Kimi Antonelli survived two virtual safety car phases going against him as he returned to winning ways at the Belgian Grand Prix on Sunday and extended the championship lead while Mercedes team-mate George Russell suffered first-lap heartbreak.

Pole-sitter Antonelli reclaimed the lead with 10 laps left from Charles Leclerc en route to his sixth season victory ahead of the Ferrari driver and former champion Max Verstappen of Red Bull.

Leclerc had moved top by pitting in a virtual safety car phase during which he lost less time than in free racing, shortly after Antonelli had received fresh rubbers just after another virtual safety car had ended.

Antonelli raised his advantage at the top of the standings by ending a run of three races without victory and two of them not finishing.

He is 45 points ahead of fourth-place finisher Lewis Hamilton of Ferrari and 50 - or two race wins - clear of Russell who dropped to third.

Hamilton and Russell made contact in lap one, with Russell spinning out in a title race blow while Hamilton received a five-second penalty for being deemed by stewards to have caused the collision.

“It’s great to be back on the top step after obviously a few difficult rounds," Antonelli said.

"It was a hard-fought race. We lost first place with a VSC but then we managed to make our way back.

"The momentum was always there. It was just about getting the result.

Leclerc admitted that "we had a little bit of luck with the VSC at the right time for us but the pace was relatively strong.

"I feel better with the car. Still some work to do but surely a step forward."

How the race unfolded

Antonelli won the start into turn one but Verstappen surged ahead into Eau Rouge, only for Antonelli to reclaim the lead on the following straight, with Lecelerc also sneaking past Verstappen into second.

Right behind them, Russell made contact with Hamilton while trying to pass on the outside and spun out, ending his race and bringing out the safety car.

Hamilton was later declared the guilty party and got a five-second penalty from the stewards which however was little consolation for Russell, who admitted he was "very disappointed" after losing straigth line speed before the incidemt.

"Maybe I could have gone a bit wider, maybe he could have braked a bit more, the incident shouldn't have happened if I had the speed down the straight," Russell told Sky TV.

Red Bull's Isack Hadjar, who had started from the back being among five drivers with grid penalties, used the safety car phase to pit twice, from hard to medium and back to hard tyres which allowed him to finish the race in strong sixth place without another stop.

Antonelli won the restart into lap five and Verstappen was back in second a lap later.

Leclerc soon came under pressure from Oscar Piastri as well and there was contact as Leclerc appeared to leave his rival not enough space and Piastri complained iot could have resulted "in a massive crash."

Verstappen was the first to pit into lap 18 but the undercut did not work due to the ensuing two virtual safety cars - seemingly imposed because of objects on the track.

Antonelli then pitted just after the first had ended, giving him less of an advantage, and the second worked in Ferrari's favour as Leclerc lost little time in his stop and emerged in first place.

Hamilton also pitted and served his penalty, almost running over one mechanic when leaving - for which he was facing a post-race investigation.

Antonelli moved back into first place in lap 44, and although he was unable to pull away Leclerc could not challenge for a second straight victory after success in Britain two weeks ago.

Piastri was fifth and his team-mate Lando Norris recovered from a grid penalty to finish seventh.

The season continues next week in Hungary, the last race before the traditional four-week summer break.