FP1 Highlights | 2026 Belgian Grand Prix

First practice at Spa, one of F1's most revered and renowned tracks that has borne witness to some brilliant battles and mighty manoeuvres over the years. It was Max Verstappen with the quickest lap of the hour clocked at 1 minute 47.070. Following the Dutchman's crashes at Spielberg and Silverstone, Red Bull have reverted to their standard rear wing after the team discovered a problem with their rotating Macarena variant. The four-time champion won three Grand Prix on the Bounce here, starting with 2021's rain-curtailed race, before taking the next two in more dramatic style. Teammate Isaac Hadjar was struggling with his setup early doors. My legs are touching my hands. I have less clearance than usual. It's a bit weird. OK, copy. We'll have a quick look. The Frenchman has said he'll probably take a new engine over the weekend, so could face a grid drop for Sunday's Grand Prix. He was P4 in this session. Ferrari have been the most successful team in Belgium. 18 times they've stood on the top step, 14 of those at this very track, and in 2026 they have a lineup to potentially add to that tally. Lewis Hamilton is one of the masters of this circuit, five times a winner here. He's first in 2010 for McLaren, and most recently for Mercedes two years ago. He was second fastest this time out, a tenth and a half back from Max, and one place better than Scuderia teammate Charles Leclerc, who touched the gravel at Turn 13. He knows how to win here too. In fact, the monogasque took his first victory in Formula 1 at this famed circuit back in 2019. Coming off his latest triumph at Silverstone, confidence should be high within the Maranello outfit. Lando Norris was on pole here 12 months ago, but the Briton is definitely looking at a tenth place grid penalty this weekend. McLaren opting to fit a new power electronics unit to his MCL40. They had held off fitting the new elements until a suitable moment, and Spa-Francorchamps overtaking opportunities could hopefully limit the damage. Teammate Oskar Piastri, winner here a year ago, ground to a halt later on, but managed to get going again. Oskar, you can keep driving slowly. Keep driving slowly. We have hydraulic pressure. I will update you when we lose it. Just be aware we may lose hydraulic pressure, so just keep going slow and careful. It's just going to back out of it, isn't it? Because they've obviously seen that they're losing some hydraulic pressure, so then you start risking crunching gearbox components or other bits and actually making the damage way worse. So that's why it's a precautionary stop, but then Tom Stallard, race engineer, is saying actually we might be able to get it back and then we can work on the car probably half an hour sooner than if it was left at the top of the Kemmel straight. Current Drivers' Championship leader Kimi Antonelli failed to grieve when he came across a slower-moving Carlos Sainz exiting Turn 15. Sainz, what an idiot! I wonder if that's a man that's not completely happy at the moment. When you're not having the easiest of runs, sometimes little things can frustrate you a lot more. Mercedes teammate George Russell was struggling for grip during his early excursions. The Briton trails his Italian colleague by 25 points in the driver's standings. The gap somewhat narrowed after the teenager failed to score in the last Grand Prix, having won the sprint. Liam Lawson put a wheel in the gravel at The racing bulls have been vying for best of the rest with their consistent points in recent races. On that form, they're likely to jump ahead of Alpine, who sit a point above them in the constructors' race, due largely to Pierre Gasly's performances since day one, scoring in every round bar Austria this year. In this session, Arvid Lindblad was P9, Lawson P11, with Alpine's respectively. A decent outing for Gabriel Bortoletto. The Brazilian finished in the points last time out, and in this session, it was a creditable P10 at the flag. Teammate Nico Hülkenberg finished two places further back. He locked up at Turn 8, one of several drivers who took a few goes around to get their eye in. Sainz locked up both front wheels coming into the Turn 1 hairpin. Both Williams drivers seemed downbeat during their Thursday media duties. The Spaniard admitting that the FW48 was not delivering and calling this season a character-building year. Not often we get a sunny day on a Grand Prix weekend at Spa. Fernando Alonso took advantage, setting out the session on the pit wall. The Jack Crawford was given another go in the Aston Martin. The two-time champ probably isn't missing much. No technical changes for the Silverstone-based team this time around. The much-anticipated upgrades are scheduled for Budapest next week. So it finished Verstappen top from Hamilton, Leclerc, Hajar and Piastri, followed by Antonelli, Norris, Russell, Lindblad and Bortoletto. P11 for Lawson, then came Hülkenberg, Behrmann, Albon, Colopinto, Ocon, Gasly, Bottas, Perez, Sainz, Stroll and Crawford.