George Russell won a battle between the two Mercedes drivers on different strategies to win a thrilling Belgian Grand Prix.
Mercedes secured their third victory in four rounds as well as their first one-two of the season after Hamilton caught his one-stopping team mate in the closing laps but could not get by.
Hamilton finished second, while Oscar Piastri claimed the final podium position in third. Max Verstappen rose from 11th on the grid to finish fifth.
At the start of the race, Leclerc converted pole position into the lead into La Source, but Lewis Hamilton managed to get by Sergio Perez to take second place. Lando Norris ran wide at the exit of La Source and lost multiple places.
Hamilton stuck with Leclerc in the opening laps and managed to get a run on the Ferrari along the Kemmel Straight at the start of lap three, driving around his future team mate to take the lead into Les Combes. The Mercedes escaped to over two seconds ahead of Leclerc out front, while Perez dropped further away from Leclerc in third.
Verstappen was the first of the top cars to pit at the end of lap ten, switching from mediums to hards. Leader Hamilton pitted on the next lap, rejoining ahead of Perez and Oscar Piastri, who had also stopped.
Leclerc rejoined behind Hamilton to retain his net second place, while Piastri used DRS along the Kemmel Straight to pass Perez for what was ultimately third. Carlos Sainz Jnr and Norris were the last of the leaders to pit, with Norris eventually boxing for hard tyres at the end of lap 15.
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Sainz led until the end of lap 20, then fitted mediums to rejoin in eighth. That handed the lead back to Hamilton, but with Leclerc under two seconds behind. It remained that way until Ferrari pitted Leclerc a second time on lap 25 for hard tyres, before Hamilton did the same a lap later, rejoining ahead of the Ferrari once again.
That put Piastri into the lead, who immediately set the fastest lap of the race up to that point. Verstappen and Norris pitted a lap apart, with the pair getting around Perez soon after. Piastri also stopped for a second time and rejoined behind Leclerc once more.
Russell inherited the lead of the race and requested to stay out until the end of the race. Hamilton began to close the gap on his team mate ahead, meanwhile Piastri swept around the outside of Leclerc into Les Combes to take third.
Hamilton closed within DRS range of his team mate with under five laps…
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