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Kimi Antonelli is running out of ways to impress us

There are race tracks that flatter drivers.

Then there’s Spa-Francorchamps.

Spa doesn’t care how many world championships you’ve won, how many millions you earn, or how many followers you have on Instagram. It is 4.35 miles of Belgian tarmac that has been terrifying racing drivers since before most modern Formula 1 teams even existed. If your talent has cracks in it, Spa finds them. Usually at about 190 mph.

On Sunday, Kimi Antonelli didn’t just pass the test.

He practically graded it.

The 19-year-old Mercedes driver shrugged off Max Verstappen’s trademark first-lap assault, survived a strategy disaster courtesy of a perfectly timed Virtual Safety Car, hunted down Charles Leclerc in the closing laps, and reclaimed the lead with 10 laps remaining to win the Belgian Grand Prix.

For those keeping count that’s six victories this season.

More importantly, it’s beginning to look less like a remarkable rookie campaign and more like the start of a Formula 1 dynasty.

Antonelli crossed the finish line 1.952 seconds ahead of Leclerc after 44 demanding laps around one of motorsport’s greatest circuits. Verstappen salvaged third for Red Bull, Lewis Hamilton recovered from a five-second penalty to finish fourth for Ferrari, and Oscar Piastri brought his McLaren home in fifth.

The race itself wasted absolutely no time reminding everyone why Spa has such a fearsome reputation.

When the lights went out, Antonelli launched cleanly from pole. Then Verstappen did what Verstappen does.

The Dutchman threw his Red Bull alongside through La Source, blasted through Eau Rouge with all the subtlety of a cruise missile, and emerged in front. It was one of those breathtaking opening-lap moves that make you wonder whether he’s either the greatest racing driver alive or completely insane.

Possibly both.

Unfortunately for Verstappen, physics eventually joined the conversation.

The aggressive move drained too much electrical energy, and before the field even reached Les Combes, Antonelli simply powered back past as though Verstappen had briefly borrowed first place and forgotten to return it.

Behind them, things became considerably more expensive.

Charles Leclerc slipped ahead while George Russell suddenly found himself sharing the same piece of Belgian real estate as Lewis Hamilton. The result was predictable. Russell’s Mercedes was pitched into the gravel, his race was over almost before it had begun, and the Safety Car was summoned before anyone had even settled into their seats.

Russell’s retirement wasn’t just bad luck.

It may yet prove to be one of the defining moments of the championship.

When racing resumed on Lap 5, Antonelli handled the restart with complete authority while Hamilton and Oscar Piastri spent several laps swapping fourth place with the enthusiasm of two bargain hunters wrestling over the last half-price television on Black Friday.

Verstappen eventually dispatched Leclerc and began closing on the Mercedes once again, only for Formula 1’s favorite plot device to make an appearance: The Virtual Safety Car.

It arrived at precisely the right moment for Ferrari and precisely the wrong one for Mercedes.

Leclerc and Hamilton dove into the pits under reduced speed, losing far less time than those who had already stopped under racing conditions. In the space of a few moments, Ferrari had transformed clever strategy into an unexpected race lead.

If motorsport has a slot machine, this is it.

Lando Norris briefly inherited first place after gambling on an alternate tire strategy, but once both Leclerc and Antonelli swept past the McLaren, the race settled into what looked like Ferrari’s afternoon.

Leclerc held an advantage of roughly three seconds.

Antonelli looked at that gap the same way a Labrador looks at a tennis ball.

Not as an obstacle.

As an invitation.

Lap after lap, the Mercedes closed. Spa’s endless sequence of high-speed corners became a metronome, each lap clicking another few tenths off Ferrari’s advantage until Leclerc filled Antonelli’s windshield.

Then, with 10 laps remaining, the move came.

Antonelli swept past into Les Combes with the sort of precision that suggested he’d already planned it five laps earlier. There was no desperate dive. No tire smoke. No drama.

Just one driver who was simply quicker than the other.

Leclerc stayed close enough to make everyone in the Mercedes garage nervous, trimming the advantage below a second more than once, but Antonelli never looked rattled. He managed his tires, his battery deployment and, perhaps most impressively, his own heartbeat like a veteran who has been collecting world championships for years.

Instead, he’s still too young to legally rent a car from many companies in the United States.

Verstappen eventually settled for third, more than 11 seconds behind the winner after admitting Red Bull simply lacked the pace once the race unfolded. Hamilton recovered impressively from his penalty to finish fourth, while Piastri rounded out the top five.

Elsewhere, Isack Hadjar quietly produced one of the drives of the afternoon. Starting 21st, the Red Bull youngster sliced through the field to finish sixth after his team perfectly timed its strategy, narrowly holding off Lando Norris at the flag.

Gabriel Bortoleto continued Audi’s encouraging campaign with eighth, Arvid Lindblad scored another impressive result for Racing Bulls in ninth, and Franco Colapinto grabbed the final championship point after surviving an entertaining scrap with Pierre Gasly and Liam Lawson.

“It’s great to be back on the top step after a few difficult rounds,” Antonelli said. “We lost first place with the Virtual Safety Car, but we managed to make our way back. Charles was quick, so it was a tough win.”

Leclerc admitted Ferrari’s perfectly timed VSC had briefly made victory look possible.

“I believed in the win until the end,” he said. “We had a little bit of luck with the VSC at the right time for us, but the pace was relatively strong.”

Verstappen, meanwhile, sounded almost relieved to escape Spa with another podium.

“I tried everything I could,” he said. “I gave it everything I had and I think P3 is good.”

Which rather sums up the current state of Formula 1.

Max Verstappen gave it everything.

Charles Leclerc caught every strategic break imaginable.

Neither of them could stop a teenager from driving away.

That should concern the rest of the grid far more than anything that happened in Belgium this weekend.

FORMULA 1 BELGIAN GRAND PRIX 2026 RESULTS

Pos. No. Driver Team Laps Time / Retired Pts.
1 12 Kimi Antonelli Mercedes 44 1:24:42.479 25
2 16 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 44 +1.952s 18
3 3 Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing 44 +11.586s 15
4 44 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari 44 +17.245s 12
5 81 Oscar Piastri McLaren 44 +18.988s 10
6 6 Isack Hadjar Red Bull Racing 44 +23.307s 8
7 1 Lando Norris McLaren 44 +24.014s 6
8 5 Gabriel Bortoleto Audi 44 +49.140s 4
9 41 Arvid Lindblad Racing Bulls 44 +50.406s 2
10 43 Franco Colapinto Alpine 44 +76.037s 1
11 10 Pierre Gasly Alpine 44 +76.991s 0
12 30 Liam Lawson Racing Bulls 44 +77.523s 0
13 27 Nico Hulkenberg Audi 44 +78.348s 0
14 87 Oliver Bearman Haas F1 Team 44 +94.465s 0
15 23 Alexander Albon Williams 44 +104.684s 0
16 55 Carlos Sainz Williams 44 +105.856s 0
17 31 Esteban Ocon Haas F1 Team 44 +110.925s 0
18 77 Valtteri Bottas Cadillac 43 +1 lap 0
19 14 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin 42 +2 laps 0
NC 18 Lance Stroll Aston Martin 25 DNF 0
NC 11 Sergio Perez Cadillac 13 DNF 0
NC 63 George Russell Mercedes 0 DNF 0
Greg Engle
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Greg Engle

Editor at Caraganza.com
Greg is a published award winning sportswriter who spent 23 years combined active and active reserve military service, much of that in and around the Special Operations community. Greg was a writer for DriveTribe supporting Amazon's The Grand Tour and has been published in major publications across the country including the Los Angeles Times, the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He was also a contributor to Chicken Soup for the NASCAR Soul, published in 2010, and the Christmas edition in 2016. He wrote as the NASCAR, Formula 1, Auto Reviews and National Veterans Affairs Examiner for Examiner.com and has appeared on Fox News. He holds a BS degree in communications, a Masters degree in psychology. He is currently the weekend Motorsports Editor for Autoweek and a regular contributor to Forbes.
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