George Russell has won the 2024 Belgian Grand Prix after an exciting race at the iconic Spa-Francorchamps circuit. Joining the Mercedes driver on the podium were his teammate Lewis Hamilton and McLaren's Oscar Piastri who crossed the line in second and third position, respectively.
What happened during the 2024 Belgian Grand Prix?
Lap 1: Charles Leclerc, who started from pole position, gets a good start as Sergio Perez and Lewis Hamilton fight for second behind him. Hamilton is successful and gets the overtake done on the Mexican driver.
Lap 2: Lando Norris, who did not have the best start, overtakes Carlos Sainz but runs off the track so gives the position back immediately to avoid a penalty.
Lap 3: Lewis Hamilton closes in on Charles Leclerc and overtakes on the run up to Turn 5 to take the lead of the race.
Lap 4: Zhou Guanyu reports to the Sauber team that he has a loss of power. He is still running but is trying to get back to the pits.
Lap 6: Lewis Hamilton is now out of DRS range of Charles Leclerc and begins to extend his lead.
Lap 7: Zhou Guanyu gets back to the pits and retires from the race. He had managed to get back going at the back of the pack, however, the issues continued for the Chinese driver leading him to retire from the race.
Lap 10: Lewis Hamilton has now extended his lead on Charles Leclerc to a 2-second gap. Sergio Perez is 2.2 seconds behind Leclerc in third position and has been reporting issues with his hybrid system to the Red Bull team.
As some of the middle of the field have begun to pit, Hamilton reports that his tires are okay for the moment.
Lap 11: Max Verstappen comes into the pits, closely followed by George Russell, in order to try and pull off the undercut on Lando Norris who he was stuck behind. Verstappen comes out in 14th position.
Lap 12: Lewis Hamilton pits from the lead of the race. Sergio Perez and Oscar Piastri follow suit. Hamilton comes out in sixth position.
Lap 13: Charles Leclerc now pits from the lead and manages to come out ahead of Sergio Perez, behind Lewis Hamilton.
Lap 14: Sergio Perez avoids a collision with Lance Stroll as the latter goes into the pits, causing the Mexican driver to slow down and close the gap for Oscar Piastri behind him.
Later in the lap - Piastri makes the overtake.
Lap 16: Carlos Sainz, who is currently leading the race, runs wide at Turn 15 but manages to avoid a spin. Meanwhile, Sergio Perez is not helping Max Verstappen's chances of overtaking George Russell as the Mercedes driver stays within DRS of Perez, making Verstappen's DRS almost pointless.
Lap 19: Carlos Sainz keeps going on his original tires after every other driver has stopped.
Lap 21: Carlos Sainz now stops and comes out in eighth position. George Russell manages to get the overtake done on Sergio Perez. It looks as though Red Bull will call team orders, however, they call Perez into the pits instead.
Lap 25: Charles Leclerc comes in for his second pit stop.
Lap 26: Lewis Hamilton responds to Charles Leclerc's pit stop and manages to come out ahead of the Monagasque driver.
Lap 30: Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez swap places as the latter lets the reigning champion through.
Lap 31: Lando Norris overtakes Sergio Perez for sixth position, separating the two Red Bull drivers.
Lap 32: George Russell, who is currently leading the race, has confirmed to Mercedes that he wants to stay out and go for a one-stop strategy.
Lap 33: Max Verstappen is told by Red Bull that he can push as Lando Norris has closed the gap behind him and the McLaren driver is now with DRS range.
Lap 34: George Russell continues to lead the race, although Lewis Hamilton has now closed the gap to 5.7 seconds. Following the two Mercedes drivers is Charles Leclerc in third, 2.9 seconds behind Hamilton.
Lap 36: Oscar Piastri, after closing the gap to Charles Leclerc, overtakes the Ferrari driver at Turn 5 to take the third position.Lap 39: Carlos Sainz overtakes Sergio Perez to take seventh position. Considering Perez started from second position on the grid, he has not had the best race so far.
Lap 41: Lewis Hamilton is now within DRS range of George Russell. The fight for the lead is on. Mercedes asks the drivers to keep it clean as they are allowed to battle it out.
2024 Belgian Grand Prix Results
1. George Russell
2. Lewis Hamilton
3. Oscar Piastri
4. Charles Leclerc
5. Max Verstappen
6. Lando Norris
7. Carlos Sainz
8. Sergio Perez
9. Fernando Alonso
10. Esteban Ocon
11. Daniel Ricciardo
12. Lance Stroll
13. Alex Albon
14. Pierre Gasly
15. Kevin Magnussen
16. Valtteri Bottas
17. Yuki Tsunoda
18. Logan Sargeant
19. Nico Hulkenberg
20. Zhou Guanyu - DNF
