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.
Mercedes’ George Russell spins out of the race after colliding with Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton
Antonelli initially looked set to deliver on the pre-race expectations and dominate comfortably at the front following his impressive pole position on Saturday.
Clever driving on the first lap solved his concerns about being passed on the run up the hill to Les Combes, when he let Verstappen past him into Eau Rouge and then slipstreamed back into the lead up the following Kemmel straight.
Behind him, Russell went into Les Combes side by side with Hamilton, trying to pass the Ferrari around the outside.
Russell was ahead going into the corner, but a wobble from Hamilton caused by the airflow to his front wing being disrupted by the fighting Antonelli, Verstappen and Leclerc in front of him, meant he tagged the Mercedes, which spun into the gravel trap and into retirement.
An emotional Russell said: “I came out of Turn One, for whatever reason I was 30-40% down on my battery. I just totally got swamped up by three cars.
“Incident with Lewis, I have not really seen it. But I thought probably a racing incident. I am not going to blame Lewis. If things were normal, I would have been battling with Lewis, battling with Kimi and Max.
“It is one thing after another, after another, after another. Not good enough on all regards so try and reset again. I’ve done it enough times this season and I’ll see what we can do.”
