For Ferrari’s Leclerc, Belgian GP is a bittersweet maiden F1 win

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc dedicates his F1 Belgian GP win to friend Anthoine Hubert, who died Saturday during a Formula 2 support race. Finishing second was Mercedes-AMG’s Lewis Hamilton (left), with teammate Valtteri Bottas coming in third. PHOTO / REUTERS

A VISIBLY emotional Charles Leclerc of Ferrari won the Formula 1 Belgian Grand Prix Sunday from pole, but the 21-year-old’s maiden F1 victory came on the weekend his friend, Anthoine Hubert, was killed Saturday in a high-speed crash during a Formula 2 support race on the same track.

Hubert was 22.

Leclerc honored him with decals on his car and helmet. The crowd at the famed Spa-Francorchamps held a minute of silence to pay respect to the young racer.

“My first ever race I did it with Anthoine, Esteban [Ocon], Pierre [Gasly],” said the Ferrari driver, who looked up to the sky when he got out of his car after scoring for Ferrari its first win of the season.

“I can’t fully enjoy my first victory, but it will definitely be a memory I will keep forever,” he said.

Leclerc crossed the line 0.9 seconds ahead of Mercedes-AMG’s Lewis Hamilton, who still extended his overall championship lead to 65 points over teammate Valtteri Bottas, who finished third.

Leclerc made a good start, leading unchallenged into the tight La Source hairpin. Teammate Sebastian Vettel, second on the starting grid, went wheel to wheel with Hamilton, who was third.

Hamilton got ahead but Vettel used the straight-line speed of his Ferrari to sail past on the run up to Les Combes.

Hamilton finally got past Vettel on the 32nd lap, with the latter a sitting duck on fading tires. Hamilton then set off in pursuit of Leclerc.

During the race’s ending laps it looked like Leclerc, denied victory by an engine problem in Bahrain and passed for the lead by Max Verstappen two laps from the end in Austria, might miss out again.

But he soaked up the pressure from the faster Hamilton, not putting a wheel wrong until the laps ran out.

“The Ferraris were just too fast on the straights and very hard to keep up to,” said Hamilton. “He’s had it coming all year so I’m really happy for him.”

Vettel, hunting for his first win since last year’s Belgian race, finished fourth.

Alexander Albon was an impressive fifth on his Red Bull Racing debut. The rookie, promoted from Toro Rosso to the former champions in a swap with Gasly, had started 17th due to an engine-related grid penalty.

His teammate Max Verstappen, collided with Alfa Romeo’s Kimi Raikkonen at the start before retiring on the opening lap in an incident that brought out the safety car. With a report from Reuters