George Russell BEATS Lewis Hamilton in F1 Belgian Grand Prix after dramatic late battle with incredible strategy
GEORGE RUSSELL completed his redemption by battling to a shock victory at the Belgian Grand Prix.
The Mercedes man said: “Amazing strategy, you guys are the best” after he fought from sixth in the grid to first after a lacklustre qualifying session.
Mercedes boss Toto Wolff labelled Russell the “tyre whisperer” after the race, given he endured a whopping 34 laps on his tyres before crossing the line.
It will be extra special for the British 26-year-old given his petrol nightmare in Hungary when he ran out of fuel in qualifying, leaving him starting in 17th, and having to reitre his car in Silverstone before that.
It will be a tough one to take for Hamilton who was snapping at the heels of his teammate by half a second until the very end as Oscar Piastri settled for third. .
The seven-time world champion had not won a race for all of last season but has come alive since Barcelona.
He nabbed his first podium of the year in Spain with a third-place finish before his Silverstone heroics.
Hamilton enjoyed a blistering start in his Mercedes, overtaking Sergio Perez on the first-lap.
The seven-time world champion then eased past Charles Leclerc and into the lead on lap three.
Lando Norris suffered another miserable start as he slipped from fourth into seventh.
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By lap 22 Max Verstappen was battling with his old pal Norris, having bulldozed away from starting in 11th place due to a grid penalty.
Small mistakes hurt Norris throughout who had a go at overtaking the Dutchman into the final chicane of lap 24 but locked up and veered off the track.
Russell led the charge with eight laps to go but Hamilton was chipping away at his teammate in second.
Oscar Piastri danced around the outside of Leclerc to take third-place as he trailed Hamilton by five seconds on lap 36.
WHO COULD REPLACE HAMILTON AT MERCEDES?
Mercedes will have a vacant seat for 2025.
Here, SunSport’s F1 correspondent Ben Hunt looks at FIVE potential candidates who could replace him and partner George Russell in the Silver Arrows.
Oscar Piastri – McLaren have sewn up Lando Norris to a new long-term contract that should (in theory) put him out of Mercedes’ reach. However, they are yet to tie down his teammate Piastri, 22. The Aussie has an excellent record and won the Formula 3 and Formula 2 titles before spending a year on the sidelines with Alpine and getting his chance in F1 with McLaren. He impressed on his debut season last year and has the potential to be a world champion.
Daniel Ricciardo – The experienced driver’s future remains in doubt as he bides his time at Red Bull’s B-team. Ricciardo would be low-hassle and offer some stability but by that time he would be 35. It seems unlikely that they would opt for him at this point in his career, but if he has a good season this year, he could come into the reckoning.
Kimi Antonelli – You may not have heard of the Italian, but he is mustard. Still only 17, he has won at all the junior categories and has been part of the Mercedes young driver programme since 2019. This season he has been promoted from F4 to F2, where he has been tipped to shine. A good debut season in F2 could sway Mercedes into taking a risk on him for 2025. Antonelli and his family are close to Mercedes boss Toto Wolff.
Mick Schumacher – Wolff has always been so incredibly supportive of Schumacher and spoken highly of him, that you’d at least expect him to come into consideration. He knows the team from his role as reserve driver and consequently would get up to speed. But speed is also the problem. He was shocking at Haas and if he really was THAT good, he’d still be driving in F1.
Alex Albon – A more-sensible choice would be the London-born Albon. A great guy who is also very quick. He has a fantastic relationship with Russell and would be the low-maintenance quick partnership similar to Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas that swept to successive titles. Albon would take little convincing to join from Williams and Mercedes would not need to pay him half of the £50million they were dishing out to Hamilton.
Russell, Hamilton and Piastri were separated by a whisker in the final eight laps which was a welcome sight at a track which has been so used to Verstappen’s dominance.
The win moved Russell back to within two points of his team-mate in the driver standings, while Piastri leapfrogged Carlos Sainz into fourth.
McLaren’s 20-point haul also took a bite out of Red Bull’s lead in the constructors, though this was slightly mitigated by eighth-place Perez winning an extra point for the fastest lap.
F1 2025 grid
Here are the confirmed driver line ups for the F1 2025 season so far:
Red Bull: Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez
Ferrari: Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton
Mercedes: George Russell and TBC
McLaren: Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri
Aston Martin: Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll
Williams: Alex Albon and TBC
Sauber: Nico Hulkenberg and TBC
Alpine: Pierre Gasly and TBC
RB: Yuki Tsunoda and TBC
Haas: Ollie Bearman and Esteban Ocon