Five Takeaways: Belgian Grand Prix
- Mia Wallace
- 12 hours ago
- 6 min read
The tenth chapter of the 2026 Formula One season unfolded last weekend on The Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps; the longest track on the calendar and home to the fewest number of laps.
Even with the low 44-lap count, the challenge of Spa is unforgiving, with the venue promising no shortage of overtakes or high-speed drama. Here are DIVEBOMB’s five takeaways from the 2026 Belgian Grand Prix.
Antonelli’s confidence powers through
After a painful DNF last time around in Silverstone, Kimi Antonelli pieced together another stellar weekend, leaving Spa with the precious first-place hardware.
Antonelli looked strong all weekend long, looming towards the top of the times during free practice and delivering yet another dominant qualifying performance. After Saturday’s qualifying, the nineteen-year-old left the track with his sixth pole position, and a qualifying time half a second clear of his teammate.
Going into the Grand Prix on Sunday, Antonelli faced early pressure from the storming Red Bull of Max Verstappen behind, who, although punchy at the start, would ultimately fall back behind the Mercedes.
It was smooth sailing for Antonelli for some time, until a mid-race safety car gifted Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc with a free pit stop. Leclerc positioned his Ferrari as best as he could; however, his efforts were for nought as the faster Mercedes surpassed him.
With his win in Belgium, combined with the retirement of his nearest championship rival, Antonelli now leads the championship by 45 points ahead of Lewis Hamilton.
Russell trails Antonelli all weekend, ends in retirement
Russell’s championship run reads another dreadful chapter, as he was forced to retire from the Belgian Grand Prix.
The Briton struggled for pace all weekend, facing a large deficit to his teammate in terms of straight-line speed. Where Antonelli was flying, Russell was losing chunks of time and battery in the straight sectors of the same racetrack.
“It’s super frustrating,” said Russell after Saturday’s qualifying. “Battling against Kimi at the best of times is very tough in a fair fight. When we’re in this situation it’s impossible. You’re losing all the lap time in the straights.”
Russell’s frustrations would unfortunately carry into Sunday’s Grand Prix. On the opening lap, his Mercedes was quickly swarmed by competitors due to his slower straight-line speed. Russell attempted to make a move around the outside of Hamilton’s Ferrari, which he made contact with before spinning into the gravel. Russell’s Mercedes would be unsalvageable.
Speaking to the media after the race, Russell was yet again at a loss for words. "It's one thing after another, after another, after another," he said.
"Not good enough on all regards. Try and reset again, done it enough times this season and see what we can do."
Russell entered the weekend fresh off a second-place finish in Silverstone, 25 points away from his teammate. After Sunday’s DNF, the points gap has doubled, setting him 50 points away from Antonelli.
Leclerc relishes back-to-back podium finish
Earlier in the season, Ferrari’s Leclerc was struggling race after race to extract performance from his car. While his veteran teammate delivered constant results, Leclerc was struggling even to complete a race.
This month, though, things have been looking up for the Monegasque. He was the race winner in Silverstone, and this round in Belgium, he was back on the podium. Starting fourth on the grid, Leclerc’s Ferrari had a strong start; quick off the line and advancing swiftly to the front of the pack.
Later, Leclerc would narrowly avoid a penalty for causing a collision, and benefit from a free pit stop under the safety car. Holding off the Mercedes of Antonelli would be his largest obstacle of the session, but ultimately he was unable to keep the Italian at bay.
Even still, second place will be another boost for both Leclerc and Ferrari. In a race where Hamilton struggled, Leclerc’s podium finish still proves that Ferrari are well in the mix.
Red Bull up to speed
Following his crash in Silverstone last round, rumours of Verstappen’s exit from Red Bull Racing reached an all-time high heading into the Belgian Grand Prix.
Where the Red Bull challenger excelled in its engine make-up, it lacked in pace and continuous technical issues. Needing to leave the weekend on a positive note, Red Bull got what they wished for; ditching their upgraded wing in exchange for a podium finish for Verstappen and a strong recovery drive from Isack Hadjar.
Verstappen started the race in second position on the grid, a result of a tow that his teammate provided during Saturday’s qualifying. Although the tow was largely successful, Verstappen still seemed to be sceptical about the Red Bull’s pace, as he explained that without the tow, he would have likely been over five tenths off Antonelli’s qualifying time.
Verstappen’s worries were pretty spot on, as his speed was simply outmatched by that of the Mercedes and Ferrari ahead of him. Still, a third-place finish is something to be optimistic about, especially given the DNF he faced in Britain.
On the other side of the garage, Verstappen’s teammate put together an impressive recovery drive. Starting at the back of the pack in 21st due to grid place penalties, Hadjar was able to recover places quickly, and ultimately crossed the line in sixth place.
Between Hadjar and Verstappen's drives, there is much for the team over at Red Bull to be pleased with heading into Hungary.
McLaren miss the mark…again
As we head into the eleventh round of the 2026 season, last year’s Constructors’ Champions are still on the back foot. Over the weekend in Spa, there were some positives, but ultimately mistakes and lack of pace proved costly for McLaren yet again.
Lando Norris kicked off the weekend already at a disadvantage. McLaren opted to take on a newly upgraded power component for Norris, meaning that he would be outside of the three allocated components a driver is allowed in a single season. This would mean that the reigning world champion would have a 10-place grid penalty for the Belgian Grand Prix.
Not ideal, but the Briton still put on quite a show during Saturday’s qualifying, holding the provisional pole position for a portion of Q3 and ultimately qualifying third on the grid.
Finally, the McLaren was starting to show pace strong enough to challenge that of the Ferrari, and most shockingly, the Mercedes.
Although Norris’ efforts granted him the third fastest time of the session, his penalty placed him thirteenth on the starting grid for Sunday’s Grand Prix. He recovered places quickly during the race, and even was eyeing a potential podium, but a long stop in the pits effectively ended his podium hopes.
“It should have been a lot better today, honestly,” he said after finishing seventh. “The pace was easily good enough for a potential podium. I mean, we just had a terrible pit stop. We were unlucky with the VSCs as well.”
For Norris’ teammate, things were just as troublesome out on the track. Despite Spa-Francorchamps being Oscar Piastri’s favourite track, it seemed that things simply weren’t hooking up for him on this occasion.
Piastri had an early collision with Leclerc’s Ferrari, which led to damage to his car that troubled him for the entirety of the Grand Prix. Even still, the Australian was optimistic about the pace in the car.
“It was certainly not a straightforward race,” Piastri concluded. “I felt like our pace was really good – especially at the beginning of the stints it looked strong. Obviously after the damage with Leclerc that made things definitely more difficult.”
Looking Ahead
We go racing again in Hungary next week, the final instalment before we reach the F1 summer break.
As the paddock prepares to head to Budapest, the questions continue to pile up: Can anyone stop Antonelli’s run? Will McLaren finally be able to solve their execution issues? Will we see Mercedes’ Russell head into some better luck as the championship reaches its pivotal stages? With an August pause looming on the horizon, the pressure has never been higher.
Edited by Marit Everett
Comments