Charles Leclerc believed Belgian Grand Prix win was on as Ferrari outperform expectations

The Monegasque finished less than two seconds behind Mercedes winner Kimi Antonelli after leading during the middle phase of the race. Lewis Hamilton recovered from contact, minor damage and a five-second penalty to claim fourth.

Ferrari collected 30 points in Belgium. more than any other team on the day, securing their ninth podium of the season. Leclerc’s fourth. It was his 54th Formula 1 podium and Ferrari’s 845th. Hamilton’s P4 moved him back into P2 in the 2026 F1 Drivers’ Championship ahead of the Hungarian Grand Prix.

Both Ferrari drivers started on the Medium tyres and made clean getaways, but Leclerc produced the more dramatic opening lap. Using the slipstream and Ferrari’s electrical deployment along the Kemmel Straight, he passed George Russell and Max Verstappen to take second behind Antonelli.

Behind them, Hamilton made contact with Russell at Les Combes. The Mercedes ended in the gravel, while Hamilton continued with minor damage. The stewards handed Briton a five-second penalty for causing the collision, which he served during his only pit stop.

Verstappen repassed Leclerc on Lap 5, while Hamilton overtook Oscar Piastri four laps later to move into fourth place. Ferrari then extended both opening stints as several rivals made their scheduled stops. That decision became decisive when a Virtual Safety Car was deployed on Lap 19.

Leclerc and Hamilton both switched to Hard tyres while losing significantly less time than they would have under green-flag conditions. Leclerc rejoined second behind Lando Norris, who had started on the Hard compound. Hamilton emerged sixth after serving his penalty.

Leclerc passed Norris for the lead on Lap 23, with Antonelli overtaking the McLaren three laps later. Antonelli eventually caught and passed Leclerc on Lap 34. However, the Ferrari remained close throughout the final stint and finished just 1.969 seconds behind the Mercedes.

Leclerc admitted the Virtual Safety Car had helped Ferrari enter the victory battle, but he was encouraged by the SF-26’s underlying race pace: “I believed in the possibility of taking the win until the end. I had a good start, passing George and Max out of Eau Rouge with strong deployment.

“The Virtual Safety Car helped to put us in contention for the win, and it was really enjoyable to lead the race and fight for that position until the closing laps, even if it was down to a bit of luck on our side.

“Overall, we had good pace, which is something we didn’t expect on a track such as Spa-Francorchamps. A big thank you to everyone at the track and back in Maranello for continuing to push so hard," added Leclerc.

Hamilton also made progress during the final stint. He moved into fifth when Norris stopped before passing Piastri on track to secure fourth.

The seven-time Formula 1 Champion finished only a few seconds behind Verstappen, despite the penalty and damage sustained during the opening-lap incident.

After his 390th Grand Prix, Hamilton told reporters: “The team did a really good job today, both with the strategy and the execution of the race, and the mechanics were excellent throughout the weekend, including during the pit stops."

Hamilton mused: "Given the damage, the five-second penalty and everything that happened yesterday, I’m grateful to have come away with some points. It wasn’t the smoothest weekend from my side, but we’ll keep building and working hard to put together stronger weekends going forward."

Ferrari Team Principal Fred Vasseur described the result as another indication of the progress made at Maranello. However, the Frenchman believed Hamilton’s penalty was excessive for an incident occurring during the opening lap.

Vasseur said: “A very good result for the team. We were able to fight at the front with Charles, who had a great start and solid pace for the entire race. As for Lewis’ penalty, I feel it was definitely harsh because it was a first-lap incident, but there’s no point discussing it any further.

“Kimi had the quicker car and we were losing to him on the straights, but with a good start and the right strategy we were still able to fight. Honestly, both here and at Silverstone we have done better than expected.

"This says a lot about the great job the team has done to allow us to perform consistently well. Now we will focus on Budapest, which is a completely different track, where we want to finish on a positive note before the summer break," concluded Vasseur.