Strategy pays off as George Russell wins Belgian Grand Prix

George Russell won a hotly contested Belgian Grand Prix on Sunday, nipping Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton and McLaren's Oscar Piastri, with just 1.1 seconds separating the trio.

The victory at the Spa-Francorchamps track was the third for Russell on the Formula One circuit.

Russell and his team decided to take a gamble and stop just once, making a pit stop on the 10th of 44 laps while the other cars stopped twice. His aging tires held out as Russell crossed the finish line a half-second ahead of Hamilton, his fellow Brit.

Hamilton tried to chase down Russell at the end of the race, getting to within a second on the final four laps but couldn't overtake his teammate.

"Amazing result, we definitely didn't predict this win in our strategy meeting this morning but the car was feeling awesome," Russell said.

"I just kept saying, ‘I think we can do the one-stop, I think we can do the one-stop' and the strategy did a really great job," he continued. "Also well done to Lewis because he really controlled that race and if circumstances were slightly different I'm sure he'd have got the victory. But one-two for the team was such an awesome result."

Ferrari's Charles Leclerc, who won the pole position, finished fourth. Championship points leader Max Verstappen finished fifth. The Red Bull driver started 11th following an engine penalty.

--Field Level Media