An emotional George Russell said he has grown “numb to disappointment” after he crashed out of the opening lap of a Belgian Grand Prix won by championship rival Kimi Antonelli.
Antonelli cleared Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc with 10 laps remaining at Spa-Francorchamps to take his sixth win of the season, and double his title advantage over Russell from 25 points to 50.
Leclerc, unable to follow up his British Grand Prix triumph a fortnight ago with another win, crossed the line 1.9 seconds back from Antonelli with Red Bull’s Max Verstappen third.
Lewis Hamilton finished fourth. He endured an eventful afternoon in the Ardennes, first colliding with Russell – for which he was sanctioned with a five-second penalty – before he ran over his own mechanic in the pit lane when he was erroneously given the green light to rejoin the track. The mechanic appeared to escape without significant injury.
Hamilton was able to take advantage of Russell’s demise to move back up to second in the championship, albeit now 45 points behind the impressive Antonelli. However, the 41-year-old faces a post-race investigation for Ferrari’s “unsafe release”.
Antonelli, not 20 until next month, might have started from pole but he had to work for his win after Leclerc benefitted from a Virtual Safety Car and was able to assume the lead of the race.
Leclerc’s advantage stood at three seconds but Antonelli reeled the Monegasque in before blasting past the Ferrari on the Kemmel Straight on the 34th lap and keeping him at arm’s length for the remainder of the fixture.
Antonelli’s fine victory compounded a disastrous afternoon for Russell, who has now failed to score in three of the 10 rounds so far, and has just two wins to Antonelli’s six.
Russell qualified third and started well but another mechanical glitch in his Mercedes saw him gobbled up by Verstappen, Oscar Piastri and Hamilton on the 200mph opening stampede to Les Combes.
Russell drew back alongside Hamilton under braking for the right-left combination, and then briefly ahead, but he was not afforded enough room by his former Mercedes team-mate.
The left-front tyre of Hamilton’s Ferrari made contact with the rear-right of Russell’s Mercedes and the latter was sent out of control and into the gravel trap. Russell’s race was instantly over.
“The incident with Lewis was a racing incident,” said a downcast Russell. “He didn’t do it on purpose. He was more to blame than I. But he didn’t do anything reckless.
“I was just angry I was in that position in the first place. I got a great start and I was ready to fight the two guys ahead of me up to turn five and instead I get swamped by three drivers because of another problem.
“I am numb to the disappointment. When it happens so often you just get used to it.”
The safety car was deployed after the first-lap drama and the race resumed on lap five with Antonelli in control. It remained that way until the sole round of stops with Leclerc, the last of the leading trio to stop, capitalising on a VSC deployed for debris, to take the lead.
However, Leclerc could not prevent Antonelli from blasting past to take his first win since the Monaco Grand Prix on June 7 and lay down another championship marker.
Hamilton leapfrogged Piastri on the 40th lap but loses another 13 points to Antonelli in his bid for a record eighth world title. Lando Norris started 13th following an engine penalty and drove back to seventh, a position behind Red Bull’s Isack Hadjar. Oscar Piastri finished fifth.
“It is great to be back on the top step after a few difficult rounds,” said Antonelli. “It was a hard-fought race. We lost the first place with the VSC but we made our way back. But it was a tough win because Charles was quick and we had to hold on to that.
“The (championship) momentum was always there. It was just about getting the results and today we were a bit lucky, in terms of what happened in the championship but you have to take every opportunity because we can see how much it can swing. We have to keep performing, getting the results, and we will see what happens at the end of the year.”
