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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Your support makes all the difference.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 23: Hamilton pits as Bottas stays out to inherit the lead, likely for a lap only. Vettel and Leclerc are well clear of Hamilton, and a slow pit stop also costs him a further second to add to the misery as the left-rear was slow on.
Lap 24: Bottas does pit and comes out well behind Hamilton, as Leclerc posts a fastest lap of the race. Ferrari did tell Leclerc before his stop that he will come out behind Vettel, but that "all will be ok at the end of the race". Vettel's tyres are five laps older than Leclerc's, while Hamilton is annoyed over why he was kept out so long.
Lap 25 standings:
1. Vettel
2. Leclerc +2.1s
3. Hamilton +8.5s
4. Bottas +15s
5. Norris +31.9s
6. Giovinazzi +41.7s
7. Kvyat +44.7s
8. Ricciardo +45.7s
9. Perez +47.7s
10. Grosjean +49.3s
Lap 26: Leclerc is flying and already has Vettel in his sights. Will Vettel fight it? The smart money would say no as he has little-to-no chance of winning this race, but there might just be something within the supposed Ferrari No 1 driver that says he shouldn't make it easy for the younger protege.
Lap 27: Vettel gets the call to let Leclerc by, and come the end of the lap, Vettel does exactly that to pull aside on the start-finish straight and let his teammate by. It's formation flying for the Ferraris as they run up to Les Coombs, but the race is now on with Hamilton just 3.2s behind and charging.
Lap 28: Vettel's going to be a sitting duck here. Hamilton cuts two seconds out of the gap in just two laps, and Vettel radios in "he';s going to walk all over us".
Lap 30: The good news for Hamilton - he has DRS. The bad news for Hamilton - it still isn't enough to match the Ferrari top speed.
It means we're stuck in a bit of a limbo, where Hamilton catches Vettel throughout the lap only to fall away on the Kemmel Straight.
Lap 31: Bottas is bringing himself into play, just as Hamilton reports "the rears are on fire". He's told to look after his tyres as a result, which could give him the advantage against Hamilton.
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