Antonelli wins in Belgium. Russell's race lasted one corner.

· Belgian Grand Prix

Antonelli started first and Verstappen briefly took the lead into the first corner, but Antonelli had it back before the lap ended. Russell started well too, running third into the second corner, then lost ground fast and slipped back through the order.

Russell tried a move around the outside of Hamilton at one of the fast corners to salvage the position. They made contact, and Russell's race was over on lap 1.

The stewards ruled Hamilton was at fault despite leaving Russell space, and gave him a 5 second penalty, reduced from the usual 10 because he tried to avoid the contact. Russell himself called it a racing incident, no blame on Hamilton.

5s penalty for Hamilton, found responsible for a collision. Needs 5+ second gap by finish or drops to P7.
Penalty confirmed Lap 9, and Hamilton already knows he needs a big enough gap by the finish, or it's seventh.

Leclerc had his own moment soon after, squeezing Piastri toward the edge of the track as Piastri tried to pass him around the outside. Piastri picked up damage but stayed in the race. Stewards called it no penalty, ruling Leclerc didn't force him off deliberately and Piastri was never close enough to complete the pass anyway.

A virtual safety car came out for track debris just after Verstappen made his pit stop. Everyone slows down while it's out, and that timing cost him time he couldn't recover. A second VSC arrived later at a moment that suited the cars still needing to stop, and Leclerc was one of the drivers who benefited.

That second VSC put Leclerc right back on Antonelli's tail. The gap was gone for a few laps right after the stop, and it cost Verstappen any real shot at second. He settled for third instead.

Norris had the most to lose from it. He'd started well down the field after a grid penalty but fought his way to the lead by mid-race. He stayed out, betting he could hold it without stopping. It didn't pay off. He pitted anyway a few laps later, and a slow stop on top of it dropped him behind Hamilton for good.

Norris stayed out, while leading on track, as Leclerc pitted under the Virtual Safety Car. They're on fresh tyres now and quicker, so Norris could lose his position to them for nothing.
The moment the lead got risky Norris is still out front, but Leclerc just took the free tyre change he didn't.

Hamilton's day got worse at his pit stop. Ferrari forgot to make a small setup change to the front of his car, and Hamilton drove off looking only at the light, clipping a mechanic still working on it.

The mechanic was reported okay, but the missed adjustment cost Hamilton lap time for the rest of that run, on top of the damage from hitting Russell. He still finished fourth and moved up to second in the championship.

Elsewhere In The Grid

Hadjar started last after an engine change and drove one of the races of the day, working his way up to sixth and holding off Norris at the finish. Bortoleto scored points again for Audi.

Lindblad, running the only upgrade Racing Bulls brought this weekend, lost a spot to teammate Lawson early but hunted him down and pulled clear. Colapinto grabbed the final point in tenth with a double overtake and held it the rest of the way, with Lawson stuck behind both him and Gasly, never finding a way past.

Battle for P11: Lawson is right behind Gasly but can't find a way past.
Out of the points Both Colapinto and Gasly are ahead of Lawson here, and he can't find a way past either of them.

Antonelli got the lead back on lap 1 and never lost it, but it wasn't the comfortable win it looks like on paper. Leclerc's free tyre change briefly closed the gap to nothing, and he stayed close enough to keep the pressure on for the rest of the race.

Battle for P1: Leclerc right behind Antonelli. Pressure building.
Not over yet 9 laps from the finish, Leclerc is still right on Antonelli's tail, closer than the scoreline suggests.

This was a race Mercedes should have dominated. Instead a first-lap crash took Russell out, and Ferrari walked away with a podium and a solid fourth too.

Russell's championship hopes take a real hit here. Antonelli's lead is no longer close.

P1

ANTONELLI

P2

LECLERC

P3

VERSTAPPEN

APP UPDATE

We shipped 1.0.1 this week. The big one: swipe an alert card for more detail without leaving the live screen.

An alert card swiped open to show the So What section, explaining what a missed Virtual Safety Car pit stop timing means for the driver.
We've also turned off push notifications while we fix a few issues with them. Alerts still show up live in the app, just no phone buzz for now. We'll switch them back on once they're solid. Belgium was also the first real live test for alerts like Stay-Out Risk and Tyres Wearing Down. Those calculations turned out to be heavier than the rest, and the load built up as the race went on. By the second half, a lot of them were arriving late, some flat out wrong. All fixed now, ready for Hungary.

Next up is Hungary, and we're aiming to ship another update before then.