George Russell beat Lewis Hamilton in Formula 1’s 2024 Belgian Grand Prix, which the seven-time world champion had dominated, as Russell’s surprise one-stop strategy paid off, with Oscar Piastri third for McLaren.
In a race made engaging from start to finish thanks to varying tyre strategy efforts, Max Verstappen recovered to fifth after his engine-change grid penalty.
In doing so he held off distant title rival Lando Norris, while on a critical day for his career Sergio Perez fell from second to finish eighth and well adrift of the frontrunning pack, as one of his would-be replacements at Red Bull – Daniel Ricciardo – came close to scoring the race’s final point for RB.
At the start, Charles Leclerc led away from pole as Hamilton immediately jumped up from starting third to run alongside Perez at the first corner, then seal second on the downhill run to Eau Rouge, which in turn allowed Leclerc to stay clear in first up the Kemmel straight.
Charles Leclerc, Ferrari SF-24, Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes F1 W15, Lando Norris, McLaren MCL38, George Russell, Mercedes F1 W15, Oscar Piastri, McLaren MCL38, the rest of the field at the start
Photo by: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images
But the Ferrari driver’s lead lasted only two laps of the 44, as Hamilton quickly closed in and then moved to the lead with a DRS blast up to the Les Combes chicane.
Hamilton then gradually dropped Leclerc across the first of three stints in the two-stop affair for most of the frontrunners, while the different tyre tactics brought other drivers behind into focus at various points.
After Norris lost three places on the opening lap by dipping his left-rear into the gravel at the exit of La Source, he soon had Verstappen roaring up behind after the world champion quickly cleared the midfielders he had started behind in 11th.
Ahead of this pair was Carlos Sainz, who alone of the leaders started on the hard tyres with the rest on mediums, and the Spaniard was able to hang on in front of Norris after the McLaren driver had botched an overtake in the early laps and then they both cycled to the front as Hamilton, Leclerc and co pitted for the first time at the one-quarter phase.
Here Russell, who had gained significantly with a good start from behind Norris on the grid, was in the thick of the action with Piastri – undercutting him at these pitstops, then getting immediately repassed and having to watch the Australian head up the road fight by Perez to run a net third.
Oscar Piastri, McLaren MCL38, George Russell, Mercedes F1 W15, Carlos Sainz, Ferrari SF-24, Lando Norris, McLaren MCL38
Photo by: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images
In the second stint, Norris eventually pitted and came out behind Verstappen, before quickly erasing a six-second gap to the Dutchman and in the process undercutting Sainz, while Hamilton again grew his small lead to Leclerc around getting the lead back once Sainz had come in to take the mediums on lap 20.
At this stage, Perez in fourth was the only other driver on that rubber, with it becoming apparent from Sainz’s strong, long opening stint on the hards that this was the race’s best tyre.
As Hamilton and Leclerc looked settled at the front and with Piastri a chunk behind, Perez’s pace fell away on the mediums and Russell was able to pressure him and then get by at Les Combes just before the halfway point.
Red Bull then pitted Perez out of Verstappen’s way, with Norris right behind, and this meant the middle stint became shorter than expected as Ferrari pitted Leclerc to cover Perez on lap 25, with Hamilton coming in next time by.
Piastri showed his pace in clean air at the front for a while but then erred in sliding long in his pitbox and slamming into his front jackman – who stayed on his feet impressively – when he came in on lap 30.
By this stage, new leader Russell had already asked Mercedes to think about the one-stop, which it left him on as his pace was holding up even with Hamilton surging on his new hards.
Russell’s lead at this point was around seven seconds and although Hamilton was closing by huge chunks each time, by the time the seven-time world champion caught up in the closing stages, he could not find a way by and Russell hung on to score a third F1 career GP win.
The final tour was made tenser by Piastri’s closing threat from behind – his pace so searing in the final stint he had caught and passed Leclerc (needing two attempts to get by in successive laps at Les Combes, which cost him important time at the end to Hamilton).
In the end, just 1.1s cover the top three, with Leclerc fading to 7.3s off from Piastri and Verstappen and Norris each respectively 0.6s further back in fifth and sixth.
They had to pass Perez once they had made their second stops around the two-thirds mark, then Verstappen, running a second set of the unfavoured mediums given Red Bull’s remaining sets pre-race, defied Norris chasing with DRS to the flag.
Lando Norris, McLaren MCL38, Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB20
Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images
Sainz’s out-of-kilter strategy meant he caught and passed Perez for seventh with five laps to go, before Red Bull pitted Perez for a third time to successfully chase the fastest lap bonus point.
Fernando Alonso took ninth for Aston Martin, while the overtaking-filled races for Esteban Ocon and Daniel Ricciardo ended with the Alpine ahead in 10th and not too far from Alonso at the finish.
The race’s only retirement was Sauber’s Zhou Guanyu, who slowed with a hydraulics issue early on and stopped in the pits shortly afterwards.
2024 Belgian Grand Prix
