Lewis Hamilton and George Russell crash in crazy Belgian Grand Prix start

Mercedes F1 star George Russell crashed out of the Belgian Grand Prix on the first lap, in a disappointing blow to his championship chances.

Russell came together with Lewis Hamilton on the exit of turn three, with the pair battling for fourth position following a huge slipstream for Hamilton heading down the straight after Eau Rouge.

Hamilton's left front wheel went into Russell's Mercedes, spinning him around and out of the race. "Car crossed over in front of me," Hamilton explained on team radio. "I was right behind another car so I had no front end."

Russell's parked car, plus an off for Haas' Esteban Ocon meant that there was an early safety car at Spa-Francorchamps, with Russell's championship rival Kimi Antonelli leading the race.

The FIA stewards noted the incident before launching an investigation, which resulted in a five-second time penalty for Hamilton.

READ MORE: George Russell 'owed nothing' after Belgian Grand Prix disqualification

Russell's woes continue

This is now the fifth grand prix in the last six that at least one of the Mercedes cars have not scored a single point.

Most of that has been down to Mercedes' reliability issues, but this was a result of a poor qualifying performance from Russell which meant that he was fighting Hamilton and Charles Leclerc at the start of the race.

Russell came into the weekend 25 points behind Antonelli, but that gap has come down significantly in the last three race weekends due to two reliability issues for Antonelli in that time.

If Antonelli does hang on and claim victory in Belgium, he will open that gap back up to 50 points, as Russell's 2026 woes continue.

Hamilton did have some lasting damage on his SF-26 after the incident with Russell, and was also handed a five-second time penalty for the incident.

READ MORE: FIA announce Lewis Hamilton penalty verdict at Belgian Grand Prix

READ MORE: McLaren given new Mercedes engine weeks after F1 rivals

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