The F1 field headed into Qualifying at the 2026 Belgian GP after an eventful final practice session at Spa-Francorchamps.
Kimi Antonelli topped FP3 for Mercedes with a 1:45.990, continuing his strong weekend after also setting the pace in FP2. Lando Norris finished second, while Max Verstappen completed the top three after waiting until 20 minutes into the session to begin his running.
George Russell’s struggles continued as he finished over a second away from teammate Antonelli, despite briefly moving into the top three later in the session. Ferrari also had a messy end to practice, with Charles Leclerc losing laps to traffic before Lewis Hamilton went through the gravel and hit the wall in the final moments.
With Antonelli looking strong, Russell still searching for answers, and Hamilton’s late crash leaving Ferrari with work to do, qualifying promised another unpredictable fight around Spa.
Q1
Eighteen minutes remained as Q1 began, though nobody rushed out straight away. Lance Stroll’s Aston Martin led the field out, followed by Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Pérez, with Max Verstappen and both Mercedes drivers joining soon after.
Stroll aborted his lap and pitted on used softs, handing the top spot to Pérez ahead of Bottas. The rest of the field then took to the track on fresh soft tyres.
With eleven minutes left of Q2 of the F1 Belgian GP Qualifying session, Pierre Gasly beat Franco Colapinto’s time before Verstappen smashed both with a 1m 45.930s. Antonelli finished almost four tenths back, a surprising gap given how his lap had looked. Russell trailed him by a tenth.
Arvid Lindblad climbed to second, 0.261 seconds off Verstappen, before Charles Leclerc split the two Mercedes cars. Isack Hadjar, despite a looming grid penalty, ran just 0.132 seconds behind his teammate. Lando Norris then took top spot, going 0.065 seconds quicker than Verstappen, while Mercedes again looked off the pace, much as they had in FP1.
By the end of the first runs, Norris led with a 1m 45.865s, ahead of the two Red Bulls and Lindblad. Antonelli sat fifth, ahead of Leclerc, Russell, Oscar Piastri, Liam Lawson and Lewis Hamilton, who complained about his tyre temperatures. Colapinto, Esteban Ocon, Pérez, Bottas, Fernando Alonso and Stroll occupied the elimination zone heading into the final runs.
With one minute left, the track’s length ruled out a second attempt for anyone who locked up. Drivers including Ocon, Colapinto, Alex Albon and Nico Hulkenberg all needed their final laps to count, while Aston Martin and Cadillac looked short on time.
Ocon finished eighteenth and was eliminated. Oliver Bearman rose to thirteenth, then Hulkenberg moved ahead into twelfth. Gasly and Colapinto both then improved, taking twelfth and thirteenth respectively and knocking Albon out of Q1.
Q2
Q2 began with the field cut from 22 cars to 16, with another six set to fall away before Q3.
No queue formed at the pit lane exit as drivers waited before heading out for two runs each, though Oliver Bearman and Carlos Sainz had only used tyres available. Gasly edged his teammate through the first sector, while Antonelli went three tenths quicker than the Alpine pair and half a second up on Verstappen, a poor opening sector for the Dutchman.
Antonelli’s 1m 45.142s proved the benchmark, with Russell over half a second back. Verstappen recovered through the second sector to take second, though still 0.447 seconds off the pace. Lindblad moved to third before Lando Norris went second, only for Leclerc to go quicker and reclaim the spot. Lewis Hamilton then rose to fourth, dropping Verstappen to fifth.
The order read Antonelli, Leclerc, Norris, Hamilton, Verstappen, Lindblad, Piastri, Russell, Hadjar and Bortoleto. Lawson, Gasly, Hülkenberg, Colapinto, Sainz and Bearman sat in the drop zone.
With five minutes left, Russell’s eighth place looked shaky, sitting 0.547 seconds off his teammate and needing another lap. The midfield filed out for final runs, Hadjar leading Gasly and Colapinto, while Russell went again on used rubber. Hamilton, Antonelli, Norris and Verstappen all stayed in the garage, satisfied with their times, while Leclerc returned on used softs.
Lawson needed a strong final lap to progress, and Hadjar pushed hard to help his teammate through. Both set personal bests, with Hadjar crossing the line to hold ninth. Gasly, Colapinto, Hülkenberg and Sainz all failed to advance, leaving Lawson to claim the final spot in eleventh.
The start of Q3 was then delayed after Hülkenberg stopped on track with a hydraulic leak, his team radioing him to park up as he helped marshals push the car clear.
Q3
Q3 got underway with Antonelli looking hard to deny, drivers wasting no time jostling for position in the pits.
Hadjar led out on used tyres ahead of Verstappen, while Hadjar, Bortoleto, Lindblad and Piastri all had just one fresh set between their runs. Hadjar pulled clear early, denying Verstappen a tow, while Bortoleto instead picked one up from Leclerc down the Kemmel Straight. Antonelli couldn’t build much of a gap in the opening sector, before Hadjar dropped back late to tow Verstappen through the final sector.
On their second runs, Hadjar again led out on used softs ahead of his teammate, clearly repeating the tactic. Antonelli followed, with Bortoleto splitting the Mercedes pair, then came Leclerc, Hamilton, Lindblad and Piastri, with Norris last out.
Verstappen’s opening sector sat three tenths off Antonelli’s best, though the middle sector favoured Red Bull. Russell and Antonelli both nailed their first sectors, Leclerc a tenth back, before Verstappen matched Antonelli’s 46.0 through the middle.
Verstappen, aided by the tow, crossed first to go quickest, only for Antonelli to beat it. Russell managed just fourth after a poor final sector, and Leclerc couldn’t respond either. Norris then ran wide and bailed his lap entirely.
Antonelli took pole during the F1 Belgian GP Qualifying session by three tenths from Verstappen, who had run slightly too close to Hadjar late on. Replays showed Norris had dipped a wheel into the gravel at Turn 13, dropping him from third to thirteenth on the grid.
2026 F1 Belgian GP Qualifying results
