2026 Belgian Grand Prix Race Review

Linus O'Howell
1 day ago
3 min read

Antonelli Bounces Back as Russell Retires

For the first time since Monaco, Andrea Kimi Antonelli saw the chequered flag first to take victory as his Championship lead was extended due to George Russell DNF’ing on the opening lap! Charles Leclerc gave it his all to win back-to-back Races for Ferrari, whilst Max Verstappen rounded out the Podium around the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps!

The Biggest Talking Points

Andrea Kimi Antonelli got the start that he needed to remain in the lead heading into Turn 1, whilst the run through Eau Rouge and up the Kemmel straight saw Charles Leclerc shoot up to second, whilst George Russell dropped back! In fact, at the next corner, Russell would see his Grand Prix come to an end after just 1 sector following contact with former teammate Lewis Hamilton! Lewis would end up receiving a 5-second time penalty for this incident, but the fact that George called it a racing incident probably tells you that the FIA got this wrong! Due to all of this, a Safety Car was brought out, with the Race getting back underway on Lap 5! Max Verstappen would quickly get by Leclerc for P2, whilst Oscar Piastri was flying along behind the Ferrari! However, Leclerc would squeeze Piastri out at Turn 5, resulting in Oscar picking up some damage! Unbelievably, Charles didn’t actually get a penalty for this, which is even more of a baffling decision than the Lewis one! Anyway, the next big moment of the Race came when a Virtual Safety Car was called after Kimi Antonelli and Max Verstappen had both already made their pit stop! However, Ferrari hadn’t, meaning Leclerc was able to jump into the lead of the Grand Prix once he passed Lando Norris (who was yet to pit)!

Elsewhere in the field, the two Racing Bulls got very close to one another, with Arvid Lindblad not giving Liam Lawson a ton of room on the outside at Turn 5! For some reason, McLaren seemed reluctant to pit Lando Norris, meaning he lost pretty much all of the time he’d made up by the time he finally did pit! Also, on that pit stop, it was slow, so well done McLaren! Lewis Hamilton was pretty annoyed all day, with Ferrari failing to adjust his front wing during his pit stop, but he was at least able to re-overtake Oscar Piastri for P4! Meanwhile, at the front, Andrea Kimi Antonelli was able to catch and pass Charles Leclerc to retake the lead of the Grand Prix, with the Mercedes just too fast for the Ferrari to rechallenge!

The Standout Drives in the Race

I’ve given out two 10’s for the 2026 Belgian Grand Prix, and the first one is obviously for Andrea Kimi Antonelli! Even with the Virtual Safety Car making his life an awful lot more difficult, Kimi never panicked, making a decisive move on Charles Leclerc to extend his Championship lead to a healthier 45 points (over Lewis Hamilton)! The other driver I’ve given out maximum points to is Gabriel Bortoleto, simply because he’s managed to finish best of the rest for Audi! A P8 finish; brilliant from Gabby! Elsewhere, Charles Leclerc did a very good job, but I can’t give him a 10 as I feel he should’ve received a penalty, whilst Max Verstappen will be pretty pleased to have returned to the Podium! I also want to give a massive shoutout to Isack Hadjar for going from P21 to P6, whilst Arvid Lindblad and Franco Colapinto both came home in the points!

Drivers Who Had a Shocker

As always, I haven’t given out a single 1 for today’s Race, with no one really doing anything wrong in all honesty! Granted, Williams lacked any sort of pace, whilst Esteban Ocon always seems to finish multiple positions behind his Haas teammate! Aston Martin are also horrendous; they continue to get worse every passing week, whilst Sergio Perez suffered a suspension failure! And finally, whilst he did nothing wrong, nothing has gone to plan for George Russell in 2026; he clearly doesn’t like his car, he doesn’t trust it, and his bad luck seems endless!