Formula One has returned to the forest of Stavelot in the valley of the Ardennes Mountains for this year’s Belgian Grand Prix at the illustrious Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps. First opened in 1924, this track hosts some of the most exciting racing across various series: GT3, WEC (World Endurance Championship), WRC (World Rallycross Championship), and, of course, Formula One.
Spa is the epitome of needing a perfect flow, cadence, and a symbiotic relationship between car and driver to lock in a perfect lap — one wrong move could see you in the gravel, grass, or in the barriers. The quick left-right-left through Eau Rouge and Radillon (Turns 3, 4, and 5), the quick S of Les Combes (Turns 7, 8, and 9), the simple yet complex corner of Pouhon (Turn 12), and last but not least, the final chicane before the finish line (Turns 19 and 20) — every corner and every sector offers something new.
Qualifying
In Q1, the top 3 was quite a surprise, with the McLaren of Lando Norris leading early, followed closely by the Red Bulls of Max Verstappen and Isack Hadjar in P2 and P3. This early pace from both McLaren and Red Bull was quite a surprise, as Spa relies heavily on horsepower due to the power needed to charge uphill through Eau Rouge and Radillon, with the 1-km-long Kemmel Straight afterwards. The Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton would come up just over two-tenths off, crossing the line in P4, with the Mercedes of George Russell on his heels in P5. Consistency was proving to be on the side of Arvid Lindblad, as the young Racing Bull driver crossed the line in an impressive P6, while the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc, possibly showing signs of pace issues, crossed the line in P7. Kimi Antonelli was off to a slow start, as he and his Mercedes crossed in P8, closely followed by the McLaren of Oscar Piastri in P9. Rounding out Q1 was the Racing Bull of Liam Lawson in P10.
Rolling into Q2, everyone started to show what they had in terms of pace. Kimi Antonelli improved greatly, topping the charts with significant improvement compared to his pace in Q1, with Charles Leclerc and his Ferrari just over two-tenths off in P2, followed by Lando Norris, who had dropped off slightly from the previous session. Lewis Hamilton maintained his P4 position, with Max Verstappen dropping down three spots into P5. The Racing Bull of Arvid Lindblad maintained his impressive P6 position, and Oscar Piastri showed slight improvement with P7. Seeing the Mercedes of George Russell drop three positions into P8 was slightly concerning, and something many fans hoped would be resolved for Q3. After an impressive Q1 stint, it was a surprise to see the Red Bull of Isack Hadjar drop from P3 to P9, and the Audi of Gabriel Bortoletto made it into Q3 by less than a tenth of a second.
Q3 was a fight from start to finish. It was a battle between Antonelli, Leclerc, Norris, Verstappen, Russell, and Hamilton. With just under two minutes left, Lando Norris crossed the line with the fastest lap of the session, beating Antonelli for the top spot by under one-tenth of a second, but the battle was far from over. With 23 seconds remaining, after receiving a mighty tow from his teammate, Isack Hadjar, Verstappen crossed the line, clearing Norris and Antonelli for P1. Then, out of nowhere, as has been the pattern this season, Kimi Antonelli found just under four-tenths’ worth of pace, putting his Mercedes in the top spot with an impressive 1:44.361. Verstappen and Norris finished the session P2 and P3. After a massive attempt to take the top spot, George Russell crossed the line P4. Ferrari didn’t have the best session, but it wasn’t anything to scoff at, with Leclerc starting in P5 and just beating his Ferrari teammate, Lewis Hamilton, by two-thousandths of a second, placing Hamilton P6. Oscar Piastri didn’t have the best session and struggled throughout Q3 to bring his McLaren home in P7. Arvid Lindblad had another fantastic qualifying session, demonstrating pure magic in the Racing Bull with P8. Gabriel Bortoletto made it through another Q3 to bring home P9, and rounding out the group with no time set was the Red Bull of Isack Hadjar.
Race
Five lights on, five lights out, the Belgian Grand Prix is underway, and what a start it was. Kimi Antonelli had a fantastic start off the line, but the Red Bull of Max Verstappen was even faster, gaining ground quickly, and began setting up his attack around the outside of Turn 1. No driver ever dares to pass through Eau Rouge due to it being one of the most dangerous corners in motorsport, but Max Verstappen would show everyone how it’s done, passing Antonelli on the outside through Eau Rouge just before Radillon.
As impressive as that move was, Verstappen depleted the energy in his battery early, allowing Antonelli to regain the lead down the Kemmel Straight, along with the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc overtaking Verstappen in that exact moment to take P2. The moves for position would change the momentum heading into Les Combes, where we’d see the Mercedes of George Russell taken out by the Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton, sending Russell into the gravel, ending his race and bringing out the first safety car.
The green flag was out once again on lap 4, with Antonelli having a fantastic restart, with Leclerc watching the Mercedes pull away. A couple of positions away, Hamilton would make a staggering lunge into Turn 1 to overtake Oscar Piastri for P4, but Piastri would regain the position after a brilliant move on the inside heading into Eau Rouge — another moment of bravery through one of motorsport’s quickest and most dangerous sections.
The hunt was on for Max Verstappen, as the gap between him and Charles Leclerc began to dwindle. As Verstappen entered the Kemmel Straight, the slipstream worked in his favour, giving Verstappen a clean pass for P2. The Kemmel Straight and Les Combes were the spots to watch for the grand prix, as Oscar Piastri had plenty of speed to get past the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc. However, Leclerc misjudged the space between them, running into the side of Piastri in the braking zone heading into Les Combes, causing damage to the wing and right side of the floor on the McLaren. Due to the collision, Hamilton was given the opportunity to fight Piastri for P4. With damage dealt to the aero on the McLaren, Hamilton made the pass with ease.
Every part of motorsport is dangerous, from driver to pit stop operations. On lap 21, Ferrari had planned a strategy to do a double-stack pit stop to ensure the best on-track position for Leclerc and Hamilton. For those unaware, a double-stack pit stop occurs when a team brings in both cars, but there’s a slight gap of around 5 seconds between them. One car stops, tires are changed, that car leaves — then the next car rolls in immediately for the same thing — two cars, back to back, double stack. Leclerc was the first one in the pit box, and the team made a spectacular stop of 2.3 seconds, with Hamilton slotting in right behind him. Unfortunately, the team would give Hamilton the green light to exit the pit box, but it was too early. Mechanic Francesco Cigarini was hit by Hamilton on exit. The impact looked painful, but it was confirmed quickly that Cigarini was okay. Hamilton commented after the race, “The green light went, and so I went. You’re looking over here [left, the path of pit exit]; you’re not looking over there [his right]. The light went; then, I noticed [Cigarini], and then I stopped. What went through my mind was when Kimi (Räikkönen) hit him and broke his leg. I felt my heart sink.” Kimi Räikkönen hit Cigarini at the 2018 Bahrain Grand Prix, where Cigarini suffered a double leg fracture from the incident. Luckily, in his run-in with Hamilton, Cigarini was okay.
Back on track, the pit strategy for McLaren seemed to have paid off, for now. Lando Norris would restart after the virtual safety car in P1 ahead of Leclerc and Antonelli, but that would soon come to an end. Again, down the Kemmel Straight, Leclerc would easily clear the McLaren for the lead, and the Mercedes of Antonelli was growing closer and closer in the mirrors of Norris, where Häkkinen would overtake Norris on, you guessed it, the Kemmel Straight for P2 — the hunt for P1 was on for Antonelli.
Before we get deep into the Leclerc and Antonelli battle, I just want to point out the absolute Spa callback from Franco Colapinto on his pass down the Kemmel Straight — right out of the Mika Häkkinen textbook. With heaps of momentum coming off Radillon, Colapinto saw an opportunity to overtake both the Racing Bull of Liam Lawson and his teammate in the other Alpine, Pierre Gasly. As Lawson and Gasly entered the straight, Colapinto took to the inside of both drivers, catching them by surprise, giving himself a two-for-one special heading into Les Combes — a spectacular show of racecraft, and a callback to the 2000 Belgian Grand Prix pass where Mika Häkkinen used a backmarker (lapped car of Ricardo Zonta) as a distraction to put his car on the inside line against a severely blocking Michael Schumacher. If you haven’t seen that pass, I can’t recommend it enough.
The battle for the lead was on: Antonelli vs. Leclerc, Mercedes vs. Ferrari. Antonelli was glued to the gearbox of Leclerc for a couple of laps but would find an opportunity to pass on the straight and confidently take the lead from Leclerc. Despite his efforts to catch and pass Antonelli, there wasn’t enough pace in the Ferrari to catch the Mercedes, and he would see Antonelli drive into the distance, bringing home another podium finish in P2.
The remainder of the race was quite uneventful for Max Verstappen, as he drove a comfortable final stint to take the final podium spot in P3. Hamilton would make the pass on Oscar Piastri for P4, giving Piastri a solid P5 finish after a difficult weekend. Isack Hadjar had quite the race, making up four spots to finish P6. Lando Norris fought to the very end but, unfortunately, a bad pit stop dropped him from a race win to P7. Gabriel Bortoletto had another points weekend with a fantastic P8 finish for Audi, and the Racing Bull of Arvid Lindblad was in the points once again in P9. Rounding out the field, and after a beautiful pass to get the position, Franco Colapinto finished in P10.
After an exciting Belgian Grand Prix, you’ll be happy to know you don’t have to wait too long for the next race. Next on the calendar is the Hungarian Grand Prix from the uniquely technical Hungaroring this coming weekend, July 26th.
FEATURE IMAGE: KIMI ANTONELLI AT THE 2026 BELGIAN GP, COURTESY OF MERCEDES-AMG PETRONAS F1 TEAM.
