The final race of the first half of the 2024 Formula One season, the Belgian Grand Prix, saw George Russell execute an incredible one-stop strategy to lock in his second win of the year and third career win as Mercedes enter the summer break on the back of three wins in the last four races.
Lewis Hamilton, who took the lead of the race early on, could not pass his teammate even on fresher tyres and finished second. Oscar Piastri rounded out the podium places ahead of Charles Leclerc, who had started on pole due to pole-sitter Max Verstappen’s engine penalty.
Verstappen, who started P11, still managed to finish in front of his Championship rival, Lando Norris, who dropped the ball on another weekend.
It was the perfect start for Hamilton, starting from P3, as the seven-time World Champion picked off Sergio Pérez in the opening lap and then took the lead of the race from Leclerc.
Verstappen, starting at P11 due to an engine penalty, was quickly up to P8 inside the opening six laps.
The seventh lap saw the first retiree of the race as Guanyu Zhou left the track due to a suspected hydraulics issue.
Red Bull got Verstappen in on Lap 11 just as he was trying to undercut Norris in front of him. Hamilton came in on the following lap, which saw Leclerc re-take the lead of the race with Carlos Sainz behind him.
There was plenty of action following the first round of stops, with Verstappen making the undercut stick as his teammate struggled before being called in for his stop on Lap 22. Up top, while Hamilton led comfortably, it was Piastri behind him with Russell in third being chased by Verstappen.
Mercedes boxed Hamilton on Lap 26, letting Piastri through. The veteran Brit re-joined in sixth place ahead of Leclerc. Verstappen and Sainz’s second stops, meanwhile, saw them join in P7 and P8, respectively, with multiple drivers still in the mix for the race win by Lap 30.
McLaren let Piastri down, however, as a pit stop of over four seconds allowed Verstappen to cut the gap to him. While Russell held the lead of the race entering the final ten laps because of his one-stop strategy, it was Piastri making moves behind him as he breezed past Leclerc to take P3. Verstappen was also right on the tail of the Ferrari driver a lap later.
Russell’s one-stop strategy ultimately saw the Mercedes driver put in a stellar defence in the final couple of laps as he denied Hamilton, on fresher tyres, to lock in his second win of the season, with Hamilton seeing off Piastri’s late charge to make it a Mercedes one-two.
Leclerc, like Russell, also put in a strong defensive drive to hold off the faster Verstappen and Norris. Sainz finished P7, with Pérez, Fernando Alonso, and Esteban Ocon rounding out the points places, in that order.
Verstappen now holds a 78-point lead ahead of Norris in the Drivers’ Standings, with Leclerc 25 points behind the McLaren driver. Piastri’s podium sees him creep up on Leclerc as he is now only 10 points behind the Ferrari driver.
Red Bull keep their lead in the Constructors’ Standings, while McLaren are 21 points ahead of Ferrari in second place.
Formula One now heads into the summer break and will return to action almost a month later, on August 25, as the grid reconvenes for the 2024 Dutch Grand Prix.
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