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)
Lap 14: It's getting worse for Magnussen as Stroll and Kvyat get by, meaning it's four places lost in four consecutive laps to drop him out of the points. Gasly pits from eighth at the end of the lap, while Albon gets by Ricciardo to move the sole remaining Red Bull up to 12th.
Lap 15 standings:
1. Leclerc
2. Vettel +3.6s
3. Hamilton +4.6s
4. Bottas +7.3s
5. Norris +18.5s
6. Grosjean +23.9s
7. Perez +25.2s
8. Kvyat +34.0s
9. Giovinazzi +35.9s
10. Stroll +37.9s
Lap 16: Vettel pits first! Ferrari react to the undercut threat, mainly because Gasly has undercut Stroll through their pit stops. Hamilton and Bottas remain out, so they can either pit next time by and hope 'Hammertime' gets the overcut, or go long and use the fresh tyres at the end of the race to pass. Leclerc will also pit this time by.
Lap 16: This is going to be mighty close, the in-car telemetry says Vettel will have a 0.2s gap when Hamilton comes out of the pits ... but none of the top three pit? This is interesting strategy.
Lap 17: If Mercedes were hoping that Norris would hold up Vettel to give them the gap, they were wrong as Vettel passes on the run to Les Coombes with a fastest first sector to boot.
Behind, Perez and Gasly swoop past Raikkonen who is on much older tyres, and it's a carbon copy of the famous Schumacher-Hakkinen-Zonta moment from 2000. Perez manages to keep Gasly at bay though as they go either side of the Alfa Romeo.
Lap 18: So Mercedes have taken the latter approach to run Hamilton long and hope they have the better tyres come the end of the race, with Hamilton reporting that they are still in good shape.
Lap 19: A touching moment as on lap 19, Spa-Francorchamps breaks into applause for an entire lap to acknowledge car #19, that of Anthoine Hubert.
Whil that's going on, Norris pits from fifth and has a slim lead over Albon who is on the charge. Also, the gap between Leclerc and Vettel has been cut so much that Vettell would likely lead the race if and when Leclerc stops.
Lap 21: "Mode Box, Mode Box". Leclerc gets the call to come in at the end of the lap.
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