2026 Belgian Grand Prix

Championship standings before the race

Going into the weekend, Kimi Antonelli led the Drivers' Championship with 179 points, 25 points ahead of his teammate George Russell in second, and 32 ahead of Lewis Hamilton in third. Mercedes, with 333 points, led the Constructors' Championship from Ferrari and McLaren, who were second and third with 255 and 179 points, respectively.^[6]

Entrants

The drivers and teams were the same as published in the season entry list, with no additional stand-in drivers for the race.^[7] During the first practice session Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) was replaced by Jak Crawford, a driver who had not raced in more than two Grands Prix, as required by the Formula One regulations.^[8][9]

Tyre choices

Tyre supplier Pirelli brought the C2, C3 and C4 tyre compounds, designated hard, medium and soft, respectively, for teams to use at the event.^[10]

Qualifying report

Qualifying was held in dry conditions. Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) entered the session as the favourite for pole position after setting the fastest time in both the second and third practice sessions, while Mercedes had taken pole at each of the opening nine rounds of the season.^[11][12][13] Ferrari had repaired Lewis Hamilton's car following his crash at Les Fagnes near the end of final practice, with the suspension, floor and rear assembly having sustained damage.^[11][14] Lando Norris, Isack Hadjar, Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso were due to receive grid penalties for exceeding their permitted allocations of power unit components.^[15]

The opening part of qualfying (Q1), began slowly, with Stroll and the Cadillac drivers Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Pérez initially the only cars on the circuit. Pérez set the first representative time before the remainder of the field emerged on the soft compound tyres. Max Verstappen (Red Bull) became the first frontrunner to lead the session, with Arvid Lindblad (Racing Bulls) initially his closest challenger. Hadjar then moved behind Verstappen before Norris (McLaren) set the fastest time of Q1. Norris, Verstappen and Hadjar remained in the pits during the final runs.^[11][16] Franco Colapinto (Alpine) escaped the elimination zone by improving to thirteenth, while teammate Pierre Gasly also improved and set the fastest final sector of the session. Their laps dropped Alexander Albon (Williams) to seventeenth behind Oliver Bearman (Haas), resulting in Albon's sixth Q1 elimination in ten events. Esteban Ocon was eliminated in eighteenth, ahead of Bottas, Pérez and the two Aston Martin drivers Alonso and Stroll.^[17][18]

Unlike Q1, a queue formed immediately at the start of the second part of qualifying (Q2). Colapinto established the first benchmark before Antonelli moved to the top ahead of Charles Leclerc and teammate George Russell. Lindblad placed sixth after the first runs, ahead of Oscar Piastri and Russell. Antonelli, Norris, Hamilton and Verstappen elected not to complete another timed lap, while Leclerc joined the drivers attempting a second run despite occupying second position.^[11][16] Gabriel Bortoleto (Audi) secured the final position for Q3 (the final part of qualifying) over Liam Lawson, who was eliminated in eleventh. Gasly and Colapinto followed in twelfth and thirteenth, while Nico Hülkenberg qualified fourteenth before being instructed to stop his Audi on the circuit with a hydraulic leak. The recovery of Hülkenberg's car delayed the beginning of Q3. Carlos Sainz Jr. placed fifteenth, ahead of Bearman, who completed the Q2 elimination positions.^[17][12][18]

In Q3, Hadjar abandoned the pursuit of a representative lap and was instead used by Red Bull to provide Verstappen with a slipstream through the final sector. Verstappen initially moved to the top, before Antonelli went quickest, but soon Norris improved to claim provisional pole position. The session was then red-flagged after Piastri ran through the gravel at Stavelot, leaving debris on the racing line that had to be cleared by the marshals.^[11][16][17] Hadjar again led his teammate onto the circuit for the final attempts, enabling Verstappen to improve. Antonelli immediately responded by improving in all three sectors, beating Verstappen. Norris ran through the gravel at turn 13 and abandoned his final attempt, leaving him third. Russell improved to fourth, while Leclerc remained fifth after lifting at the final chicane when a yellow flag intended for the pit entry was displayed within his line of sight. Leclerc finished behind Russell and ahead of Hamilton.^[19] Piastri qualified seventh ahead of Lindblad and Bortoleto, while Hadjar was classified tenth without setting a lap time.^[18][14]

After qualifying, Norris received a ten-place grid penalty for using a fourth control electronics unit, while Stroll received the same penalty for taking a fourth motor generator unit–kinetic. Hadjar accumulated a 30-place penalty after Red Bull installed a fifth internal combustion engine, turbocharger and exhaust set, while Alonso received a 20-place penalty for taking a fifth energy store, fifth control electronics unit and seventh power unit ancillary component.^[15][20][21] Norris was consequently demoted from third to thirteenth, promoting Russell, Leclerc, Hamilton, Piastri, Lindblad, Bortoleto, Lawson, Gasly, Colapinto and Hülkenberg by one position. Although Stroll had qualified last, he was placed twentieth on the provisional grid, ahead of Hadjar and Alonso, who were allocated twenty-first and twenty-second respectively after their larger penalties.^[22][23] Antonelli's result was his sixth pole position of the season and extended Mercedes' unbeaten qualifying run to all ten rounds held in 2026. His margin over Verstappen was the largest pole-position advantage of the season, while the result placed Antonelli on the front row alongside Verstappen and Russell directly behind his teammate, with Antonelli holding a 25-point lead over Russell in the Drivers' Championship.^[13][24][14]

Qualifying classification

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Pos.	No.	Driver	Constructor	Qualifying times			Final grid
				Q1	Q2	Q3
1	12	Kimi Antonelli	Mercedes	1:46.304	1:45.142	1:44.361	1
2	3	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing-Red Bull Ford	1:45.930	1:45.589	1:44.678	2
3	1	Lando Norris	McLaren-Mercedes	1:45.865	1:45.454	1:44.801	13a
4	63	George Russell	Mercedes	1:46.185	1:45.689	1:44.869	3
5	16	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	1:46.278	1:45.397	1:44.893	4
6	44	Lewis Hamilton	Ferrari	1:46.124	1:45.543	1:44.895	5
7	81	Oscar Piastri	McLaren-Mercedes	1:46.433	1:45.671	1:45.016	6
8	41	Arvid Lindblad	Racing Bulls-Red Bull Ford	1:46.191	1:45.629	1:45.143	7
9	5	Gabriel Bortoleto	Audi	1:46.609	1:46.082	1:45.628	8
10	6	Isack Hadjar	Red Bull Racing-Red Bull Ford	1:46.062	1:45.823	No time	21b
11	30	Liam Lawson	Racing Bulls-Red Bull Ford	1:46.501	1:46.120	N/A	9
12	10	Pierre Gasly	Alpine-Mercedes	1:46.679	1:46.331	N/A	10
13	43	Franco Colapinto	Alpine-Mercedes	1:46.795	1:46.392	N/A	11
14	27	Nico Hülkenberg	Audi	1:46.893	1:46.671	N/A	12
15	55	Carlos Sainz Jr.	Atlassian Williams-Mercedes	1:47.080	1:46.777	N/A	19c
16	87	Oliver Bearman	Haas-Ferrari	1:47.113	1:46.779	N/A	14
17	23	Alexander Albon	Atlassian Williams-Mercedes	1:47.120	N/A	N/A	15
18	31	Esteban Ocon	Haas-Ferrari	1:47.801	N/A	N/A	16
19	77	Valtteri Bottas	Cadillac-Ferrari	1:47.823	N/A	N/A	17
20	11	Sergio Pérez	Cadillac-Ferrari	1:47.971	N/A	N/A	18
21	14	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin Aramco-Honda	1:50.002	N/A	N/A	22d
22	18	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin Aramco-Honda	1:50.177	N/A	N/A	20e
107% time: 1:53.275
Sources:[25][26]

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Notes

• ^a – Lando Norris received a ten-place grid penalty for exceeding his quota of power unit elements.^[26][27]
• ^b – Isack Hadjar received a 30-place grid penalty for exceeding his quota of power unit elements.^[26][20]
• ^c – Carlos Sainz Jr. received a ten-place grid penalty for exceeding his quota of power unit elements.^[26][28]
• ^d – Fernando Alonso received a 20-place grid penalty for exceeding his quota of power unit elements.^[26][21]
• ^e – Lance Stroll received a ten-place grid penalty for exceeding his quota of power unit elements.^[26][29]

Race report

The 44-lap race began in cool, overcast but dry conditions, despite reports during the formation lap that rain was approaching the circuit. Pirelli had expected thermal degradation to make a two-stop strategy the preferred option. The majority of the field started on the medium-compound tyres, while Lando Norris, Sergio Pérez, Lance Stroll, Isack Hadjar and Fernando Alonso selected the hard compound. Valtteri Bottas and Carlos Sainz Jr. were the only drivers to begin on soft tyres. Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) started from pole position alongside Max Verstappen (Red Bull), with Antonelli's teammate George Russell and Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) on the second row.^[30][31]

Antonelli retained the lead through La Source, but Verstappen obtained a better run on the descent towards Eau Rouge and briefly moved ahead. Antonelli used Verstappen's slipstream and the straight-line speed of his Mercedes to regain first place along the Kemmel Straight before Les Combes, while Leclerc also passed Verstappen to take second. Russell suffered a loss of electrical deployment after La Source and was passed by both Ferrari drivers. He attempted to recover a position from Lewis Hamilton around the outside at the first part of Les Combes, but Hamilton understeered into the Mercedes, with his left-front wheel making contact with Russell's right-rear. Russell spun into the gravel and became stranded, bringing out the safety car at the beginning of lap two. Elsewhere on the opening lap, Esteban Ocon (Haas) made contact with Sainz and subsequently teammate Oliver Bearman in separate incidents, sustaining a front-left puncture and dropping to the rear of the field.^[32][33]

The stewards determined that Russell had established sufficient overlap and had remained within the available racing room. Although Hamilton had attempted to avoid the contact, the stewards considered him wholly responsible because he had been unable to maintain sufficient separation. His loss of front-end grip, his attempt to take avoiding action and the fact that the collision occurred during the compressed conditions of the opening lap were treated as mitigating factors. Hamilton consequently received a five-second time penalty instead of the standard ten-second sanction and was not given any penalty points.^[34][35]

Several drivers stopped during the safety car period, including Hadjar, Bearman and both Cadillac drivers. Red Bull used the interruption to cycle Hadjar, who had started twenty-first on hard tyres, onto mediums and then back onto another set of hards. Racing resumed at the beginning of lap five, with Antonelli accelerating early and retaining the lead ahead of Leclerc and Verstappen. Hamilton passed Oscar Piastri (McLaren) at La Source, with Piastri immediately reclaiming fourth place through Eau Rouge and Raidillon. Verstappen used the tow along the Kemmel Straight to pass Leclerc for second at Les Combes on lap six. Behind the leading five, the Racing Bulls drivers Liam Lawson and Arvid Lindblad had advanced to sixth and seventh respectively, with Franco Colapinto (Alpine) involved in their midfield battle.^[30][31][36]

Piastri challenged Leclerc around the outside at Les Combes on lap eight, but the two made side-to-side contact as Leclerc moved towards the racing line. The collision dislodged a piece of bodywork and damaged Piastri's McLaren. The stewards took no further action, ruling that Piastri's front axle had not drawn ahead of Leclerc's and that there had been no realistic possibility of completing the overtake from the outside. They also determined that Leclerc had followed the normal racing line rather than deliberately forcing Piastri off the circuit.^[37] Hamilton passed the damaged McLaren shortly afterwards and moved into fourth. Norris used the durability of his hard tyres to advance from thirteenth to seventh by lap 11 and then passed Lindblad for sixth. Hamilton repeatedly informed Ferrari that he had more pace than Leclerc, but the team did not exchange their positions. Pérez retired on lap 14 after reporting a suspension failure, while Sainz made an early stop for a new front wing after damage sustained during his opening-lap contact with Ocon.^[31][38][39]

Antonelli managed his tyres during the first stint before increasing his pace as the first pit stop window approached. He extended his advantage over Verstappen from approximately two seconds to more than three seconds before Verstappen became the first of the leaders to stop, changing from mediums to hards. A brief virtual safety car period was called shortly afterwards while debris was removed from the circuit, it ended before Antonelli could benefit. Mercedes stopped him on the following lap to cover Verstappen's strategy, with Antonelli rejoining in fifth place but retaining the net lead over Verstappen.^[32][36][38]

A second virtual safety car period was called around lap 20 while marshals were on the circuit. Ferrari took advantage by pitting both its drivers. Leclerc's reduced-loss pitstop enabled him to emerge ahead of Antonelli, while Hamilton served his five-second penalty before leaving the pit box. Hamilton was shown the signal to depart while a mechanic was still positioned beside the right-front corner of the car, and his front-right wheel made low-speed contact with the mechanic, knocking him down. The mechanic was uninjured. The premature release prevented Ferrari from completing the front-wing adjustment Hamilton had requested. The incident was referred for a post-race investigation.^{[clarification needed][40][41][42]}

Norris, who had not yet stopped, led at the halfway point from Leclerc, Antonelli, Verstappen, Piastri and Hamilton. Leclerc passed Norris along the Kemmel Straight on lap 23, while Antonelli initially lost time behind the McLaren before overtaking it three laps later. Verstappen, who complained that his hard tyres lacked grip, passed Norris for third on lap 29. Piastri then closed on his teammate, prompting McLaren to instruct the drivers not to lose time battling one another. Norris remained on his original hard tyres until lap 31 because the second virtual safety car had occurred too early for a set of mediums to comfortably reach the finish. His eventual change to the medium compound was delayed by a problem with the left-rear wheel, dropping him to eighth before he passed Gabriel Bortoleto (Audi) for seventh.^[30][32][38]

Leclerc initially held an advantage of approximately three seconds over Antonelli, but began to struggle with front-axle grip on the hard tyres and reported harsh downshifts from his Ferrari. Antonelli steadily reduced the gap and caught up to Leclerc on lap 33, with traffic involving Bottas further reducing the Leclerc's advantage. On lap 34, Antonelli used the Mercedes' straight-line speed and overtake deployment to pass Leclerc along the Kemmel Straight to reclaim the lead. Leclerc remained within approximately one second for several laps and continued to apply pressure, but was unable to attempt a pass. Mercedes warned Antonelli that he had already exceeded track limits twice, requiring him to avoid another infringement during the closing laps. Antonelli maintained his advantage and won by securing his sixth victory of the season.^{[30][32][36][43]}

Verstappen finished a distant third after being unable to match the leading pair on the hard compound. Hamilton recovered from his penalty and the incomplete front-wing adjustment to pass Piastri during the closing laps and finish fourth, with Piastri fifth. Hadjar completed his recovery from twenty-first on the grid in sixth following his three-stop strategy. Norris suffered a slow pit stop and tried to get close to Hadjar but was unable to pass before the finish; he set the race's fastest lap on the final lap.^[44][38][40]

Bortoleto took eighth, ahead of Lindblad in ninth. The final point was decided during a three-way fight involving Colapinto, teammate Pierre Gasly and Lawson. When Lawson attempted to pass Gasly along the Kemmel Straight, Colapinto overtook both drivers and retained tenth place to the finish. Gasly finished eleventh ahead of Lawson and Nico Hülkenberg, with Bearman, Alexander Albon, Sainz, Ocon, Bottas and Alonso completing the classified finishers. Stroll retired after 25 laps with a suspected gearbox problem, joining Pérez and Russell as the race's three retirements.^[30][39][45]

Race classification

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Pos.	No.	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	12	Kimi Antonelli	Mercedes	44	1:24:42.479	1	25
2	16	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	44	+1.952	4	18
3	3	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing-Red Bull Ford	44	+11.586	2	15
4	44	Lewis Hamilton	Ferrari	44	+17.245	5	12
5	81	Oscar Piastri	McLaren-Mercedes	44	+18.988	6	10
6	6	Isack Hadjar	Red Bull Racing-Red Bull Ford	44	+23.307	21	8
7	1	Lando Norris	McLaren-Mercedes	44	+24.014	13	6
8	5	Gabriel Bortoleto	Audi	44	+49.140	8	4
9	41	Arvid Lindblad	Racing Bulls-Red Bull Ford	44	+50.406	7	2
10	43	Franco Colapinto	Alpine-Mercedes	44	+1:16.037	11	1
11	10	Pierre Gasly	Alpine-Mercedes	44	+1:16.991	10
12	30	Liam Lawson	Racing Bulls-Red Bull Ford	44	+1:17.523	9
13	27	Nico Hülkenberg	Audi	44	+1:18.348	12
14	87	Oliver Bearman	Haas-Ferrari	44	+1:34.465	14
15	23	Alexander Albon	Atlassian Williams-Mercedes	44	+1:44.684	15
16	55	Carlos Sainz Jr.	Atlassian Williams-Mercedes	44	+1:45.856	19
17	31	Esteban Ocon	Haas-Ferrari	44	+1:50.925	16
18	77	Valtteri Bottas	Cadillac-Ferrari	43	+1 lap	17
19	14	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin Aramco-Honda	42	+2 laps	22
Ret	18	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin Aramco-Honda	25	Gearbox	20
Ret	11	Sergio Pérez	Cadillac-Ferrari	13	Suspension	18
Ret	63	George Russell	Mercedes	0	Collision	3
Sources:[26][48][49]

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