George Russell crashes out of Belgian GP after Lewis Hamilton collision with title rival Antonelli taking full advantage

KIMI ANTONELLI extended his lead at the top of the table as George Russell crashed out after colliding with Lewis Hamilton. The Italian 19-year-old toasted his sixth Grand Prix win in ten this season after overcoming a Virtual Safety Car delay to pass Charles Leclerc. It was the dream day for Antonelli who won his sixth Grand Prix of the season Credit: AP George Russell crashed out in the first lap Credit: Reuters Russell veered into the gravel at Turn Five Credit: AFP The stewards deemed Hamilton at fault for the crash Credit: Not known, clear with picture desk Hamilton and Russell were once teammates at Mercedes Credit: Not known, clear with picture desk Charles Leclerc came second and Max Verstappen was in third Credit: Getty The Ferrari driver pushed it to the limit but had to settle for second ahead of third-place Max Verstappen. For Russell it was another bitter blow as he spun into the gravel on only the fifth corner of the first lap after a collision with Hamilton – which stewards judged was the Ferrari’ fault. Sign up for the Sport newsletter Thank you! An emotional Russell said: “I came out of Turn One, for whatever reason I was 30-40% down on my battery. I just totally got swamped up by three cars. “Incident with Lewis, I have not really seen it. But I thought probably a racing incident. “I am not going to blame Lewis. If things were normal, I would have been battling with Lewis, battling with Kimi and Max. “It is one thing after another, after another, after another. Not good enough on all regards so try and reset again. I’ve done it enough times this season and I’ll see what we can do.” Hamilton was given a five-second penalty, which he served at his sole pit stop, and eventually finished fourth after overtaking McLaren’s Oscar Piastri late on. It has thrust the Brit back into second in the driver’s standings, 45 points behind Antonelli while Russell is now 50 adrift. Most read in Sport BEST FREE BETS AND BETTING SIGN UP OFFERS It is squeaky bum time for Hamilton though who is under a post-race investigation for an alleged unsafe Ferrari release at the same pit stop. He was given the signal to leave the box and knocked over a mechanic who was still trying to work on his car’s front wing. F1 2026 RACE CALENDAR: ALL THE INFO YOU NEED The mechanic was struck by the Ferrari’s front-right tyre and was briefly knocked to his knees before being helped back up to his feet before Hamilton fully exited the pit box. Max Verstappen burst out of the traps and briefly took the lead from Antonelli on the first lap out of Eau Rouge. But the rocket-ship Mercedes almost-immediately blasted back past, took third after he was also jumped by Leclerc during the VSC. Elsewhere, Isack Hadjar took an impressive sixth in the second Red Bull as he held off Lando Norris on fresher tyres. The McLaren had been on course for a podium and ran all the way to lap 30 on hard tyres having started a penalised 13th on the grid. But his team blew his chances as he struggled on the hard tyres before a sluggish pit stop left him reemerging onto the track in eighth. Gabriel Bortoleto was eighth for Audi ahead of Racing Bulls’ Arvid Lindblad and Alpine’s Franco Colapinto. Comment now