F1 Belgian Grand Prix result: Leclerc dedicates maiden win to Anthoine Hubert after holding off Hamilton
Relive the action from an emotional Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps after Leclerc claimed his first victory a day after the death of his close friend
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Charles Leclerc took the first Formula One victory of his career in emotional scenes at Spa-Francorchamps, just one day after witnessing the death of close friend Anthoine Hubert.
The Ferrari driver saw the jubilation of Saturday's pole-position quickly turn to tragedy as Hubert was killed in a Formula Two accident in a near-170mph accident. A number of tributes were staged before the start of Sunday's Grand Prix, including a minute's silence in memory of Hubert.
When the race got underway, an immediate safety car was required when Max Verstappen collided with Kimi Raikkonen at the first corner and broke his Red Bull's suspension, which resulted in his driving uncontrolled into the tyre barrier at Eau Rouge. When the action resumed, Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas pressed Sebastian Vettel into an early pit stop, which while momentarily gave him the lead when his three rivals pitted, left him exposed on worn tyres and cost him a podium finish.
Once promoted to second, Hamilton set his sights on Leclerc and cut the gap to under a second, but despite a chaotic final lap as Antonio Giovinazzi spun off heavily into the barrier and Lando Norris stopped on the start-finish straight with a lap to go, Leclerc held on to clinch the maiden win of his career and Ferrari's first victory in a year.
Re-live the action below.
What time does it start?
The Belgian Grand Prix starts at 2:10pm on Sunday 1 September.
Where can I watch it?
The race will be shown live on Sky Sports F1 from 12:30pm. Online users with Sky subscriptions can watch in on Sky Go at the same time.
Highlights will be shown on Channel 4 from 7pm.
Starting grid
1 Charles Leclerc (Mon) Ferrari 1min 42.519secs
2 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Ferrari 1:43.267
3 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) Mercedes GP 1:43.282
4 Valtteri Bottas (Fin) Mercedes GP 1:43.415
5 Max Verstappen (Ned) Red Bull 1:43.690
6 Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) Alfa Romeo Racing 1:44.557
7 Sergio Perez (Mex) Racing Point 1:44.706
8 Kevin Magnussen (Den) Haas F1 1:45.086
9 Romain Grosjean (Fra) Haas F1 1:44.797
10 Daniel Ricciardo (Aus) Renault 1:44.257 + 5-place penalty
11 Lando Norris (Gbr) McLaren 1:44.847
12 Nico Hulkenberg (Ger) Renault 1:44.542 + 5-place penalty
13 Pierre Gasly (Fra) Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:46.435
14 George Russell (Gbr) Williams 1:47.548
15 Carlos Sainz (Spa) McLaren 1:46.507 + 5-place penalty
16 Lance Stroll (Can) Racing Point 1:45.047 + 10-place penalty
17 Antonio Giovinazzi (Ita) Alfa Romeo Racing no time set
18 Alexander Albon (Tha) Red Bull 1:45.799 + 10-place penalty
19 Daniil Kvyat (Rus) Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:46.518 + 15-place penalty
20 Robert Kubica (Pol) Williams no time set (didn’t set qualifying time)
The minute's silence is honoured impeccably, with all 20 drivers at the front of the grid surrounded by legends of the sport, the likes of Sir Jackie Stewart, Alain Prost and Jean Alesi who all tragically experienced death in F1 during their careers.
They are also joined by Hubert's mother and brother, who have with them a replica of the helmet that he wore yesterday. He will be remembered as one of the great young promises that never made it to F1, and of course the last ever GP3 world champion.
The silence leads into the Belgian national anthem.
Now the mentality shifts. The drivers put on their helmets, click into gear to go racing and try their best to put thoughts of yesterday's events out of their minds. For the next two hours, hopefully we can go racing and forget about the dangers of motorsport, even if they constantly loom in the shadows.
Lights out in just over 10 minutes.
The engines kick into life and the grid starts to clear...
**Formation lap underway!**
It's a lengthy formation lap here around the 7.2km Spa-Francorchamps circuit, so here's a look at the final grid:
1 Charles Leclerc (Mon) Ferrari 1min 42.519secs
2 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Ferrari 1:43.267
3 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) Mercedes GP 1:43.282
4 Valtteri Bottas (Fin) Mercedes GP 1:43.415
5 Max Verstappen (Ned) Red Bull 1:43.690
6 Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) Alfa Romeo Racing 1:44.557
7 Sergio Perez (Mex) Racing Point 1:44.706
8 Kevin Magnussen (Den) Haas F1 1:45.086
9 Romain Grosjean (Fra) Haas F1 1:44.797
10 Daniel Ricciardo (Aus) Renault 1:44.257 + 5-place penalty
11 Lando Norris (Gbr) McLaren 1:44.847
12 Nico Hulkenberg (Ger) Renault 1:44.542 + 5-place penalty
13 Pierre Gasly (Fra) Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:46.435
14 George Russell (Gbr) Williams 1:47.548
15 Carlos Sainz (Spa) McLaren 1:46.507 + 5-place penalty
16 Lance Stroll (Can) Racing Point 1:45.047 + 10-place penalty
17 Antonio Giovinazzi (Ita) Alfa Romeo Racing no time set
18 Alexander Albon (Tha) Red Bull 1:45.799 + 10-place penalty
19 Daniil Kvyat (Rus) Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:46.518 + 15-place penalty
20 Robert Kubica (Pol) Williams no time set (didn’t set qualifying time)
Lap 1: It's a mess through La Source! Leclerc lead but Hamilton gets past Vettel into second! The pair go side-by-side down the Kemmel Straight and the power of the Ferrari gets Vettel back into second!
SAFETY CAR! Verstappen is into the wall at Eau Rouge, but he's out the car and ok.
Lap 1: That looks to be Verstappen's doing. He gets a poor start from fifth and Raikkonen gets past him. As Kimi turns into La Source, Verstappen dives up the inside and the two make contact to send the Alfa Romeo into the air on two wheels. Raikkonen comes back to earth with a thud, but the damage is done to Verstappen's front left as the suspension is broken. That means when he gets to the next corner of Eau Rouge - albeit at reduced speed - the steering snaps and he goes straight on into the tyre barrier. It draws a huge gasp from the crowd, which is predominately Dutch.
Lap 2: Sainz bogged down off the start and is running last, and to make matter worse his McLaren cut out when he came into the pits. Raikkonen has pitted twice to check the damage cause by that accident, while Ricciardo has also stopped after getting caught up in the melee.
Safety car is due in this lap, but Sainz has stopped somewhere near the start-finish straight.
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