Russell holds off Hamilton for stunning win in Belgium

George Russell held off Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton to take a stunning victory from sixth on the grid in an engrossing Belgian Grand Prix.

Russell put in an extraordinary drive to run an unusual one-stop strategy in a race that featured battles throughout the leading places.

He had to fend off a seven-time champion on tyres that were 15 laps fresher for five laps at the end off the race but pulled it off in impressive style, having called the strategy himself from the car.

Hamilton was closing in at nearly a second a lap in the final laps but, as so many other drivers found, overtaking was harder than expected and he could never quite get close enough to challenge.

As Russell clung on in the final two or three laps, McLaren’s Oscar Piastri closed in on Hamilton to set up a grandstand finish, and the three cars crossed the line nose to tail.

Seven seconds behind them, Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc – who had been passed by Piastri with nine laps to go around the outside of the Les Combes chicane – spent the closing laps fending off Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and the second McLaren of Lando Norris.

The three spent the final four laps neck and neck but Leclerc managed to hold his rivals at bay.

Behind Norris, Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz passed Red Bull’s Sergio Perez with five laps to go to raise further questions about Perez’s future.

Red Bull are expected to make a decision as to whether to drop him for the rest of the season over the forthcoming summer break – just two months after the Mexican signed a new two-year contract.

And dropping from second on the grid to finish at the back of the top four teams will have done Perez no favours. (BBC)