Summary

Free practice one offered the possibility of a change in the F1 pecking order. The Mercedes of Antonelli and Russell were only in 6th and 8th positions. Red Bull led the way with Verstappen 1st and Hadjar 4th. The two Ferraris took 3rd and 4th, with McLaren on 5th and 7th. The usual top 4 teams, but not the usual running order.

Penalties for Norris, starting 13th, and Hadjar, starting last, gave some midfielders optimism for scoring points. The McLaren and RB tactics for these out of position drivers gave interesting solutions to the challenges they faced.

The race followed recent form: Antonelli lead from the start but was briefly passed by Verstappen, but Kimi retook the lead before the end of the lap. Several collisions on lap one impacted many. The appearance of the Virtual Safety Car (VSC) and the full Safety Car (SC) gave some order shuffling, but the predominant feature remains the application of battery boost. Dubbed “yo-yo racing” by McLaren when instructing Norris and Piastri running closely together.

With boost available on 3 of Spa' straights drivers had to choose when to use their batteries to give passing opportunities. Many chose Eau Rouge leading advantage along the Kemmel straight. Using boost early left many vulnerable to later application of boost, with many drivers later in the lap from Stavelot to Blanchimont.

Antonelli took the chequered flag, followed by Leclerc and Verstappen. Three different manufacturers on the podium. Russell was eliminated on lap one easing the job of Ferrari and Red Bull who collectively occupied the next four positions. Bortoleto (Audi), Lindblad (Racing Bull) and Colapinto (Alpine) completing the point scoring top 10 positions.

Antonelli continues to impress. Great maturity from a 19 year old teenager who leads the championship this year.

Practice

• FP1: Gave some promise of change to the Mercedes dominance so far. Verstappen led the way, with Mercedes only 6th and 8th (Ant/Rus). The Racing Bulls of Lindblad and Lawson were in 9th and 11th. The Audi's of Bortoleto and Hulkenberg completed the top half of the grid. Aston Martin continued to lag behind the rest of the field, continuing an embarrassing and frustrating season for Alonso and Stroll.
   
  Cadillac, Red Bull, and Williams all attempted to orchestrate slip-streaming to improve the time of the second car. Entertaining to watch, but as has happened many times before the difficulty of getting the correct distance between the cars at the best part of the track was ultimately futile.
• FP2: Followed similar pattern to FP1, but with Antonelli putting together some good laps to lead the field. Russell could only make 8th in the other Mercedes. Typically FP2 less significant as the teams focus on long run performance, but the order was very similar to FP1.
• FP3: Maintained similar positions to FP1/2, but Russell moved up to 4th place, confirming Mercedes continued advantage.

Qualifying

Antonelli took pole position with a 0.3sec lead. The next 6 positions were all within 1sec of Antonelli's time showing how tight the competition of 'best-of-the-rest' is intense. Saturday's order:- Verstappen, Norris, Russell, Leclerc, Hamilton and Piastri.

Hadjar had an engine change for Spa, which exceeds his season limit. His penalty being a start in last position. This meant Hadjar could assist Verstappen without suffering himself. He went out twice to give a tow, and reentered the pit lane without passing the timing beams. He delivered a tow to Verstappen on his 2 Q3 runs. The tows gave Verstappen a front row starting position; RB showing it was possible to successfully execute the tow strategy.

The Race

Norris had a 10 place grid penalty for using an electronics unit outside his allocated limits. Hadjar started last as a penalty for taking an engine outside his allocated limits. This gave McLaren and Red Bull the opportunity to employ different strategies to rescue their drivers penalties. McLaren started Norris on the hard compound tyres and asked him to go long. Most drivers pitted around lap 20. Norris ran until lap 40, preserving his tyres as best he could. He then utilised his fresher Medium tyres to ascend to 7th position.

Red Bull gave Hadjar a different strategy:- Start on an old hard set; change to an new medium set on lap 1; change onto a new Hard set under a safety car lap. This strategy worked well for Hadjar as he rose to finish 6th overall.

Lap 1:- Antonelli had a good start and led to the first corner. Verstappen used slip-stream to overtake Antonelli into (T2) Eau Rouge. Antonelli returned the complement along the Kemmel straight as they approached (T5) Raidillon. Other than pit stop laps, Antonelli was not headed again.

His team mate Russell had a bad start and lost 3 places by the run to (T5) Raidillon. Russell entered the corner alongside Hamilton, who needed some opposite lock to correct his over steering Ferrari. This drifted Hamilton into Russell who was spun into the gravel to immediately retire. A shame for Russell who had reduced Antonelli's championship to 25 points and was hoping to further reduce that lead at Spa. [also a shame for me as George is in my F1 team; and was the first to retire!!!]

Hamilton's car suffered some damage reducing his down force. He was also awarded a 5 second penalty for causing an avoidable collision. Lap 20 and Hamilton serves the 5 second. |The mechanics then change all 4 wheels and instruct Hamilton to go. Hamilton starts to leave the pit, only to collide with the Ferrari mechanic who was trying to adjust the front wing to suit the hard tyre profile. Hamilton stopped, the mechanic fell to the floor and rolled away, Hamilton was then released to resume racing.

Fortunately the mechanic was ok. However, the mechanic had not changed the wing setting meaning Hamilton now had 24 laps with the wing set for medium whilst he was on hards. He radioed to ask if the wing had been changed, and when told “no”, retorted that “that's why it won't turn in”. This pit lane error removed any real chance of Hamilton improving his position.

Piastri was following Hamilton when McLaren radioed to tell him to stay within 5 seconds as Hamilton was “under investigation for an unsafe release” Post race the stewards confirmed the unsafe release (the run over mechanic may have been a big clue) . The penalty a €30,000 to Ferrari but no time added for Hamilton.

Lap 41 and Antonelli has a 2nd warning for exceeding track limits. He had been advised he was losing time through the final chicane. His response “I'm pushing as much as I can and almost crashed there”; and clearly his 'pushing' was causing the exceeding track limits warning. This suggests the win may not have been quite as comfortable as it looked, but Antonelli maintained his pace and did not receive any more warnings. A remarkable ability to adjust his driving style 40 laps into a 44 lap race.

Final Positions

• 1. Ant, 2. Lec, 3.Ver, 4.Ham, 5. Pia, 6. |Had, 7.Nor, 8.Bor, 9. Lin, 10.Col.
• 11.Gas, 12. Law 13. Hul, 14. Bea, 15. Alb, 16. Sai, 17. Oco, 18. Bot, 19, Alo.
• DNF: 20 Str, 21 Per 22 Rus

Charles Leclerc was awarded the 'viewers' “Driver of the Day” with 17.7% of the votes cast. Isaac Hadjar came 3rd in this vote with 13.4% of the vote. Personally I think a drive from last place with a pit lane start to finish 6th, ahead of Norris starting 13th and only 4.3sec behind Piastri is noteworthy. Especially as Isaac is in his first season as Verstappen's team mate at Red Bull.

Next Race

The season continues with the next installment at the Hungarian GP at Hungaroring, Budapest 26th July 2026. A complete contrast to Spa, 2.7 miles compared to Spa's 4.3. Mostly slow corners with few overtaking opportunities

Lets hope for an enjoyable race