George Russell spring a strategic suprise at Spa, making a one-stop strategy wiork to snatch a third career grand prix victory from under the nose of long time race leader Lewis Hamilton who finished a little over half a second ahead behind his Mercedes team-mate and 0.6s clear of third-placed McLaren driver Oscar Piastri.
At the start of the race, Ferrari polesitter Charles Leclerc got away well to take the lead. Behind him fellow front-row starter Sergio Pérez was slower off the line and into La Source he was passed by Hamilton. Behind them McLaren’s Lando Norris took a wide line and on the exit of Turn 1 dipped a wheel onto the gravel. That allowed Piastri, Russell and Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz to power past as the quartet went into Eau Rouge.
Further back, from P11 on the grid, Max Verstappen got away well and on lap one the Dutchman kicked off what was expected to be a rapid charge through the field by passing Alpine’s Esteban Ocon and Williams’ Alex Albon and then on lap 2 he picked off Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso to close in on Norris who was now seventh.
On the next lap, with DRS in play, Hamilton closed up to Leclerc through Eau Rouge and on the long Kemmel straight the Mercedes driver powered past the Ferrari to take the lead. Behind them Pérez held on to third under pressure from Piastri with Russell in fifth ahead of Sainz.
Behind them, Verstappen was bottled up behind Norris and Red Bull opted to pit the Dutchman on lap 10 hoping for an undercut. That sparked a flood of stops among the frontrunners and after the pit visits had played out, Hard tyre starter Sainz rose to P1 ahead of Hamilton and Leclerc. Pérez, though, emerged from his stop behind the slower Aston Martin of Lance Stroll and that allowed Piastri to close in. Stroll exited the picture when Aston called him to the pits, but Piastri was now right behind Pérez and on the run to Les Combes, aided by DRS, the Australian flew past to take P4.
Norris was the last of the frontrunners to pit, five laps after Max, and when the McLaren driver rejoined on Hard tyres, Verstappen was well ahead and beginning to close on Russell and Pérez who was now fifth.
The Mexican was struggling for pace on the straights, however, and he was soon passed by Russell. That put the Pérez directly in the path of Verstappen and with the Dutch driver bottled up, Norris on fresher tyres began to close on both. That prompted Red Bull to put Pérez early and the Mexican faced a long, hard slog on Hard tyres to the end of the race.
Leclerc sparked the final round of stop at the end of lap 25 and when the tyre changes had played out, Russell, who had eschewed new rubber and had suddenly decided that a one-stop was viable, led the race ahead of Hamilton and Leclerc, with Piastri in fourth. Verstappen was now in P5, under a second clear of Norris and behind them Pérez lay seventh.
On lap 36 Piastri, after one failed attempt at passing Leclerc, closed up to the Ferrari on the exit of La Source. Leclerc defended hard as the pair entered the braking zone for Les Combes but Piastri hung on around the outside and then firmly shut the door on Leclerc as they exited the chicane to take third place, 5.6s behind Hamilton.
On lap 39, Pérez came under pressure from Sainz and though the Mexican defended as best he could on ageing tyres, Sainz muscled his way past on the Kemmel straight to demote the Red Bull driver to P8.
Over the final five laps, all of the frontrunners closed in on Russell but remarkably the Mercedes driver was able to keep his fading Hard tyres alive to keep Hamilton and Piastri at bay and at the end of the 44 laps Russell took his third career win just half a second ahead of Hamilton with Piastri a tenth further back in third.
Leclerc clung on behind them, just six tenths ahead of Verstappen who took fifth place, another half second ahead of Norris. Sainz finished in seventh and Pérez ended the race in eighth. However, with more than half a minute in hand over Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso, the Mexican made a late stop for Soft tyres and banked an extra point with a fastest lap of 1:44.701 in the final laps. Tenth place went to Ocon who edged RB’s Daniel Ricciardo out of the points-paying positions in the closing stages.
2024 FIA Formula 1 Belgian Grand Prix – Race
1 George Russell Mercedes 44 1:19'57.040
2 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 44 1:19'57.566 0.526
3 Oscar Piastri McLaren/Mercedes 44 1:19'58.213 1.173
4 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 44 1:20'05.589 8.549
5 Max Verstappen Red Bull/Honda RBPT 44 1:20'06.266 9.226
6 Lando Norris McLaren/Mercedes 44 1:20'06.890 9.850
7 Carlos Sainz Ferrari 44 1:20'16.835 19.795
8 Sergio Pérez Red Bull/Honda RBPT 44 1:20'40.235 43.195
9 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin/Mercedes 44 1:20'47.003 49.963
10 Esteban Ocon Alpine/Renault 44 1:20'49.592 52.552
11 Daniel Ricciardo RB/Honda RBPT 44 1:20'51.966 54.926
12 Lance Stroll Aston Martin/Mercedes 44 1:21'00.051 1'03.011
13 Alexander Albon Williams/Mercedes 44 1:21'00.691 1'03.651
14 Pierre Gasly Alpine/Renault 44 1:21'01.405 1'04.365
15 Kevin Magnussen Haas/Ferrari 44 1:21'03.671 1'06.631
16 Valtteri Bottas Sauber/Ferrari 44 1:21'07.678 1'10.638
17 Yuki Tsunoda RB/Honda RBPT 44 1:21'13.777 1'16.737
18 Logan Sargeant Williams/Mercedes 44 1:21'23.097 1'26.057
19 Nico Hülkenberg Haas/Ferrari 44 1:21'25.873 1'28.833
Zhou Guanyu Sauber/Ferrari 5 11'00.351 Hydraulics
