Kimi Antonelli wins, Russell crashes and Bortoleto is eighth in the Belgian GP

JULIANNE CERASOLI (UOL/FOLHAPRESS) - Kimi Antonelli left the problems of the last stages behind and won the Belgian GP. He had to pass Charles Leclerc, after losing the lead during a Virtual Safety Car, but took his sixth victory of the season. The Ferrari driver was second, and Red Bull's Max Verstappen was third.

Antonelli's Mercedes teammate, George Russell, retired on the first lap, after colliding with Lewis Hamilton, who was punished. Even so, Hamilton came fifth and passed the Englishman in the fight for second place. With the victory, Antonelli now has a 45-point lead after 10 stages.

Brazilian Gabriel Bortoleto scored for the second time in a row, again in eighth place. Like Leclerc, the Brazilian used VSC to optimize his strategy and had great pace to hold off the Racing Bulls in the second half of the race.

HOW WAS THE RACE?

Coming from pole position, Kimi Antonelli was overtaken by Max Verstappen in the first few meters of the GP, but recovered the position and dominated the first part of the race. There were several disputes behind him: between Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen at the very beginning of the race, between Leclerc and Oscar Piastri, with the right to touch, which damaged the McLaren, and between the two Ferraris.

As the laps passed, Lando Norris, who had been punished for an engine change and started in 13th, arrived in contention. With 17 of the 44 laps completed, Antonelli was leading ahead of Verstappen, Leclerc, Hamilton, Piastri and Norris. Russell had already been out of the race since the first lap, when he collided with Hamilton, who in turn knew he would have to pay a 5s penalty when he entered the pits.

This happened when debris on the track caused the race management to activate the Virtual Safety Car. Antonelli and Verstappen had already stopped, and the Ferraris took the opportunity to save time when making their stops. With that, Leclerc took the lead, with newer tires than the Italian Mercedes.

Another driver who took advantage of the VSC was Brazilian Gabriel Bortoleto. He had started eighth and had been overtaken by Liam Lawson and Franco Colapinto at the start, Pierre Gasly a few laps later, and also by the two drivers with much better cars who were starting out of position (Norris and Isack Hadjar).

Audi had been trying to leave its two drivers on the track so that they would have newer tires at the end of the race and its direct rivals - from Racing Bulls and Alpine - had already stopped. The tactic worked for Bortoleto, who returned to the front of this line when he saved time by stopping under VSC, moving up to eighth place and managing to stay ahead of Arvid Lindblad, who had been much faster than him throughout the weekend.

With ten laps to go, Antonelli arrived at Leclerc and passed on his first attempt. The Monegasque followed closely, but without being able to put pressure on Mercedes.

Hamilton still had time to pass Piastri and take fourth. Verstappen was third. The 11th stage will take place next weekend, in Hungary.

SEE THE FINAL CLASSIFICATION:

1st - Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes)2nd - Charles Leclerc (Ferrari)3rd - Max Verstappen (Red Bull)4th - Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari)5th - Oscar Piastri (McLaren)6th - Isack Hadjar (Red Bull)7th - Lando Norris (McLaren)8th - Gabriel Bortoleto (Audi)9th - Arvin Lindblad (Racing Bulls)10th - Franco Colapinto (Alpine)11th - Pierre Gasly (Alpine)12th - Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls)13th - Nico Hulkenberg (Audi)14th - Oliver Bearman (Haas)15th - Alexander Albon (Williams)16th - Carlos Sainz (Williams)17th - Esteban Ocon (Haas)18th - Valtteri Bottas (Cadillac)19th - Fernando Alonso (Aston) Martin)20th - Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) - did not finish21st - Sergio Perez (Cadillac) - did not finish22nd - George Russel (Mercedes) - did not finish

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