F1 Belgian GP Live Commentary and Updates – Race
Minute-by-minute updates for the 2024 Formula 1 Belgian Grand Prix.
Charles Leclerc starts on pole after inheriting top spot from Max Verstappen who topped qualifying but serves a 10-place grid penalty for an engine change.
The sister Red Bull of Sergio Perez joins Leclerc on the front row, with Lewis Hamilton in third for Mercedes and Lando Norris in fourth for McLaren.
The Belgian GP starts at 2pm BST and is the final race before the F1 summer break.
By: James Newbold, Haydn Cobb
The DJ is booming out the party anthems and making the post-race interviews barely audible. That's fine, everyone in F1 deserves a party after a gruelling run of races going into the summer break. There's a three-week pause coming up before the Dutch GP kicks off the rest of the season on 23-25 August. We'll be back then but for now, have a lovely rest of your Sunday. Go well!
After all that, Verstappen has still extended his lead in the drivers' championship, as his advantage grows to 78 points over Norris - meaning he could take three races off and still return at the top of the standings.
But in the constructors', McLaren has trimmed Red Bull's lead down to 43 points... game on there at least.
Time to get busy with the fizzy! Russell rejoices in a Mercedes masterclass. Not a bad way to go into the summer break.
Russell lofts the sparkling winners' trophy into the air to the roar of the crowd. A superb victory.
Podium time! Piastri provides McLaren its 10th consecutive rostrum appearance - a running going all the way back to the Japanese GP - as Russell becomes the first multiple race winner of the season alongside Verstappen.
Before Russell arrives in the drivers' room before the podium, Piastri remarks to Hamilton: "I can't believe he actually made it work." It was a drive that surprised everyone.
Russell on his win: "Amazing! Amazing result! We definitely didn't predict this win in our strategy meeting this morning, but the car was feeling really awesome and we made a lot of changes from Friday night and the tyres just felt great. I kept saying 'I think we can do the one-stop, I think we can do the one-stop,' and the strategy was a really great job. Well done to Lewis also, he really controlled that race and if circumstances were slightly different I am sure he would've got the victory. 1-2 for the team is such an awesome result and great to go into the summer break."
Here's the developing race report on the Belgian GP.
George Russell, Mercedes F1 W15, Carlos Sainz, Ferrari SF-24, Lando Norris, McLaren MCL38
Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images
Hamilton on second place and if a Mercedes 1-2 was expected: "No we definitely didn't. First of all I have to say congratulations to George and to the team. We had such a disaster on Friday, the car was really nowhere and we made some changes, hard to see what it was going to feel like because of the wet conditions yesterday but the car was fantastic today."
Guenther Steiner is on the interview duties of the top three and he asks Piastri if he thought he could catch the Mercedes pair after the last pitstop: "Honestly, yes, I thought I could. Clean air was such a big difference today and once I got a little bit of clean air in the middle stint I picked up a lot of pace and managed to get a nice tyre delta over the last stop. But you clearly didn't need tyre delta, you need to keep going, as George showed! Happy with the result."
Rounding out the points were Alonso and Ocon, as Ricciardo just missed out in 11th. Stroll took 12th ahead of Albon, Gasly, Magnussen, Bottas, Tsunoda, Sargeant and Hulkenberg. Zhou is the only DNF.
Russell leaps straight out of the car and into the arms of his Mercedes mechanics! That's his third F1 grand prix win and by far his best to date. Hamilton looks a little dejected getting out of his Mercedes, he must've wondered how his likely victory slipped away to his team-mate.
Leclerc holds on to fourth from Verstappen by 0.6s and Norris is sixth a further 0.6s. Sainz takes seventh as Perez in eighth does take the fastest lap on the final lap.
Russell wins the Belgian GP! He leads a Mercedes 1-2 from Hamilton with Piastri in third! Wow! The top three are split by 1.1s at the finish.
Russell is half a lap away from an incredible victory, making a one-stopper work from sixth on the grid.
Again Hamilton goes wide into La Source and that lets Piastri into his DRS - but nobody can make a move at the end of the Kemmel straight.
Ocon is running out of laps in his bid to snatch ninth away from Alonso. He's still over four seconds in arrears of the Aston who is occupying ninth spot.
Russell leads at the start of the final lap. All or nothing time.
Perez has come into the pits from eighth place, in a bid for fastest lap.
Two laps to go. Hamilton goes deep at La Source and loses ground to Russell, while Piastri is 1.4s back.
Hamilton, with DRS, has a look at Russell on the Kemmel straight but doesn't risk it. Piastri is 2.5s behind them now.
Gasly has moved into 14th place, passing the one-stopping Magnussen.
Three laps to go.
Alonso's advantage over Ricciardo is being trimmed by the lap, but still stands at 5.4s. Has he got enough in hand to turn this one-stop into a canny ninth place?
"Just make sure you give each other plenty of space," Hamilton is told over team radio. That answers the question - they are allowed to race. It'll be music to Piastri's ears because he'll be catching both of them as they squabble.
Hamilton is within a second of Russell - will Mercedes enforce a switch or will Hamilton need to fight for the lead?
That was pretty inevitable in the end. Sainz with the benefit of DRS drafts up behind the Red Bull and storms around the outside of Perez into Les Combes, but he's 10 seconds behind Norris - it appears seventh may be the limit for Sainz today.
All these battles are coming to the boil, as Leclerc has Verstappen in his DRS and with Norris in tow.
Sainz has now caught Perez in the battle for seventh. Can the Spaniard make a move?