Belgium - Race

The historic track of Spa-Francorchamps provided exactly what everyone was hoping for, a tense qualifying that came down to the last second, and a somewhat unexpected pole-sitter for Sunday's Grand Prix. After a stint of races that were far from ideal, the Monegasque wonder once again showed us just how impressive he can be and put in an incredible lap in Q3, inheriting the best spot on the grid from the penalised Verstappen. But would his efforts be enough to keep the lead when a Red Bull, Mercedes, and McLaren lurked closely behind? 

Despite the qualifying being anything but dry, no rain was forecasted for the Grand Prix itself. Virtually all predicted strategies included a 2-stop race, with tires depending on what the different drivers had at their disposal. Most decided to start on mediums, with only two sets of hards and one set of softs seen among the cars. 

As soon as the lights went out, a fight broke out between Perez in second and Hamilton in third. It was short, with the 7-time world champion quickly getting past the leading Red Bull. Meanwhile, behind the podium contenders, Norris went wide, loosing three positions and making Piastri the dominant McLaren of the race. Verstappen was determined to get into a point-scoring position as quickly as he could, jumping form P11 to P8 throughout the first lap. 

Having overtaken Perez, Hamilton was hungry for the race lead. He made sure to stay within the DRS of Leclerc and, at lap 3, as soon as an opportunity presented itself, got past Leclerc. The Ferrari stood no chance against his DRS-powered vehicle. Even though Leclerc tried to stay close to get the position back, he didn't manage to do so quickly enough, allowing Hamilton to build up a gap of around 1.5s.

At lap 5, we saw our first and only retirement of the race with Zhou reporting an issue with the car and slowly driving back to the pit lane. Meanwhile on track a battle between the two contenders for the constructor's championship saw Verstappen staying on the tail of Norris and Piastri doing his best to find a way past Perez. 

Lap 11 brought with it the first pit stops of the top drivers with Verstappen and Russel. Hamilton, Piastri, and Perez followed them a lap later, making it a temporary Ferrari 1-2. The great moment for the Italian team ended when Leclerc went in for his first stop. He came out behind his immediate rival, Hamilton. 

Behind the two future Ferrari teammates, Perez, Piastri, and Russel all fought for the third podium spot. It was Piastri who got past Perez and took the net P3, and actual P5, with Norris and Sainz still on the same tires they started the race with. The Ferrari driver could be heard talking to his team about a possible one-stop race, but was told that they didn't think it was the best decision for him and ushered to the pits by lap 20. When he rejoined the race, he found himself behind the McLaren of Norris. 

Meanwhile some more strategic calls were being made slightly further down the field after Russel overtook Perez for P4 at lap 21. Perez responded by immediately pitting, and removing the DRS advantage for Verstappen who, at that point of the race, had found himself right behind his teammate.

Leclerc boxed for the second time at lap 25, hoping to undercut Hamilton. His pitstop was far from perfect, taking all of 4.4 seconds. Hamilton pitted a lap later to cover his Ferrari rival and managed to do so, keeping the net race lead. The other cars of the top 10, with the exception of Russel, pitted soon after. The most notable incident of that wave of stops was Piastri who drove into the pitlane a bit too quickly and pushed the mechanic at the front of his car. Thankfully the mechanic wasn't injured. 

At that point, Russel was in temporary race lead with Hamilton and Leclerc behind him. Piastri was in P4, Verstappen in P5, and Norris overtook Perez for P6. The Mercedes driver in P1 told his team to consider a 1-stop strategy. The idea was green-lit, making him the only driver out of the bunch to change his tires only once throughout the race.

Piastri set off to attack Leclerc. He overtook the scarlet Ferrari on lap 36, securing a spot on the podium. With no car between them, Verstappen fought to close the gap between him and the Monegasque. He managed to get close and stay within the Ferrari's DRS but didn't find the opportunity for one, last overtake.

With only a few laps until the end of the race, Perez took advantage of his 'free' pitstop. The Red Bull driver bolted on a new set of softs and quickly lit up the track, gaining an additional point. 

The real fight was happening at the front of the field. Hamilton only had a few laps to catch up to Russel and it seemed that the race would keep the viewers on their toes until the very end. The two Mercedes stayed within a second's distance of each other. They were allowed to fight, provided that they left enough space to avoid a collision. Piastri took advantage of their slightly slower pace and crept ever closer. By the end, he didn't manage to overtake either car, finishing the race in third. 

Mercedes achieved an unexpected 1-2. Hamilton fought with all his might and was named the 'driver of the day' for his efforts. Still, he didn't manage to beat his teammate. 

If there was anyone who said that Russel's first win of the season wasn't achieved through his talent and insight, they surely couldn't say the same thing about his second. The Brit stunned viewers all over the world and, once again, showed why he is rated so highly. His fans, who started the day with little hope for a win, ended it screaming in excitement and marveling about how wonderfully he executed the Belgian Grand Prix. 

UPDATE: After the race had already run its course, Russel was disqualified after it was found that his Mercedes had been underweight. Its recorded weight was 796.5kg, with the minimum weight being 798.0kg. The new podium is as follows: Lewis Hamilton, Oscar Piastri, Charles Leclerc 

Order of the grid:

1. Lewis Hamilton

2. Oscar Piastri

3. Charles Leclerc

4. Max Verstappen 

5. Lando Norris

6. Carlos Sainz 

7. Sergio Perez

8. Fernando Alonso

9. Esteban Ocon

10. Daniel Ricciardo

11. Lance Stroll

12. Alex Albon

13. Pierre Gasly

14. Kevin Magnussen

15. Valtteri Bottas 

16. Yuki Tsunoda

17. Logan Sargeant

18. Nico Hulkenberg

DNF: Zhou Guanyu

DSQ: George Russel