Five quick takeaways from the F1 Belgian GP

Kimi Antonelli won the Belgian Grand Prix to extend his championship lead, while George Russell retired after a first-lap collision

When it rains, it pours for George Russell

"Could be worse, could be much better," George Russell said about starting third in Spa, benefitting from Lando Norris' grid penalty but also being well behind team-mate and championship leader Kimi Antonelli, who snared another pole at the Ardennes loop.

It certainly could have been better, as Russell continued suffering from his mystifying top speed deficit compared to team-mate Antonelli, which Mercedes still hasn't fully understood, and which left its driver feeling "powerless".

Antonelli is going to be difficult to stop

"He was born to do this," Toto Wolff said on Saturday, when asked how Antonelli looks so confident and comfortable being F1's top driver at the moment, after the Italian took yet another pole – with a convincing margin, too.

Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes

Photo by: Alastair Staley / LAT Images via Getty Images

Seeing how calm he actually is while controlling the championship, and ignoring the bad luck he's had recently, it's not hard to believe Wolff: that guy was born to win F1 races and lead the championship.

It looks more and more like he was also born to win an F1 championship, doesn't it? Another DNF for Russell gave Antonelli another chance to stretch his lead to a comfortable distance – all while it's becoming more and more apparent that he doesn't actually need luck to help him in this fight. The Italian is easily the fastest Mercedes driver this year. Spa was just another strong showing, with Antonelli on top of his game from the first laps of FP1.

A cold-blooded overtake for the lead on Leclerc was the cherry on the cake for the young Italian. Having lost it only due to the unfortunate timing of a virtual safety car, he simply closed in on the Ferrari – and passed at the first opportunity.

Right now, it's very difficult to see what can stop Antonelli from winning this year's title.

- Oleg Karpov

McLaren takes a step forward as upgrades loom

McLaren had won 10 of the first 13 grands prix at this stage of last season – admittedly, we are two races earlier in the calendar now, but still – so there is unlikely to be much celebration in Woking tonight.

Even so, the team has reasons to leave Spa encouraged by the performance of the MCL40 around the Ardennes circuit. Norris put himself in contention on Saturday by qualifying third, ahead of Russell’s Mercedes and both Ferraris. A 10-place grid penalty forced him into recovery mode on Sunday, but both the Briton and Oscar Piastri once again demonstrated strong race pace.

Charles Leclerc, Ferrari, Oscar Piastri, McLaren

Photo by: Andy Hone/ LAT Images via Getty Images

Team boss Andrea Stella has already indicated that upgrades will begin arriving from next weekend’s Hungarian Grand Prix, so it is entirely possible that the reigning champions will become a more regular force at the sharp end after the summer break.

- Federico Faturos

Red Bull performs better than expected and learns from Silverstone struggles

Ahead of the Belgian Grand Prix, Red Bull expected another difficult weekend at what team principal Laurent Mekies described as an "energy-poor" circuit. After all, Red Bull had also struggled at Silverstone.

In reality, Spa-Francorchamps offered considerably more positives than expected. For a change, Red Bull managed to get the RB22 into the right operating window from the very first practice session, something that has been far from guaranteed this year.

Verstappen built on that encouraging start by qualifying second on Saturday, although he admitted that he would not have secured a front-row starting position without assistance from Isack Hadjar.

During the race, the virtual safety car periods fell at unfortunate moments for the four-time world champion, while Verstappen also said he lacked grip on the hard tyre. Even so, before this weekend Red Bull would almost certainly have taken a podium finish for Verstappen without hesitation.

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing

Photo by: Guido De Bortoli / LAT Images via Getty Images

Add to that Hadjar's outstanding recovery drive after his grid penalty, and Red Bull leaves Belgium with far more positives than it had initially expected.

- Ronald Vording

Gabriel Bortoleto topples Racing Bulls

Racing Bulls has been a force to be reckoned with at the front of the midfield lately, and their rivals had a slither of hope after Alpine’s Franco Colapinto outpaced both VCARBs in Friday practice and Audi’s Gabriel Bortoleto narrowly beat Liam Lawson to the last Q3 spot.

The result of the race could have been quite different as Arvid Lindblad, who had been ‘best of the rest’ in qualifying, was hindered by a poorly timed virtual safety car intervention, but Bortoleto still led a solid race to claim eighth position – and yet another crucial four points for Audi, who is now just one point down on eighth-placed Williams in the constructors’ standings.

But even with just Lindblad’s two points to Colapinto’s single one, Racing Bulls is now level with Alpine when it comes to the battle for fifth, with the Enstone-based outfit classified ahead courtesy of Pierre Gasly’s Monaco podium.

- Ben Vinel