George Russell narrowly beat team-mate Lewis Hamilton to a stunning win on an unlikely one-stop strategy in the Belgian Grand Prix as Mercedes finished first and second to continue their impressive Formula 1 resurgence.
In a race that in which other teams had appeared as the favourites after a rain-hit qualifying and a grid penalty for Max Verstappen had mixed up the top of the grid, it was Mercedes who emerged as the team to beat thanks to a storming start from third on the grid by Hamilton and then a bold strategy call by Russell.
With Hamilton stopping for tyres twice and Russell only once, the divergent strategies saw the Mercedes duo run first and second into the tense closing stages with the latter holding track position but on tyres which were 16 laps older.
But Russell, who had called for a one-stop strategy on team radio, withstood the late pressure to close out his third career win and second in the last four races.
Having gone 19 months without a win in F1, Mercedes have now won three of the last four races ahead of the sport’s summer break.
McLaren’s Oscar Piastri ended up finishing a close third after a late overtake on Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, who had started on pole.
The championship’s top two were never a factor at the front and Max Verstappen just pipped Lando Norris to fifth – despite starting seven places behind the Briton – to increase his title lead by two points to 78 ahead of the resumption of the season in four weeks’ time at his home Zandvoort track.
More to follow…
Formula 1 returns after the summer break with the Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort on August 23-25, live on Sky Sports F1. Stream every F1 race and more with a NOW Sports Month Membership – No contract, cancel anytime
