Antonelli wins in Spa and deals a blow to the World Cup

The Italian driver Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) achieved victory this Sunday in the Belgian Grand Prix, which is held at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit, beating Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari in the final stretch of the race, which finished second, while the Dutchman Max Verstappen (Red Bull) closed the podium.

The weekend has been great for world championship leader Kimi Antonelli. The Italian, who started from pole, has won his sixth race of the season and has extended his lead at the top of the drivers’ championship. And his main rival for the title and teammate, Georges Russell, was left out of the race due to an incident on the first lap with Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari), who is now second in the championship, 45 points behind the lead.

The race started with Max Verstappen surprising Kimi Antonelli in Eau Rouge to take the lead. A joy that would not last long, since in the long run, the Mercedes driver would regain the lead. In addition, Charles Leclerc would also overtake the Dutch driver, in a start to the lap that left Georges Russell out after a collision with Lewis Hamilton’s Ferrari, causing the first ‘safety car’ of the race.

On lap 5, everything was relaunched, with the world leader trying to put distance between his pursuers, Verstappen and Leclerc, with the Red Bull driver recovering second position. As the laps passed, and as we waited for the first stops to arrive, the race stabilized ahead. The first to do so would be Verstappen – lap 18 -, but a ‘virtual safety car’ allowed Antonelli to protect himself.

Those who did not stop were the Ferraris, who momentarily took the lead in the race through Leclerc, who also took advantage of a second ‘virtual safety car’ to gain position over Antonelli. An advantage for the Monegasque that increased to almost 3 seconds thanks to the fight between the Italian and Lando Norris (McLaren).

But the difference in pace was favorable to the world leader, who began the chase mode. Thus, he would be less than a second away with 12 laps remaining, and on the Kemmel straight, with 11 laps remaining, Antonelli would achieve the definitive overtake to achieve his sixth victory of the season. Behind, Leclerc achieved a second place that confirms his great moment of form after the victory achieved a few weeks ago in Silvestone.

Third place would go to Max Verstappen, who won the battle against Oscar Piastri, as well as Hamilton, who would also pass the Australian with four laps remaining. A result that allows the Briton, together with Russell’s retirement, to place second in the World Championship, 45 points behind Antonelli.

Isack Hadjar (Red Bull), sixth, Lando Norris (McLaren), seventh, Gabriel Bortoleto (Audi), eighth, Arvid Lindblad (Racing Bulls), ninth, and Franco Colapinto (Alpine), tenth rounded out the points. The Spanish pilots did not have a good day. Carlos Sainz (Williams) would finish sixteenth, just behind his teammate Alex Albon, while Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) was the last of the cars to complete the 44 laps, nineteenth.