Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc won his first-ever Grand Prix with a slim victory over Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton at the 2019 Belgian Grand Prix. Hamilton’s Mercedes teammate, Valtteri Bottas, was a distant third to claim the final podium position.
Leclerc was the pole-sitter entering the race and led for the race’s first 21 laps before pit crossovers shuffled the leaderboard for a few laps. Leclerc reclaimed the race lead from teammate Sebastian Vettel, who finished fourth and was employed by the team as a defensive marker to prevent Hamilton from getting too close to Leclerc. Vettel’s defending on Hamilton gave Leclerc and extra four-second cushion that Leclerc needed at the end of the race to fend off Hamilton for the victory.
The only other realistic race contender – Red Bull’s Max Verstappen – took himself out of the race on the first lap with a comedy trio of errors, first getting a poor start, then hitting the Alfa Romeo of Kimi Raikkonen on the first turn before finally ending his misery by driving into the wall seconds later on the Raidillon curves.
With the race results, Hamilton improves to 268 points and extends his 2019 Formula One driver’s championship lead to 65 points over his teammate Bottas with 203 points while a spirited battle ensues for third place with only 24 points separating Verstappen at 181 points followed by Vettel with 169 points and Leclerc with 157 points.
2019 Belgian Grand Prix Top 10
1 Charles Leclerc Ferrari
2 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes
3 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes
4 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari
5 Alexander Albon Red Bull
6 Sergio Pérez Racing Point
7 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso
8 Nico Hülkenberg Renault
9 Pierre Gasly Toro Rosso
10 Lance Stroll Racing Point