George Russell won the battle of Mercedes against Lewis Hamilton in a dramatic finish to the Belgian Grand Prix.
Hamilton got the better of Russell in qualifying with the seven-time world champion starting third compared to his team-mate down in sixth.
It still looked as though Mercedes were going to have settle for second-best heading into Sunday’s race with both Charles Leclerc and Sergio Perez starting on the front row.
Max Verstappen was down in 11th, but was by the quickest car on track on Saturday and there was an expectation that he would fly through the pack.
George Russell held off Lewis Hamilton to win the Belgian Grand Prix
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However, it quickly became apparent that Mercedes had a great shot at winning the race with Hamilton getting past Perez at the start before overtaking Leclerc for the lead early on.
The 39-year-old was out in front for most of the race with Oscar Piastri emerging as his closest challenger for the win in the latter stages of the race.
All drivers made their second stops just after the halfway stage with Russell then taking the lead of the race having made just the one stop.
With Russell at risk of being undercut by several drivers, he opted to stay out until the end.
That meant he needed to make his hard compound tyres last an incredible 34 laps.
It looked unlikely at one stage with Hamilton quickly catching his team-mate towards the final few laps.
Hamilton got within DRS range of Russell with five laps remaining and Mercedes indicated over team radio that they were free to race.
Russell wasn’t showing any signs of his tyres going away and was able to keep Hamilton at arm’s length.
Hamilton came closest on lap 42, but it still wasn’t enough to get a move on Russell with Piastri quickly closing on them both.
But Russell ultimately managed to hold on with Mercedes securing the one-two with Hamilton in second ahead of Piastri.
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The win moves Russell above Perez into seventh in the Drivers’ Championship and just two points behind Hamilton.
The Mercedes duo also gained ground on Carlos Sainz ahead of them with the Silver Arrows now 56 points behind Ferrari in the Constructors’ Championship.