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| Photo from BBC Sport |
The Monegasque held off Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton after Formula Two driver Anthoine Hubert was killed in a crash on Saturday.
Leclerc celebrated in an appropriately subdued manner, pointing to the sticker on his car in memory of Hubert, who he knew well as he raced through the ranks up to F1.
Twice before this season, Leclerc has been close to breaking his duck, but he delivered under pressure at Spa in his first year with the Italian manufacturers.
Hamilton, not content with second place, pushed Leclerc all the way to the line, finish less than a second behind.
Hamilton's team-mate Valtteri Bottas was third, while Sebastian Vettel was down in fourth after being outclassed by his Ferrari team-mate.
Young McLaren driver Lando Norris was running well in fifth place after starting 11th but suffered engine failure on the last lap to finish out of the points.
On his first outing for Red Bull, Alexander Albon was therefore promoted to fifth, coming from 17th on the grid.
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| Photo from BBC Sport |
Leclerc qualified ahead of Vettel, but the team knew it wouldn't be as simple as their two drivers staying at the front.
Leclerc led from the off with Vettel re-passing Hamilton on the long straight to Les Combes after the Brit had passed the Germen going into turn one.
Max Verstappen crashed out at Eau Rouge after an collision with Kimi Raikkonen's Alfa Romeo, and the safety car allowed Leclerc to lead the first stage of the race, slowly increasing the gap between himself and Vettel with Hamilton pressuring the German.
Hamilton forced Ferrari to pit Vettel early with his pace, that prevented Mercedes getting ahead by doing the same thing.
Vettel's pace on fresh tyres after his pit on lap 15 meant he was leading by the time Leclerc and Hamilton returned to the race after pitting six and seven laps later respectively.
But Leclerc quickly closed in on his teammate, who was told to let him by, and after Hamilton passed Vettel with 22 laps to go with ease, it was a one-on-one for the top podium position.
Ferrari's tyres were wearing quicker than Mercedes, despite Leclerc looking in control.
With 10 laps to go, Hamilton's deficit was seven seconds, but he soon ate into Leclerc's lead and was just 1.5 seconds behind going into the last lap.
Leclerc held on to take the first win that he has deserved for some time.
Had he not suffered an engine problem in the closing laps in Bahrain, Leclerc would have won the second race of the season.
He crashed in qualifying an Azerbaijan, and was overtaken by Verstappen in Austria on the penultimate lap.
But those disappointments have made him stronger, and surely now the first win is out of the way - the floodgates are open.
But we can't forget that this was a sobering weekend for all drivers, with all celebrations respectfully muted - particularly Leclerc, who had known Hubert well.
"On the one hand I have realised a childhood dream but on the other it has been a very difficult weekend," he said.
"We lost friend first of all. It is very difficult in these situations. I want to dedicate this win to Anthoine. We have grown up together and my first ever race I did when I was seven with Anthoine. So it is such a shame what happened yesterday. I can't enjoy it fully, my first victory, but it is a memory that will live with me forever."
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| Photo from BBC Sport |
| # | DRIVER | TIME/RETIRED | pts |
|---|---|---|---|
| C | 1:23:45.710 | 25 | |
| 2 | +0.981s | 18 | |
| 3 | +12.585s | 15 | |
| 4 | +26.422s | 13 | |
| 5 | +81.325s | 10 | |
| 6 | +84.448s | 8 | |
| 7 | +89.657s | 6 | |
| 8 | +106.639s | 4 | |
| 9 | +109.168s | 2 | |
| 10 | +109.838s | 1 | |
| 11 | DNF | 0 | |
| 12 | +1 lap | 0 | |
| 13 | +1 lap | 0 | |
| 14 | +1 lap | 0 | |
| 15 | +1 lap | 0 | |
| 16 | +1 lap | 0 | |
| 17 | +1 lap | 0 | |
| 18 | DNF | 0 | |
| NC | DNF | 0 | |
| NC | DNF | 0 |
#/Driver/Team/Points/Wins/Podiums
1/L Hamilton/Mercedes/268/8/11
2/V Bottas/Mercedes/203/2/10
3/M Verstappen/Red Bull/181/2/5
4/S Vettel/Ferrari/169/0/6
5/C Leclerc/Ferrari/157/1/6
6/P Gasly/Toro Rosso/65/0/0
7/C Sainz Jr./McLaren/58/0/0
8/D Kvyat/Toro Rosso/33/0/1
9/K Räikkönen/Alfa Romeo/31/0/0
10/A Albon/Red Bull/26/0/0
11/L Norris/McLaren/24/0/0
12/D Ricciardo/Renault/22/0/0
13/S Pérez/Racing Point/21/0/0
14/N Hülkenberg/Renault/21/0/0
15/L Stroll/Racing Point/19/0/0
16/K Magnussen/Haas/18/0/0
17/R Grosjean/Haas/8/0/0
18/A Giovinazzi/Alfa Romeo/1/0/0
19/R Kubica/Williams/1/0/0
20/G Russell/Williams/0/0/0
2019 Races and Results
Australian Grand Prix
Melbourne, 15-17 March
1. Bottas, 2. Hamilton, 3. Verstappen
Bahrain Grand Prix
Sakhir, 29-31 March
1. Hamilton, 2. Bottas, 3. Leclerc
Chinese Grand Prix
Shanghai, 12-14 April
1. Hamilton, 2. Bottas, 3. Vettel
Azerbaijan Grand Prix
Baku, 26-28 April
1. Bottas, 2. Hamilton, 3. Vettel
Spanish Grand Prix
Barcelona, 10-12 May
1. Hamilton, 2. Bottas, 3. Verstappen
Monaco Grand Prix
Monte Carlo, 23, 25-26 May
1. Hamilton, 2. Vettel, 3. Bottas
Canadian Grand Prix
Montreal, 7-9 June
1. Hamilton, 2. Vettel, 3. Leclerc
French Grand Prix
Le Castellet, 21-23 June
1. Hamilton, 2. Bottas, 3. Leclerc
Austrian Grand Prix
Spielberg, 28-30 June
1. Verstappen, 2. Leclerc, 3. Bottas
British Grand Prix
Silverstone, 12-14 July
1. Hamilton, 2. Bottas, 3. Leclerc
German Grand Prix
Hockenheim, 26-28 July
1. Verstappen, 2. Vettel, 3. Kyvat
Hungarian Grand Prix
Budapest, 2-4 August
1. Hamilton, 2. Verstappen, 3. Vettel
Belgian Grand Prix
Spa-Francorchamps, 30 August-1 September
1. Leclerc, 2. Hamilton, 3. Bottas
Italian Grand Prix
Monza, 6-8 September
Singapore Grand Prix
Marina Bay, 20-22 September
Russian Grand Prix
Sochi, 27-29 September
Japanese Grand Prix
Suzuka, 11-13 October
Mexican Grand Prix
Mexico City, 25-27 October
United States Grand Prix
Austin, 1-3 November
Brazilian Grand Prix
Sao Paulo, 15-17 November
Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
Yas Marina, 29 November-1 December
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