fastest lap. Fernando Alonso of Aston Martin came in ninth, and Esteban Ocon of Alpine rounded out the top ten.
