Post-race debrief for 2026 Belgian Grand Prix race:
Max Verstappen, with 1:47.070, set the pace despite running an older rear wing spec after recent crash damage
Lewis Hamilton was ~0.1s back
Charles Leclerc was close behind in a strong Ferrari showing
Norris and Hadjar both took grid penalties for new power unit components, so their qualifying positions will be hit
Piastri's hydraulic scare late in the session was a concern for McLaren
Antonelli was dominant: the championship leader (25 pts clear) was quickest throughout and the first to break the 1:46 barrier. A strong showing for Mercedes.
Verstappen caused first red flag as gravel dragged onto the circuit after he dipped a wheel at Turn 14, bringing a brief stoppage ~15 mins in.
Gasly had a big crash because the Alpine driver hit the barrier on exit of Turn 13 with 14 mins left, causing the second red flag and ending his session with heavy rear damage.
Russell struggling and 1.2s off Antonelli, admitting over the radio "the rears felt too cold, but not 1.2s cold," which was a concern for Mercedes heading to qualifying.
Piastri delayed and missed the first 20 minutes due to a hydraulic leak rebuild, the same issue that hit him in FP1.
Colapinto impressed as he jumped to P6 during the long-run phase, a positive sign for Alpine.
Norris/Hadjar grid penalties as both confirmed to drop places in qualifying due to component changes, shaking up the race order before it's even started.
Antonelli on top again and was fastest for the third time across the weekend, though his gap has shrunk considerably. The top three are covered by just 0.148s heading into qualifying.
Hamilton crashes during his final lap, he lost the rear at Turn 13 (the same spot as Gasly's FP2 crash) and hit the barriers, damaging the rear wing and suspension. Ferrari face a race against time to repair the SF-26 before qualifying (which they did repair).
Russell still struggling and again found himself over a second off Antonelli before improving to P4, but complained of losing six tenths in sector one alone due to "no straight-line speed."
Hadjar start from the back due to his grid penalty.
Verstappen competitive as jumped to P2 within 0.148s of Antonelli
.Lindblad impressing (my baby goat), who briefly led the session but finished P11, a strong showing.
Eliminated in Q2: Lawson, Gasly, Colapinto, Hulkenberg, Sainz, Bearman
Eliminated in Q1: Albon, Ocon, Bottas, Perez, Alonso (+4.1s), Stroll (+4.3s)
Verstappen on the front row, qualifying p2 after getting a tow from his teammate, who had a grid penalty. Red Bull looked much more competitive than Ferrari in pure qualifying pace
Ferrari "underperform," with Hamilton (5th) and Leclerc (6th) were very close but over half a second back. Both gained grid spots due to Norris' penalty
Norris qualifies P3 but starts P13, because he exceeded PU limit. Doing so gets an automatic 10-place grid penalty.
Hadjar set no time in Q3 because he had car issues from FP3, but he'll also drop to the back anyway due to his component penalty
Lindblad P8 (my babygoat), which is another strong result for the Racing Bulls rookie
**race pace graph unavailable yet. will update when it does.
Verstappen led into Eau Rouge off the start but Antonelli retook it down the Kemmel
All Mercedes engines failed to deploy full power at the start; Russell lost places, tangled with Hamilton at Les Combes and beached in the gravel. Safety Car deployed.
Russell's nightmare: had straight-line speed issues all weekend, then the engine deployment failure cost him any chance before the Hamilton collision ended his race. Now 50 points behind Antonelli in the standings
Hamilton got a 5-second penalty for the Russell-Hamilton collision, which he served during his Lap 20 pit stop.
Charles and Piastri made contact. Mostly Charles' fault, but no penalty given (for some reason).
During that same stop, a mechanic walked into the path of the front-right tyre and was knocked over (uninjured, thankfully). Ferrari fined €30,000 for unsafe release; Hamilton cleared of blame
Wolff's admission: Confirmed the power deployment problem affected all Mercedes engines at the start
Still investigating why Russell lacked straight-line speed vs Antonelli all weekend: "Sometimes our best is not good enough"- whatever that means.
Hadjar P6 from the back (p22); very impressive.
Bortoleto P8 for a second straight race (impressive all around), Audi now within 1 point of Williams in constructors'
Alpine and Racing Bulls both on 61 points after Colapinto (also my baby goat) beat Lawson in a three-wide Kemmel battle for the final point
Championship: Antonelli leads by 45 over Hamilton, 50 over Russell. Hamilton is second in the standings, with 45-points behind.
race pace for Ham vs Leclerc:
Stint 1: Mediums (Laps 2–19)
Both very evenly matched, trading tenths throughout; Typical lap pace: low 1:51s for both
Hamilton had some slightly quicker individual laps early on (e.g. Lap 9: HAM 1:50.199 vs LEC 1:50.651)
Lap 18 shows a slow sector for both (~2:03/2:02)-- VSC deployment, which triggered the Ferrari pit call for Leclerc
Both pitted from Medium onto Hard
Lap 21 out-laps were slow (~2:11 LEC, ~2:18 HAM — Hamilton's longer out-lap suggests he pitted slightly later or had a slower release)
Stint 2: Hards (Laps 22–44)
LEC stronger in the early hard laps (22–28): consistently ~0.1–0.2s quicker per lap
From lap 29 onwards Hamilton began matching and then beating Leclerc by laps 31–34 HAM was clearly faster (e.g. Lap 33: HAM 1:49.454 vs LEC 1:50.229)
Final laps (38–44) remained very tight, with Hamilton edging most of them
Leclerc had better early pace on both compounds but faded relative to Hamilton on the hards
Hamilton was the stronger finisher, as his pace in the final 10–12 laps was notably better, though by then the gap between them in the race result (P2 LEC, P4 HAM after penalty) was already set by strategy and the earlier incidents
other race context articles (paywalled so they are uploaded instead):
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