Mercedes celebrated an emphatic 1-2 at the Belgian Grand Prix after George Russell held off Lewis Hamilton to secure his second victory of the season ahead of
The Silver Arrows executed their pit stop strategy to perfection to allow Hamilton to protect his lead, but Russell on 34-lap-old tyres held off a charging Hamilton to clinch the win ahead of Oscar Piastri in third. Pole-sitter Charles Leclerc could only finish down in fourth.
The same top three from last year lined up on the grid again for 2024, with championship leader Max Verstappen starting down in 11th due to his 10-place grid penalty fitting a new engine. The Dutchman finished fifth ahead of Lando Norris in sixth.
Hamilton got off the line quicker than Perez and held his nerve despite the Red Bull star’s attempts to move over to cover him off. The seven-time world champion defended fiercely against the Mexican up to Radillon to keep P2, while Norris behind him dropped three places after dipping his McLaren into the gravel.
Hamilton managed to stay within DRS range of Leclerc and with a good exit out of Eau Rouge and Radillon, the Mercedes star had the pace to get the move done way before the end of the Kemmel Straight on Lap 3.
Verstappen was P8 by the end of Lap 2 after getting past Albon, Alonso and Ocon. But his progress was halted as the Dutchman found Norris in his way once again.
Zhou Guanyu retired on Lap 6 with a hydraulics issue but the Sauber driver managed to avoid a safety car by limping back to the pits.
Verstappen and Russell pitted Lap 11 for hard tyres and that set off a chain reaction of pit stops as Hamilton, Perez and Piastri also headed into the pits. Importantly for the McLaren star, he managed to get ahead of Russell on the Kemmel Straight after being usurped in the pits.
The Australian – who won his first F1 race in Hungary last time out – looked quick again as he also managed to get past Perez, who was struggling for pace despite fitting the quicker medium tyre.
Temporary race leader Carlos Sainz came into the pits on Lap 20 after starting on the hard tyres, allowing Hamilton to retake the lead with Leclerc only a few seconds behind.
On Lap 26, Leclerc pitted for his second stop and Mercedes followed suit with race leader Hamilton. But the attempted undercut didn’t work as Hamilton maintained his two-second gap to Leclerc.
But the real fight was taking place further down the field between Verstappen and Norris, with the latter on fresher rubber. The pair had already clashed on several occasions this season and prepared for another duel over track position.
On Lap 32, Norris was told to fight the Red Bull with “robust” tyres as they squabbled for P5.
Piastri emerged as a sudden danger for the two Mercedes at the front after passing Leclerc for a podium place on Lap 37 and with a five-second gap to eliminate with seven laps remaining.
But the McLaren driver couldn’t catch Russell, and neither could Hamilton, who simply couldn’t find a way past his team-mate as the team celebrated their first 1-2 victory since Brazil in 2022.
