George Russell secured his second race win of the season by making a one-stop strategy work, holding off late charges from his teammate Lewis Hamilton and McLaren’s Oscar Piastri.
Just a couple of seconds separated the top three at the chequered flag at Spa.
Sergio Perez immediately came under pressure from Hamilton, who moved ahead of the Red Bull on the opening lap, while Lando Norris lost a couple of positions early on.
Hamilton and Perez’s battle allowed pole sitter Charles Leclerc to open up a lead, but with Hamilton in clean air he was able to close up to the back of the Ferrari again, and cruised past his future teammate on lap three.
Guanyu Zhou encountered a technical issue, leaving him crawling around the track in his Sauber, but the team was able to give him a fix, and he managed to continue. He soon reported a loss of hydraulics though, forcing him to pit and retire the car.
Hamilton showed strong pace at the front of the field, opening up a gap of more than two seconds over Leclerc.
Behind, Russell and Max Verstappen were the first of the drivers in points positions to stop, both looking quick on new tyres.
Oscar Piastri stopped a couple of laps later, and intially came out behind Russell, having led the Mercedes driver prior to his pitstop, but the Australian soon got up to speed and reclaimed the position, before overtaking Perez.
While the majority of the leaders stopped, both Ferrari drivers continued at the front of the field, with Leclerc stopping a lap later than Hamilton.
Norris and Sainz stayed out longer, with McLaren stopping Norris hoping he’d be able to undercut the Ferrai, while Sainz started to struggle on well used tyres, briefly going off track and running across the gravel.
When Sainz stopped, he came out more than four seconds adrift of Norris, who was closing in on the back of Verstappen ahead.
Perez was the first of the front runners to stop for a second time, and looked quick on his newer tyres, forcing those at the front of the field to cover him.
Leclerc reacted first, with Hamilton stopping a lap later, retaining his advantage over the Ferrari, while Russell asked the team to consider a one-stop.
While Russell committed to the one-stop strategy, Piastri was the last of the leaders to stop, and ran long in his pit box, knocking McLaren’s front jack man backwards, but the pit crew adjusted quickly and minimised the effect, keeping the Australian ahead of Verstappen.
Stopping later meant Piastri had newer tyres than those ahesd of him, and he soon put Leclerc under pressure, moving up to third.
Russell continued at the front, but his teammate and Piastri were both catching him in the final laps, with just six seconds splitting the top three heading into the final four laps.
As Hamilton got DRS, he had a couple of looks at his teammate, looking for a way to take the lead, but Russell defending well to keep the seven-time champion behind.
Piastri gained on Hamilton, cutting the gap to less than a second on the final lap, but he ran out of time to make the pass.
Provisional classification:
1 George Russell (Mercedes)
2. Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes)
3. Oscar Piastri (McLaren)
4. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari)
5. Max Verstappen (Red Bull)
6. Lando Norris (McLaren)
7. Carlos Sainz (Ferrari)
8. Sergio Perez (Red Bull)
9. Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin)
10. Esteban Ocon (Alpine)
11. Daniel Ricciardo (VCARB)
12. Lance Stroll (Aston Martin)
13. Alex Albon (Williams)
14. Pierre Gasly (Alpine)
15. Kevin Magnussen (Haas)
16. Valtteri Bottas (Sauber)
17. Yuki Tsunoda (VCARB)
18. Logan Sargeant (Williams)
19. Nico Hulkenberg (Haas)
DNF:
Guanyu Zhou (Sauber)
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.