George Russell beat Lewis Hamilton to victory at 2024 Belgian Grand Prix, as Mercedes claimed an one-two finish.
Hamilton took the lead from Leclerc on Lap 3 after he had began third on the grid and proceeded to dominate until after his second stop on Lap 27.
The seven-time champion however couldn’t overhaul Russell who had ran his hard tyres from Lap 11 to the checkered flag, as the latter held Hamilton off by 0.526 seconds at the line.
McLaren’s Oscar Piastri passed Leclerc on Lap 36 to finish third whilst Max Verstappen edged out Lando Norris for fifth to slightly extend his championship lead.
Carlos Sainz, Sergio Perez, Fernando Alonso and Esteban Ocon rounded out the top ten.
Russell however was disqualified post-race due to his Mercedes being under the minimum weight, which handed the final point to RB’s Daniel Ricciardo as everyone else was promoted a position in the final classification.
In the drivers’ standings, Verstappen extended his title lead over Norris slightly to 78 points heading into the summer break.
At lights out, Leclerc got a clean getaway ahead of Perez who got beat off the line by Hamilton, but the seven-time champion waited until Eau Rouge to pass the Mexican for second.
Norris meanwhile got wide out of La Source and dropped behind Russell and Sainz to seventh but crucially ahead of Verstappen, after the Dutchman recovered three positions to eighth following his ten-place grid penalty.
Hamilton then cleared Leclerc for the lead on Lap 3 with DRS on the Kemmel Straight, and the top eight soon found themselves stuck in a DRS train, whilst Haas’ Nico Hulkenberg was the first to pit on Lap 8, in-turn triggering a flurry of pit stops.
Up front, Russell and Verstappen were the first frontrunners to pit on Lap 11, with others following suit in the following laps, with Norris the last medium-tyre frontrunner to pit on Lap 16.
Sainz meanwhile had began the race on the hard tyre and managed to take his opening stint until the end of Lap 20 before pitting, which unleashed Hamilton into the lead from Leclerc.
Leclerc attempted to undercut Hamilton by pitting at the end of Lap 25 but the Brit responded a lap later to cover the Monegasque off.
Piastri stayed out until the end of Lap 31 before he made his second stop which dropped him back behind Hamilton and Leclerc, whilst Russell attempted to go to the checkered flag on an one-stop strategy with a seven-second lead over Hamilton.
Piastri’s extended middle stint saw him pass Leclerc on Lap 36 round the outside of Les Combes for third.
Up front, Hamilton could only catch Russell at between 0.6-0.9s per lap until he got within DRS range on Lap 40, with Mercedes permitting the pair to race for the win without team orders.
Russell ultimately fought off Hamilton to take a tense victory in a Mercedes one-two finish, ahead of Piastri who settled for third.
Leclerc fought off Verstappen and Norris for fourth whilst Sainz and Perez took seventh and eighth respectively, ahead of Alonso and Ocon who rounded out the top ten.
Russell subsequently was disqualified after his Mercedes failed to meet the minimum weight requirement, which handed the victory to Hamilton from Piastri and Leclerc, whilst Ricciardo inherited the final point in tenth.
F1 is now off on a summer break and will resume the season at Zandvoort, Netherlands, on weekend of 23-25 August at the Dutch GP.
| Position | Driver | Team | Laps | Time |
| DSQ | George Russell | Mercedes | 44 | 1h 19m 57.040 |
| 1 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 44 | + 0.526 |
| 2 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren | 44 | + 1.173 |
| 3 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 44 | + 8.549 |
| 4 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 44 | + 9.226 |
| 5 | Lando Norris | McLaren | 44 | + 9.850 |
| 6 | Carlos Sainz | Ferrari | 44 | + 19.795 |
| 7 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull | 44 | + 43.195 |
| 8 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin | 44 | + 49.963 |
| 9 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine | 44 | + 52.552 |
| 10 | Daniel Ricciardo | RB | 44 | + 54.926 |
| 11 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | 44 | + 63.011 |
| 12 | Alex Albon | Williams | 44 | + 63.651 |
| 13 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine | 44 | + 64.365 |
| 14 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas | 44 | + 66.631 |
| 15 | Valtteri Bottas | Sauber | 44 | + 70.638 |
| 16 | Yuki Tsunoda | RB | 44 | + 76.737 |
| 17 | Logan Sargeant | Williams | 44 | + 86.057 |
| 18 | Nico Hulkenberg | Haas | 44 | + 88.833 |
| RET | Guanyu Zhou | Sauber | 5 | Power |
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