Kimi Antonelli won the 2026 Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps, fending off a hard-charging Charles Leclerc to take the top step of the podium and extend his lead in the drivers’ championship. Max Verstappen completed the podium in third for Red Bull Racing after an aggressive but ultimately unsuccessful bid for the lead.

Antonelli lost the race lead during a Virtual Safety Car period but fought his way back to the front, holding off Leclerc’s Ferrari through the closing stages. The Mercedes driver described the victory as hard-fought, citing deployment differences between teams and varying strengths across different sectors of the circuit.

“It was a hard-fought race. The pace was a lot higher than in practice, and it was not easy because Max in the first stint was keeping up, and then obviously Charles had great pace as well on the Hards,” Antonelli said in the post-race press conference. “It definitely was not straightforward, but I’m very happy with it.”

The opening lap produced dramatic wheel-to-wheel action heading down the hill toward Eau Rouge, with Verstappen briefly passing Antonelli before the Mercedes driver reclaimed the position. Leclerc also nearly drew alongside, creating a three-wide moment that Antonelli described as “crazy.”

Leclerc, who arrives at Spa off the back of a victory at Silverstone, said Ferrari performed better than expected at a circuit that did not suit their car on paper. The team had anticipated being four or five tenths off the pace, and while that gap held in qualifying, the race proved closer.

“On two tracks that didn’t fit our car particularly well, we’ve scored good points,” Leclerc said. He acknowledged progress with the car but cautioned that he still cannot drive it completely naturally, noting the unique challenges of the 2026 regulations where energy deployment varies from lap to lap.

Verstappen said he gave everything he had but found the second stint more difficult than the first. He also noted that the VSC timing hurt both him and Antonelli. “I think for us to be on the podium is very good,” Verstappen said.

Antonelli’s victory comes after what he described as “a few difficult rounds” and rebuilds a significant championship advantage that had been eroding. He struck a measured tone about the title fight, saying the momentum had always been there but results had not followed.

“Today, we were a bit lucky with what happened in terms of the championship, but that’s why you’ve got to try to take every opportunity, because we saw that the situation can really swing very easily,” Antonelli said.

All three drivers pointed to the Hungarian Grand Prix as the next battleground, with Antonelli predicting a tight contest among the top four teams at the Hungaroring, where battery deployment concerns are less of a factor. Leclerc said he would maintain his one-race-at-a-time approach, warning that the 2026 cars make it impossible to assume strong form will carry from one weekend to the next.