Two weeks after a thrilling weekend of racing at the iconic Silverstone Circuit, Formula One headed to another legendary circuit. This time it was the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps for the FORMULA 1 MOËT & CHANDON BELGIAN GRAND PRIX 2026. The long straights put a big focus on straight-line speed and battery management over the 44 laps of racing.
Kimi Antonelli had a good launch but faced pressure from Max Verstappen behind. Verstappen made a bold move into Eau Rouge at the bottom of the hill to take the lead, but was a sitting duck down the Kemmel Straight. He lost positions to Antonelli and Charles Leclerc.
Directly behind, George Russell had a sluggish start from P3, having lost a position to Leclerc. He was also overtaken by Lewis Hamilton and Oscar Piastri down the Kemmel Straight, but was brave on the brakes into the hard braking zone at turn seven. He shot past both cars, but Hamilton, lacking downforce, washed wide and spun Russell into the gravel. The Mercedes driver was beached and out of the race, potentially having huge championship implications, as he currently battles his teammate who leads the World Championship title. After a lot of deliberation, the stewards eventually decided to hand Hamilton a five-second penalty for causing a collision.
The safety car was deployed so that marshals could free the stuck Mercedes and clean some debris from elsewhere on the circuit.
The race restarted on lap four. Hamilton overtook Piastri on the inside of the first corner, but Piastri retook the position at the bottom of the hill leading to Eau Rouge. This left Piastri to chase down the cars ahead. Initially, this was Verstappen, but the Red Bull driver overtook Leclerc down the Kemmel Straight a few laps after the restart.
On lap nine, Piastri caught Leclerc and was in a position to fight down the Kemmel Straight. Ideally, he would have wanted to fly past the Ferrari, but his McLaren lacked the speed necessary to do so, only managing to get alongside. Leclerc squeezed Piastri in the braking zone, and the two made contact. Piastri suffered some damage, evident by the fact that Hamilton overtook him down the Kemmel Straight on the following lap. Crucially, the stewards investigated the incident but determined that no further action was necessary.
Verstappen was the first of the leaders to pit for hard tyres on lap 18. There was a brief virtual safety car shortly after for debris at turn 18, but it was timed perfectly to prevent teams from taking a cheap pit stop. But it did hamper Verstappen’s outlap, meaning Antonelli would retain his net lead when he pitted the following lap under green flag conditions.
A second virtual safety car was deployed on lap 20 for gravel on the racing line in turn 15. This was a longer VSC, allowing both Ferraris and Piastri to pit. Lando Norris inherited the lead on track, having started the race on hard tyres after starting out of position due to a grid penalty for a power unit change. But it was Leclerc who emerged from the pit lane in the net lead ahead of Antonelli.
Hamilton’s pit stop was hindered by him clipping a mechanic when leaving his pit box. The mechanic was uninjured, but the incident will be investigated by the stewards after the race for an unsafe release. A fine may be coming Ferrari’s way.
On used tyres, Norris was quickly caught and passed by Leclerc. He was also caught by Antonelli, but the Mercedes driver really struggled to get by, losing some time to his rival ahead. Norris was finally overtaken on lap 26 and then fell behind Verstappen a few laps later. This prompted Norris to pit, but his stop was slow due to an issue with the left-rear tyre.
After getting by Norris, Antonelli was free to hunt down Leclerc. His chances were improved when Leclerc caught a lapped Valtteri Bottas in the quick final sector, costing the leader some time. Antonelli managed to overtake easily down the Kemmel Straight with ten laps remaining in the race, taking the lead. Leclerc tried to hang on for a few laps, but eventually fell out of the one-second range and then began to drop back more and more each lap.
Piastri was overtaken by Hamilton in the closing laps, dropping to P5, but managed to stay within five seconds of the Ferrari. He could be promoted to P4 if Hamilton’s pit lane incident results in a penalty. However, this is relatively unlikely for this type of incident. The stewards will decide after the race.
Kimi Antonelli crossed the line at the end of 44 laps in the lead, taking his sixth grand prix victory and strengthening his lead in the World Championship battle. He doubled the points gap to his teammate, as Hamilton moves to P2 in the standings. Charles Leclerc stood on the second step of the podium alongside Max Verstappen, who had a relatively lonely race in P3.
Only one race separates us from the August summer break, and that is the Hungarian Grand Prix. That race is scheduled for next weekend, on July 26.
| Pos. | Driver | Laps | Time | Points | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 44 | 1:24:42.479 | 25 | ||
| 2 | 44 | +1.952 | 18 | ||
| 3 | 44 | +11.586 | 15 | ||
| 4 | 44 | +17.245 | 12 | ||
| 5 | 44 | +18.988 | 10 | ||
| 6 | 44 | +23.307 | 8 | ||
| 7 | 44 | +24.014 | 6 |  | |
| 8 | 44 | +49.140 | 4 | ||
| 9 | 44 | +50.406 | 2 | ||
| 10 | 44 | +76.037 | 1 | ||
| 11 | 44 | +76.991 | |||
| 12 | 44 | +77.523 | |||
| 13 | 44 | +78.348 | |||
| 14 | 44 | +94.465 | |||
| 15 | 44 | +104.684 | |||
| 16 | 44 | +105.856 | |||
| 17 | 44 | +110.925 | |||
| 18 | 43 | +1 Lap | |||
| 19 | 42 | +2 Laps | |||
| DNF | 25 | ||||
| DNF | 13 | ||||
| DNF | 0 |
| 1 | K. Antonelli | 204 |  | |
| 2 | L. Hamilton | 159 | -45 |  |
| 3 | G. Russell | 154 | -50 |  |
| 4 | C. Leclerc | 126 | -78 | |
| 5 | L. Norris | 103 | -101 | |
| 1 | Mercedes | 358 | | |
| 2 | Ferrari | 285 | -73 | |
| 3 | McLaren | 195 | -163 | |
| 4 | Red Bull | 151 | -207 | |
| 5 | Alpine | 61 | -297 | |
