Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli extended his championship lead to 45 points with his sixth win of the season at the Belgian Grand Prix.
Antonelli’s teammate George Russell didn’t finish the race after a collision with Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton during the first lap at Spa-Francorchamps. Hamilton was given a five-second penalty for the incident but finished fourth in the race and moved five points ahead of Russell in the Drivers’ Championship.
Russell qualified fourth but started third in Belgium due to a 10-place grid penalty to McLaren’s Lando Norris.
Russell lost out to Hamilton and Mclaren’s Oscar Piastri along the Kemmel Straight during the opening lap on Sunday. He was attempting to make up the positions at the Les Combes chicane when the collision occurred.
Russell struggled with straight-line speed throughout the weekend. Mercedes believed the issue was related to electrical deployment.
Russell blamed the lack of straight-line speed for his collision with Hamilton.
“Well, I just got totally swallowed up down the straight,” he told Sky Sports. “I lost three positions down the straight, down into Turn 5, and then the incident was racing incident.”
Hamilton was investigated after the race for an unsafe release following an incident during his pit stop. After serving his five-second penalty for the collision with Russell, Hamilton knocked over a Ferrari mechanic while exiting his pit box.
Ferrari was fined €30,000 for the incident but Hamilton avoided another time penalty, allowing him to hold on to fourth place.
Ferrari’s Leclerc jumped from sixth in the Drivers’ standings to fourth following his win at the British Grand Prix. A second-place finish at the Belgian Grand Prix puts him 28 points behind Russell for third.
The Formula 1 championship moves to the Hungaroring for the Hungarian Grand Prix. It’s the final race before the summer break.
Hamilton holds the record for the most wins at the Hungarian Grand Prix with eight. He finished 12th in 2025.
Antonelli finished 10th at the Hungaroring during his rookie season in 2025. Russell’s best result in Hungary is third, which he achieved in 2022 and 2025.
Antonelli took the lead in the Drivers’ Championship after the third race of the season in Japan. He led by as much as 66 points following a five-race win streak from the Chinese Grand Prix to the Monaco Grand Prix.
His lead had shrunk to 25 points after a DNF at the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix, a third-place finish at the Austrian Grand Prix, and a 15th-place finish at the British Grand Prix. Russell finished in the top two at each of those races, including a win in Austria.
Russell has won two races to Hamilton’s one. Each driver has finished on the podium five times in 2026, but Russell has two DNFs and one finish outside the points while Hamilton has earned points in every race.
With 11 races remaining, there’s still plenty of time for the Drivers’ Championship to heat up, though it would require a historic comeback.
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen holds the record for the largest comeback in the Drivers’ Championship under the modern points system. Verstappen overturned a 46-points deficit to Leclerc to win his second world title in 2022.
Piastri held a 34-point lead over his teammate Norris and an 104-point lead over Verstappen with nine races remaining in 2025. Norris won the Drivers’ Championship by two points ahead of Verstappen, while Piastri finished third.
Antonelli, who turns 20 on August 25, would be the youngest driver to win the Drivers’ Championship. Sebastian Vettel is the current record-holder. He won the title in 2010 when he was 23 years and 134 days old.
If Hamilton were to win the title, he would stand alone as the driver with the most world titles with eight. He is currently tied with Michael Schumacher at seven.
It would also be first Drivers’ title for Ferrari since Kimi Räikkönen won in 2007. Räikkönen won the title by a single point ahead of Hamilton, who was in his rookie season, in the final race of the season.
Mercedes holds a 73-point lead over Ferrari in the Constructors’ Championship. Mercedes led by as much as 98 points following the Austrian Grand Prix. Ferrari gained ground after finishing first and third in Silverstone and second and fourth in Belgium.
