The final result of one of the best races of the past few years wasn't decided until well after the chequered flag had been waved.

On track, it ended with a Mercedes one-two, George Russell ahead of Lewis Hamilton, the pair joined on the podium by Oscar Piastri. However, post-race scrutineering revealed that the number 63 car was underweight as per the technical regulations and therefore George Russell was disqualified, the win going to his team-mate Hamilton, with Piastri now second and Charles Leclerc moving up to the third step of the podium. This is Hamilton's 105th win from 346 Grand Prix starts, while it's win number 128 for Mercedes, its third this season and a seventh in the Belgian Grand Prix.

On the grid, the vast majority of drivers had opted to start on the Medium. The only exceptions were Sainz and Zhou who chose the Hard and Ricciardo who preferred the Soft.

The two-stop was the most popular strategy, while the Hard was the compound that performed best, both in terms of degradation and performance. Zhou was the only driver to retire and of the remaining 19, five of them - in their finishing order -Russell, Alonso, Stroll, Magnussen and Tsunoda, only pitted once, going from the Medium to the Hard, with the first two of these finishing in the points places, respectively first and ninth.

The prize for the longest stint goes to Russell who did 34 laps on the Hard, while on his final stint, Hulkenberg went furthest (24 laps) on the Medium.

Mario Isola: "First of all, let me say this was a really exciting race. It's been quite a while since Formula 1 has put on such a show and it's unusual to see a race where the outcome is so uncertain, with the top three within just over a second of one another and the first six finishers, all of whom could legitimately claim to have aimed for the win or at least the podium, all finishing within under 10 seconds. It's a shame the race result had to be changed but, as even Mercedes agreed, the rule regarding weight is very clear.

"The second topic is strategy. Going into the race, we stated that a one-stop was not fast enough compared to a two-stop, but leaving aside Russell's disqualification, his performance would disprove that theory. For a preliminary explanation, at least in terms of tyre behaviour, there are some factors that stand out. First of all, today's track temperature was around 10 degrees higher than during FP2 and that probably contributed to very limited graining on the Hard, which on the other hand was very significant on the Mediums on a long stint. Furthermore, we can assume that the teams worked hard on defining car set-up to find the best compromise between a wet qualifying and a dry race and to try and protect the front axle, which was most prone to graining. A third element to consider is that many drivers made a point of looking after their Mediums very carefully, especially in the quickest corners.

"Two thirds of the race was a fascinating chess game, with moves and countermoves, especially among the leaders, but also further down the field and then it all came to life over the final 15 laps or so, with all the drivers beginning to push and fight for track position. It was a show that, as I said earlier, means we go into the summer break with a strong desire to see something similar in a few weeks' times in Zandvoort and indeed for the rest of the season."

Pirelli still has work to do in Formula 1 this summer. The Spa-Francorchamps circuit is hosting two days of testing aimed at 2025 tyre development. On track on Tuesday 30 and Wednesday 31 July will be the Aston Martin and Alpine teams, who will run Stoffel Vandoorne and Esteban Ocon respectively on both days. On the job sheet, finalising the new constructions and development of the hardest dry weather compounds in the range. If it happens to rain, then the focus will switch to assessing new solutions for the intermediate and extreme wet tyres.

Check out our Sunday gallery from Spa here.