The 2026 Belgian Grand Prix (officially known as the Formula 1 Moët & Chandon Belgian Grand Prix 2026) is a Formula One motor race that took place on 19 July 2026 at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps in Stavelot, Belgium. It was the tenth round of the 2026 Formula One World Championship.
Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) converted pole position into his sixth victory of both the season and his Formula One career. Antonelli briefly lost the lead to Max Verstappen (Red Bull) on the opening lap and later to Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) after the latter benefited from a virtual safety car-assisted pit stop. He recovered to pass Leclerc on lap 34 and won by just under two seconds, with Leclerc finishing second and Verstappen completing the podium. Antonelli's championship rival and teammate George Russell retired following an opening-lap collision with Lewis Hamilton, enabling Antonelli to extend his championship lead to 45 points over Hamilton and 50 over Russell.
Background The event was held at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps in Stavelot for the 59th time in the circuit's history, across the weekend of 17–19 July. The Grand Prix was the tenth round of the 2026 Formula One World Championship and the 71st running of the Belgian Grand Prix as a round of the Formula One World Championship.
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.
Entrants
The drivers and teams were the same as published in the season entry list, with no additional stand-in drivers for the race. 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.
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.
Practice Three free practice sessions were held for the event. The first free practice session was held on 17 July 2026, at 13:30 local time (UTC+2), and was topped by Max Verstappen (Red Bull) ahead of Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) and his teammate Charles Leclerc. The second free practice session was held on the same day, at 17:00 local time, and was topped by Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) ahead of Lando Norris (McLaren) and Verstappen. The third free practice session was held on 18 July 2026, at 12:30 local time, and was topped by Antonelli ahead of Norris and Verstappen. The session was most notable for Hamilton crashing at the tail end of the session and breaking his right-rear suspension.
Qualifying Qualifying was held on 18 July 2026, at 16:00 local time (UTC+2), and determined the starting grid order for the race.
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. 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. Lando Norris, Isack Hadjar, Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso were due to receive grid penalties for exceeding their permitted allocations of power unit components.
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. 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.
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. 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.
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. 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. Piastri qualified seventh ahead of Lindblad and Bortoleto, while Hadjar was classified tenth without setting a lap time.
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. 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. 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.
Qualifying classification DriverConstructorQ1Q2Q3112 Kimi Antonelli Mercedes 1:46.304 1:45.142 1:44.361123 Max Verstappen 1:45.930 1:45.589 1:44.678231 Lando Norris McLaren-Mercedes 1:45.865 1:45.454 1:44.80113463 George Russell Mercedes 1:46.185 1:45.689 1:44.8693516 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:46.278 1:45.397 1:44.8934644 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari 1:46.124 1:45.543 1:44.8955781 Oscar Piastri McLaren-Mercedes 1:46.433 1:45.671 1:45.0166841 Arvid Lindblad Racing Bulls-Red Bull Ford 1:46.191 1:45.629 1:45.143795 Audi 1:46.609 1:46.082 1:45.6288106 Isack Hadjar 1:46.062 1:45.823 No time211130 Liam Lawson Racing Bulls-Red Bull Ford 1:46.501 1:46.120N/A91210 Pierre Gasly Alpine-Mercedes 1:46.679 1:46.331N/A101343 Alpine-Mercedes 1:46.795 1:46.392N/A111427 Nico Hülkenberg Audi 1:46.893 1:46.671N/A121555 Carlos Sainz Jr. Atlassian Williams-Mercedes 1:47.080 1:46.777N/A191687 Oliver Bearman Haas-Ferrari 1:47.113 1:46.779N/A141723 Alexander Albon Atlassian Williams-Mercedes 1:47.120N/AN/A151831 Esteban Ocon Haas-Ferrari 1:47.801N/AN/A161977 Valtteri Bottas Cadillac-Ferrari 1:47.823N/AN/A172011 Sergio Pérez Cadillac-Ferrari 1:47.971N/AN/A182114 Fernando Alonso 1:50.002N/AN/A222218 Lance Stroll 1:50.177N/AN/A20107% time: 1:53.275Sources: Notes – Lando Norris received a ten-place grid penalty for exceeding his quota of power unit elements. – Isack Hadjar received a 30-place grid penalty for exceeding his quota of power unit elements. – Carlos Sainz Jr. received a ten-place grid penalty for exceeding his quota of power unit elements. – Fernando Alonso received a 20-place grid penalty for exceeding his quota of power unit elements. – Lance Stroll received a ten-place grid penalty for exceeding his quota of power unit elements.
Race The race was held on 19 July 2026, at 15:00 local time (UTC+2), and was run for 44 laps.
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.
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.