The Ardennes forest delivered its usual blend of high-speed drama and unpredictable tracking conditions as Formula 1 returned to action at the iconic Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps. Across three fascinating practice sessions for the 2026 Belgian Grand Prix, the battle lines for the weekend were drawn between a resurgent Red Bull squad and championship leader Kimi Antonelli. However, the biggest talking point heading into competitive sessions is a massive repair job facing Scuderia Ferrari following a high-speed error from Lewis Hamilton.

FP1: Verstappen Headlines Early Red Bull Statement

The opening 60 minutes of the weekend belonged firmly to Red Bull, with Max Verstappen setting the definitive pace. In the early stages, the Milton Keynes-based outfit dominated the timing screens as Verstappen, utilizing the medium compound tyres, traded fastest sectors with his young teammate Isack Hadjar, who was running the softs.

As the session progressed and the field transitioned fully onto the C4 soft compound, Verstappen laid down a marker of 1m 47.070s. While this benchmark proved to be roughly five seconds slower than the practice pace seen in the 2025 event, it remained completely unbeaten for the remainder of the hour. Red Bull’s RB22 looked exceptionally planted through the technical middle sector, allowing their drivers to carry immense momentum.

Ferrari showed strong foundational pace to split the Red Bulls. Lewis Hamilton finished his second soft-tyre run a mere 0.145s adrift of Verstappen’s top spot, while his teammate Charles Leclerc; fresh off a victory at Silverstone, slotted directly behind in third. Further down the order, Oscar Piastri recovered to fifth for McLaren despite a late scare where his team ordered him to stop out on track due to a drop in hydraulic pressure. He managed to limp back to the pit lane safely, finishing just ahead of Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli. Meanwhile, Racing Bulls split their development paths, with Arvid Lindblad trialling a revised, squarer roll-hoop intake design, while Liam Lawson ran the standard half-circle configuration.

FP2: Antonelli Hits the Front in Red-Flagged Session

The second practice session was heavily disrupted by two separate track stoppages, but it was championship leader Kimi Antonelli who mastered the interruptions to claim the top spot. The initial phase of the session was halted early on by a brief red flag deployed to clear loose gravel from the racing line at Stavelot. Once the track cleared, teams initiated their traditional qualifying simulations. Hadjar briefly went fastest, though the Frenchman carries the burden of a looming heavy grid penalty for Sunday following extensive powertrain changes beyond his season allocation. Verstappen then lowered the benchmark to a 1m 46.416s.

However, Antonelli stole the show on his soft-tyre flyer. Hooking up a pair of blistering purple sectors at the start of the lap, the Italian clocked a 1m 45.944s, the only sub-1m 46s time of Friday. Lando Norris, carrying a ten place grid penalty this weekend due to installing his fourth engine of the season, showcased McLaren’s potent middle-sector speed to finish second, missing Antonelli’s benchmark by 0.190s. Verstappen and Hamilton settled for third and fourth respectively, with Hamilton having an initially deleted lap reinstated by race control after a brief administrative mix-up. The second major interruption of the afternoon arrived in the final 15 minutes when Alpine’s Pierre Gasly lost the rear of his car exiting Les Fagnes, snapping the back end into the barriers and heavily damaging his rear wing, severely curtailing the field’s long-run data collection.

FP3: Antonelli Maintains Command as Hamilton Finds the Wall

The final practice session concluded with Kimi Antonelli once again holding the ultimate advantage, but the headline news was a heavy crash for Lewis Hamilton right as the session drew to a close. Running sparse programs early on to preserve tyre allocations, the track came alive at the halfway point. Hamilton originally broke the 1m 47s barrier on a used set of softs to take the provisional lead, but Antonelli responded immediately with a commanding 1m 45.990s; putting himself a massive eight tenths clear of the pack on his opening run.

During the final qualifying simulations, Verstappen benefited from a significant slipstream down the final straight courtesy of Valtteri Bottas’ Cadillac to close the gap, before Norris ultimately sneaked into second place. With drivers pushing the absolute limits, Hamilton attempted to answer the pace on his final flying lap. Carrying too much speed through the second part of the Les Fagnes chicane, the Ferrari driver mimicked Gasly’s Friday error. He drifted wide into the gravel trap, backing his rear-right wheel heavily into the wall.

The impact tore the wheel completely out of alignment, leaving the Ferrari mechanics with a frantic race against time to inspect the chassis and gearbox ahead of Qualifying. Behind the top three, George Russell and Charles Leclerc finished fourth and sixth, both having late flying laps compromised by encountering traffic in the form of Sergio Perez and Pierre Gasly respectively. Rounding out the top ten, both Audi machines found their way into the upper tier with Nico Hulkenberg leading Gabriel Bortoleto, while Hadjar recovered from a pit lane stall to claim tenth.