Formula 1: Charles Leclerc earns first win at 2019 Belgian Grand Prix

Charles Leclerc capped a dominant weekend by securing the first victory of his Formula 1 career in the Belgian Grand Prix at Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps.

Scuderia Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc earned the first victory of his Formula 1 career in the Belgian Grand Prix at Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps by holding off a charging Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport to cap a dominant but emotional weekend.

Leclerc started this 44-lap race around the 19-turn, 4.352-mile (7.004-kilometer) Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps road course in Stavelot, Belgium from the pole position, and he won it by 0.981 seconds over Hamilton in second place with Hamilton charging from behind after having managed his tires well over the course of his final stint to make up almost seven seconds.

Leclerc was quick to dedicate his victory to the late Anthoine Hubert, who lost his life in a Formula 2 crash at the track yesterday at the young age of 22 years old.

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Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas finished in third place. Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel, whose pit strategy promoted him to the lead temporarily and allowed him to play a role in hindering Hamilton’s progress as he tried to chase down Leclerc, finished in fourth after starting alongside Leclerc on the front row.

In his first race driving for Aston Martin Red Bull Racing, rookie Alexander Albon finished in a career-high fifth place, although his last-lap pass on SportPesa Racing Point’s Sergio Perez is under investigation. Perez finished in sixth.

Scuderia Toro Rosso’s Daniil Kvyat finished in seventh place ahead of Renault’s Nico Hulkenberg in eighth. In his first race since being demoted back to Toro Rosso, Pierre Gasly finished in ninth ahead of Racing Point’s Lance Stroll in 10th. The top 10 finishers were the only 10 drivers who finished on the lead lap.

Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen crashed on the race’s opening lap after making contact with Alfa Romeo Racing’s Kimi Raikkonen in the first corner, ending his 21-race streak of top five finishes that went back over more than one year.

Aside of Verstappen, McLaren teammates Lando Norris, a rookie, and Carlos Sainz Jr. as well as Alfa Romeo Racing rookie Antonio Giovinazzi were the only drivers who failed to finish the race.

Sainz’s car experienced a mechanical error early in the race. Norris’s car experienced a mechanical error on the final lap, costing him what would have been a career-high fifth place finish, and Giovinazzi also crashed on the final lap.

Leclerc won the race after leading 38 of its 44 laps. The race featured three lead changes among three drivers, with Hamilton lead two laps and Vettel leading the other four.

Here are the full race results of the 2019 Belgian Grand Prix at Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps.

Race Results
1st – Charles Leclerc
2nd – Lewis Hamilton
3rd – Valtteri Bottas
4th – Sebastian Vettel
5th – Alexander Albon
6th – Sergio Perez
7th – Daniil Kvyat
8th – Nico Hulkenberg
9th – Pierre Gasly
10th – Lance Stroll
11th – Lando Norris
12th – Kevin Magnussen
13th – Romain Grosjean
14th – Daniel Ricciardo
15th – George Russell
16th – Kimi Raikkonen
17th – Robert Kubica
18th – Antonio Giovinazzi
19th – Carlos Sainz Jr.
20th – Max Verstappen

The Italian Grand Prix is the next race on the 2019 Formula 1 schedule, and the wait for this race is not nearly as long as the wait for the Belgian Grand Prix. The Italian Grand Prix is scheduled to take place next Sunday, September 8, and it is set to be broadcast live from Autodromo Nazionale Monza in Monza, Italy on ESPN2 beginning at 9:05 a.m. ET.