Key events
Antonelli takes pole
Verstappen gets the tow and beats Norris but Antonelli beats him with 1:44.361. Verstappen +0.317, Norris left at +0.440, Russell +0.508.
Hadjar once again leading Verstappen. Bortoleto is the Audi meat in a Mercedes sandwich, which could just help Russell, suggests David Croft.
We are back under way. Bernie Collins has been arguing Lando Norris should stick, as he would overtake quickly anyone in 11th to 15th that might wind up ahead, but he is going to twist.
We will be back under way shortly. Here is the test card.
Hadjar did not set a time, he just did his job for Verstappen. Piastri touched the gravel, it seems, and is +0.661 on partially used tyres.
Red flag for gravel. Norris, remember, is heading for 11th as it stands.
It is so tight at the top. Antonelli +0.039, Leclerc +0.092, Verstappen +0.183. Hamilton 0.261, Russell 0.355.
Norris fastest in 1:44.801! Leclerc up to third.
First Q3 times see Verstappen 1:44.984, but Antonelli 1:44.840.
Hadjar out in front of Verstappen, able to give him a tow, as predicted.
That delay was not too bad and Q3 is on.
Karun Chandhok uses the lull to show how Antonelli is just attacking the corners much better than Russell.
Q3 delayed. Hulkenberg has a hydraulic leak and has to stop on the circuit.
Q2 eliminations
Out go Lawson, Gasly, Colapinto, Hulkenberg, Sainz and Bearman. Bortoleto gets the Audi into Q3, a good result for him worth eighth on the grid, given the penalties for Norris and Hadjar.
Russell stays eighth.
The question here is can anyone get out of the drop zone to mess up Hadjar and Red Bull.
Final runs starting and Russell is saving new tyres for Q3. Mercedes confident he is through.
Russell is more than half a second down on Antonelli but has 0.45 over Lawson in 11th.
The drop zone has Lawson, Gasly, Hulkenberg, Colapinto, Sainz and Bearman.
Norris third at 0.312 and Hamilton 0.401. Russell pushed down to eighth …
Verstappen splits the Mercedes pair. 0.447 behind Antonelli, but then Leclerc goes +0.255.
Antonelli in fact running ahead of Russell and comes in 1:45.142 with the Briton +0.547.
Phoney start over, everyone running. Russell out early and looking to put down a marker.
Q2 has started/not started as everyone sits.
“The field is both tight and developing rapidly,” Vowles says, as he tries to keep fans’ hopes in check.
You have to feel for the drivers at the back, week in week out. “We have to make a better car,” Williams’s James Vowles admits.
As ever we don’t learn too much from Q1, but Hamilton running well after some initial tyre-temperature problems will be a boost in the wake of his crash and Norris going fastest is the best response he can offer to his penalty.
Q1 eliminations
Out go Albon, Ocon, Bottas, Perez, Alonso and Stroll.
Better for Hamilton, beats Russell. +0.259 for the rebuilt Ferrari.
Antonelli now seventh and Russell up to fourth, +0.320.
It’s only Q1 but still strange to see Antonelli in fifth.
Lindblad’s fourth fastest at +0.326 after the first runs, so RBs of different stripes second, third and fourth. Lawson is +0.636 in ninth.
Seven minutes to go but the drop zone is Colapinto, Ocon, Perez, Bottas, Albon and Stroll.
Norris goes fastest in 1:45.865, and Hadjar beats Verstappen. Leclerc has split the Mercedes pair. Hamilton is 10th.
Verstappen with 1:45.930, with Antonelli +0.374 and Russell +0.490. And Lindblad has done +0.261!
Spa’s length means that it is easier for people to find gaps in Q1. None of the congestion you get at the Red Bull Ring.
Lewis Hamilton is running in his rebuilt Ferrari.
Sergio Perez the first man on the board with a 1:49.307.
Antonelli, Russell and Verstappen are running.
The train is on the move.
Perez, Bottas and Stroll are the first men out. Bernie Collins reckons they may go for three runs.
Q1 here we go. David Croft and Martin Brundle discussing Red Bull tactics: can Hadjar, on a bottomless penalty, give Verstappen a helping hand in Q3?
After the heat of the Red Bull Ring and Silverstone, temperatures are barely above 20C in Belgium this weekend.
Antonelli looking relaxed, Verstappen focused, as qualifying approaches.
Spa is the longest circuit on the calendar, at 7.004 km (4.35 miles), with Las Vegas in second 800m shorter.
And here, with 10 minutes to go, are the constructors:
1 Mercedes 333pts
2 Ferrari 255
3 McLaren 179
4 Red Bull 128
5 Alpine 60
6 Racing Bulls 59
7 Haas 21
8 Williams 11
9 Audi 6
10 Aston Martin 1
11 Cadillac 0
Here are the drivers’ standings going into the weekend:
1 Kimi Antonelli Mercedes 179pts
2 George Russell Mercedes 154
3 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari 147
4 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 108
5 Lando Norris McLaren 97
6 Oscar Piastri McLaren 82
7 Max Verstappen Red Bull 76
8 Isack Hadjar Red Bull 52
9 Pierre Gasly Alpine 42
10 Liam Lawson Racing Bulls 39
11 Arvid Lindblad Racing Bulls 20
12 Oliver Bearman Haas 18
13 Franco Colapinto Alpine 18
14 Gabriel Bortoleto Audi 6
15 Carlos Sainz Williams 6
16 Alexander Albon Williams 5
17 Esteban Ocon Haas 3
18 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin 1
Aside from Hamilton’s crash, did things change in FP3? Antonelli fastest again, but Russell at least came up to fourth. Norris, facing that 10-place penalty, at least looks in good shape to minimise its effects.
1 Kimi Antonelli Mercedes 1:45.990
2 Lando Norris McLaren +0.139s
3 Max Verstappen Red Bull +0.148s
4 George Russell Mercedes +0.367s
5 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari +0.392s
6 Charles Leclerc Ferrari +0.760s
7 Oscar Piastri McLaren +0.795s
8 Nico Hülkenberg Audi +0.934s
9 Gabriel Bortoleto Audi +1.059s
10 Isack Hadjar Red Bull +1.106s
11 Arvid Lindblad Racing Bulls +1.186s
12 Liam Lawson Racing Bulls +1.700s
13 Franco Colapinto Alpine +1.914s
14 Oliver Bearman Haas +1.930s
15 Pierre Gasly Alpine +1.959s
16 Alexander Albon Williams +2.000s
17 Valtteri Bottas Cadillac +2.654s
18 Carlos Sainz Williams +2.702s
19 Esteban Ocon Haas +2.740s
20 Sergio Pérez Cadillac +3.000s
21 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin +4.165s
22 Lance Stroll Aston Martin +4.641s
Giles Richards reported on Friday that George Russell is not fooled by his closing the gap at the top, as it has been based on Kimi Antonelli’s problems rather than him finding things easier:
“I know exactly what I need to do,” he said. “But going out and then achieving it when I’ve driven for 20 years in a certain way – and even more so, it’s been working for 20 years … Now suddenly it’s working 50% of the time but 50% of the other time it’s not working. Trying to recognise, is it going to work this weekend my normal way? Or do I need to adapt my approach?
“When I’ve performed at my very best I’ve just been performing subconsciously, not even been thinking about driving and now you’re having to think, trying to make these new techniques become subconscious techniques. That is the challenge.”
Coming eighth in FP1 indicates the continuing difficulties.
And here’s FP2, with Russell still in eighth but Antonelli leaping up from sixth to first:
1 Kimi Antonelli Mercedes 1:45.944
2 Lando Norris McLaren +0.190s
3 Max Verstappen Red Bull +0.472s
4 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari +0.747s
5 Isack Hadjar Red Bull +0.770s
6 Oscar Piastri McLaren +0.982s
7 Franco Colapinto Alpine +1.203s
8 George Russell Mercedes +1.285s
9 Arvid Lindblad Racing Bulls +1.350s
10 Liam Lawson Racing Bulls +1.490s
11 Charles Leclerc Ferrari +1.524s
12 Oliver Bearman Haas +1.848s
13 Gabriel Bortoleto Audi +2.008s
14 Esteban Ocon Haas +2.014s
15 Alexander Albon Williams +2.075s
16 Carlos Sainz Williams +2.312s
17 Nico Hülkenberg Audi +2.389s
18 Pierre Gasly Alpine +3.011s
19 Valtteri Bottas Cadillac +3.255s
20 Sergio Pérez Cadillac +3.652s
21 Lance Stroll Aston Martin +5.187s
22 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin +5.474s
What happened in Friday’s free practice? Well, as Giles Richards reported:
… in first practice Red Bull’s Max Verstappen was quickest, edging out the Ferraris of Lewis Hamilton and Leclerc, with Antonelli in sixth and Russell in eighth. Antonelli was on top in the second session, almost two-tenths clear of McLaren’s Lando Norris, who has a 10-place grid penalty for the race but Russell once more struggled to dial in his car, finishing in eighth, over a second behind his teammate.
Here are the FP1 times:
1 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1:47.070
2 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari +0.145s
3 Charles Leclerc Ferrari +0.207s
4 Isack Hadjar Red Bull +0.252s
5 Oscar Piastri McLaren +0.452s
6 Kimi Antonelli Mercedes +0.533s
7 Lando Norris McLaren +0.861s
8 George Russell Mercedes +0.889s
9 Arvid Lindblad Racing Bulls +1.164s
10 Gabriel Bortoleto Audi +1.336s
11 Liam Lawson Racing Bulls +1.362s
12 Nico Hülkenberg Audi +1.892s
13 Oliver Bearman Haas +1.940s
14 Alexander Albon Williams +2.267s
15 Franco Colapinto Alpine +2.333s
16 Esteban Ocon Haas +2.379s
17 Pierre Gasly Alpine +2.642s
18 Valtteri Bottas Cadillac +2.769s
19 Sergio Pérez Cadillac +3.156s
20 Carlos Sainz Williams +3.792s
21 Lance Stroll Aston Martin +5.738s
22 Jak Crawford Aston Martin +6.129s
Jak Crawford, the reserve driver, had a run-out in place of Fernando Alonso … and picked up a pit-lane penalty. An Aston Martin speeding …
It looks as though Hamilton will be able to take part in qualifying OK, with half an hour to the off. Ferrari have been hard at work.
In addition to Norris, Red Bull’s Isack Hadjar and the two Aston Martin drivers, Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll, all face grid penalties for taking new power unit items. Given Aston Martin’s struggles, only Hadjar’s loss has any great significance; he is sent to the back of the field, for taking three elements. However, so is Alonso. If my calculations are correct, we will finish with Stroll 20th, Hadjar 21st and Alonso 22nd.
Preamble
In The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, the most unspeakably offensive word in most of the cosmos is coincidentally also the name of a small country on Earth. Will anyone be taking Belgium’s name in vain after this weekend’s grand prix?
Well, after this morning’s final practice session, perhaps Lewis Hamilton.
For Hamilton, 2025 was one long bleep. But even if he has dropped back from second after Monaco and Barcelona – his first Ferrari win – to third in the standings, he is only seven points worse off than Russell and gained substantially on Antonelli. However, as PA reports:
Lewis Hamilton will face a race against time to take part in qualifying for tomorrow’s Belgian Grand Prix after he crashed out of final practice.
In the final seconds on the concluding session at Spa-Francorchamps, Hamilton lost control of his Ferrari on the exit of Fagnes, racing through the gravel with the rear of his car thudding into the barrier.
“I have destroyed the car, mate,” said Hamilton as he came to an abrupt stop in the middle of the track.
Hamilton, unharmed in the accident, got out of his car to inspect the significant damage to the back right of his Ferrari – with his back-right wheel facing the wrong way.
Earlier in the season, it was a Mercedes driver and Max Verstappen who were getting regularly bleeped over their radios. More recently, it’s been a Mercedes driver and Max Verstappen who have been getting bleeped on their radios, the change being that the former is now Kimi Antonelli rather than George Russell. Two finishes outside the points in the past three races after five straight wins have cut the 19-year-old’s championship lead to 25, from a high of 66. His car’s manoeuvrability failure at Silverstone when closing on the lead tested his youthful vocabulary.
Life seemed to be improving for Verstappen with his second place in Austria, against a background of speculation over his Red Bull future. But the Dutchman crashing out at Silverstone had the bleep police out in force.
Even Charles Leclerc, after the horror of retiring at his home grand prix in Monaco and then 15th in Barcelona as Hamilton was coming first and second, was swearing, albeit suavely, but won for Ferrari at Silverstone.
Lando Norris, meanwhile, had his blue moments in China, along with Oscar Piastri because of McLaren’s double “did not start” with a power unit failure, followed by another problem in Japan. However Norris does in qualifying, he will start a further 10 places back, as the team have opted to take a new, improved Mercedes power unit now. McLaren explained: “We have chosen to do this in (expletive deleted), a circuit where overtaking is relatively more prevalent, as opposed to the following two events in Hungary and Zandvoort.”
According to Douglas Adams, the concept Belgium embodies “is so revolting that the publication or broadcast of the word is utterly forbidden in all parts of the Galaxy except one, where they don’t know what it means”. Join me from 2.30pm for the buildup to qualifying, then from 3pm to see who, if anyone, will today be joining Zaphod Beeblebrox in exclaiming: “Holy Belgium, man!”