Andrew Benson
BBC F1 correspondent at Spa-Francorchamps

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Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli re-established the comfortable championship lead that had been eroded in the past three races with victory in the Belgian Grand Prix while team-mate George Russell crashed out.

The Italian fought back from losing position during a virtual safety-car period to catch and pass Ferrari's Charles Leclerc for his sixth win in 10 races this season.

Russell, meanwhile, was taken out in a collision with Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton on the opening lap and has dropped to third place in the standings, 50 points behind Antonelli.

Hamilton was re-promoted to second place in the championship, five points ahead of Russell, with a fourth-place finish.

Red Bull's Max Verstappen took the final podium place.

Read the full report here

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Kimi Antonelli has returned to winning ways after his disappointing day at Silverstone two weeks ago and now his title lead is pumped back up to a healthy 45 points heading into the Hungarian Grand Prix in seven days' time.

For Mercedes team-mate George Russell, there are more questions than answers following his crash out on the opening lap. The 25-point deficit to Antonelli before Belgium has swelled to 50 points after, plus he's lost a place in the standings to old Silver Arrows buddy Lewis Hamilton.

Can Russell recover from his latest stumbling block and get his championship challenge back on track? He'll need a flawless three says in Budapest next week - and for Antonelli anf Hamilton to trip up - in order for that to happen.

Thanks for joining us this weekend, folks. We'll be back again for the conclusion of this double-header, from 24-26 July.

And then we will all head off for our summer break.

See you next week!

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Racing Bull's Arvid Lindblad, speaking to Sky Sports, after finishing P9: "I think every weekend I'm getting more comfortable, more competitive. For sure this has been a more complete weekend. The last weekend that was so complete was Canada, where unfortunately I wasn't able to do the race.

"Every time I'm getting in the car, I'm feeling better. Me and the engineers are getting along really well, understanding each other. I'm really enjoying my time at the moment, the team are doing a really good job continuing to bring improvement to the car and it's showing on track.

"Me and Liam [Lawson] had a good battle, it was pretty fun out there. Also with Gabi [Bortoleto], we were really pushing each other on 20-25 laps, really flat out and that's what racing's about.

"It's a little bit sad to be on the worse side of that, on a normal race we would have been ahead of him but at the same time, fair play to him and Audi because they rolled the dice on the VSC and it worked out for them.

"Regardless of the end result, we've done a really good job as a team, especially on my side of the garage, we've been very fast all weekend so looking forward to Budapest now."

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Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton, who finished fourth at the Belgian Grand Prix, speaking to Sky Sports: "I don't count myself unlucky. I think about my mistake that I made yesterday. So, I take full responsibility for the fourth place I ended up getting because I damaged the car and then when they built the car, they missed something on the suspensions, the balance was completely different so I was a good couple tenths, maybe three tenths, slower than I should have been in qualifying and then I ended up further back with the incident, five-second penalty, so it was just like a domino effect from a mistake from myself.

"The team have been doing a great job with strategy, pit stops. We are continuing to improve the car, I think our pace today, without the damage I think we could have been challenging for the win."

On the unsafe release: "The green light went so I went. That's more probably on the team ultimately, when it happened I noticed him and then I stopped. My heart sank for a second but I am glad he is OK."

On performance and looking forward to Hungary: "I think so, this weekend a bit unfortunate and Silverstone again. It is great to see the performance that we are bringing, we are improving the car constantly, we have got more stuff coming in the pipeline. To be here and having the pace is really encouraging. There is still a long way to go. I am going to step it up in terms of focus levels for next week."

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Red Bull team boss Laurent Mekies tells Sky Sports Max Verstappen was unlucky with the timing of the virtual safety car during the Belgian Grand Prix, as on merit, he was ahead of Ferrari's Charles Leclerc today.

The Dutchman has been having a chat in the media pen and added: "I think it would have been a battle with Charles [Leclerc] for second without the VSC.

"It's been a straightforward weekend for me, nothing too crazy, the race pace was alright, still struggling with balance. In general the weekend was nice, I think that's also a positive.

"I would love an engine upgrade but it's not in my hands."

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More from Mercedes boss Toto Wolff, speaking to Sky Sports, on if he has any concerns about reliability: "I'm proud to be part of the organisation, we came out with a product this year that is so strong and I'd rather have to fix reliability rather than accelerate a slow engine. We're giving it 100%, we need to give it 100% because we lost a lot of points due to reliability. We should have been much further ahead than we are."

On the problems with George Russell's car: "George has 100% our support. George had a difficult weekend. Half of it is to be attributed to the power unit that wasn't as good as it should have been and the other half maybe on the driving. But we are in this together, we all make mistakes, today is the mistake of the team and the another day is going to be the driver. We just need to minimise it and support each other."

On what he will say to Russell: "I haven't seen him yet but it's completely understandable that the moment you're out of this race, it's so frustrating and the emotions boil. We are trying to solve the issues, he's doing everything he can to get on top of his driving. I'm going to try to put my arm around him."

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Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff, speaking to Sky Sports, following Kimi Antonelli's win: "I'm happy for Kimi, he really deserved the win because Silverstone should have been his but he had the DNF on the car.

"Today and all weekend he was very strong, never dropped the ball, even if the VSC went against him and he lost the lead, he just regained, it eeked out tenths by tenths."

On what happened with George Russell: "It's two situations. First is the racing [incident] and that happened, unfortunate for us as we lost a lot of constructor points and George driver points.

"We had an issue on all Mercedes engines that we lacked power on the straight, that 100% goes to us. But we're trying our best as a team. We have the most powerful power unit, we have a strong car that is capable of winning.

"Everybody gives the maximum to minimise the mistakes and still it happens because we are humans at work. We let Kimi down in Silverstone when George got a podium, that was maybe better than the result should have been. One DNFed in Montreal, the other in Barcelona, that's the story of our season. It's a technical sport."

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Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff has been speaking to Sky Sports and says he's going to have to put an arm around his driver George Russell. We didn't see the TV pictures of Russell's interview earlier on but we have now - and the Briton looked devastated as he explained his version of events.

He has since highlighted how he was about 40% down on his battery power in the opening stages before the contact, leading his Silver Arrows to be swallowed up by his competitors on the Kemmel Straight.

Russell has a chance to recover quickly from this setback, though, as we're heading to Hungary next week for the final race before the summer break.

Mercedes are 73 points clear of second-placed Ferrari in the constructors' championship despite losing out on points through George Russell's early retirement. McLaren move on to 195 points in third, with Red Bull 44 points behind in fourth spot.

The battle to finish fifth is hotting up, as Alpine and Racing Bulls are now level on 61 points after both teams finished with a driver inside the top 10.

1. Mercedes - 358

2. Ferrari - 285

3. McLaren - 195

4. Red Bull - 151

5. Alpine - 61

6. Racing Bulls - 61

7. Haas - 21

8. Williams - 11

9. Audi - 10

10. Aston Martin - 1

11. Cadillac - 0

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Kimi Antonelli's advantage had been cut to 25 points at the top of the drivers' championship following a disappointing run of races

But with his sixth victory of the season secured in Belgium, the Italian teenager is 45 points clear of new nearest rival Lewis Hamilton, who gains a place in the standings with his fourth-placed finish. We'll keep on eye out for a decision on Hamilton's unsafe release investigation, though.

It's been a bad day at the office for George Russell at Spa, who trails Antonelli by 50 points and Hamilton by five. Charles Leclerc in fourth is 28 points behind the Briton.

1. Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) - 204

2. Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) - 159

3. George Russell (Mercedes) - 154

4. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) - 126

5. Lando Norris (McLaren) - 103

6. Oscar Piastri (McLaren0 - 92

7. Max Verstappen (Red Bull) - 91

8. Isack Hadjar (Red Bull) - 60

9. Pierre Gasly (Alpine) - 42

10. Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls) - 39

Red Bull's Max Verstappen who finished the Belgian Grand Prix in third: "Yeah, I mean I think so [happy with the result]. I tried everything I could in the race. The first stint was not too bad, the second stint probably a bit more difficult but at the same time, I think Kimi and I, we got a little bit unlucky with the virtual safety car. I think for us to be on the podium is good. I gave it everything I had, actually P3 is good."

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Ferrari's Charles Leclerc, who finishes second at Spa: "I believed in the win until the end. We had a little bit of luck with the VSC (virtual safety car) at the right time for us but the pace was relatively strong.

"There were five or six laps on the hards where I was struggling with the front axle and then it came back a little bit. I felt better with the car, there's still some work to do but it's a step forward."

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Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli, who wins the Belgian Grand Prix from pole position: "It is great to be back at the top step after a few difficult rounds.

"It was a hard-fought race. We lost first place with the virtual safety car and then we managed to make our way back and it was a tough win because Charles was quick and we had to told on to that.

"I think the momentum was always there, it was just about getting the result and today we were a bit lucky with what happened in terms of the championship. But that is why you have to take every opportunity because we saw that it can really swing, the situation.

"We just have to keep performing, keep bringing the results and then we will see what will happen at the end of the year."

Champagne momentpublished at 15:49 BST 19 July

15:49 BST 19 July

It's time for the podium celebrations and for the Italian national anthem to ring out for winner Kimi Antonelli. His dad Marco is watching on - what a birthday weekend it's been for Antonelli household.

All three take massive swigs of champange after picking up their trophies, and then Antonelli dumps the rest over his all over his head, cap on.

Antonelli's title lead heading into Hungary next weekend is 45 points from Lewis Hamilton. George Russell slips down to third.

The top three of Kimi Antonelli, Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen have reached the cooldown room and are greeted by F1 boss Stefano Domenicali and King Philippe of Belgium. All three say the historic circuit at Spa is one of the best, as you would expect when speaking to royalty, with Verstappen adding the weather made racing a bit better today.

Once they're alone, the race debrief begins. Charles Leclerc mentions how different the deployment felt, before confirming to Antonelli and Verstappen that his Ferrari team-mate Lewis Hamilton did indeed receive a five-second time penalty during the grand prix.

11. Pierre Gasly (Alpine)

12. Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls)

13. Nico Hulkenberg (Audi)

14. Oliver Bearman (Haas)

15. Alex Albon (Williams)

16. Carlos Sainz (Williams)

17. Esteban Ocon (Haas)

18. Valtteri Bottas (Cadillac)

19. Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin)

DNF: Lance Stroll (Aston Martin)

DNF: Sergio Perez (Cadillac)

DNF: George Russell (Mercedes)

1. Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes)

2. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari)

3. Max Verstappen (Red Bull)

4. Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari)

5. Oscar Piastri (McLaren)

6. Isack Hadjar (Red Bull)

7. Lando Norris (McLaren)

8. Gabriel Bortoleto (Audi)

9. Arvid Lindblad (Racing Bulls)

10. Franco Colapinto (Alpine)

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Lewis Hamilton crosses the line in fourth place but the seven-time world champion and Ferrari are under investigation for an unsafe release, so we could see a change to his position once the stewards have reached a decision.

Oscar Piastri ends his Spa race in fifth, Isack Hadjar's recovery drive earns him a sixth-placed finish and the other McLaren of world champion Lando Norris, who started P13, is seventh.

Gabriel Bortoleto scores some great points for Audi in P8, rookie Arvid Lindblad adds to his tally in ninth and Alpine's Franco Colapinto grabs the final point in 10th.

Engineer: "Nice work Kimi! Well done"

Antonelli: "Let's go! Thank you so much guys"

Engineer: "Busy race but well done you kept a cool head"