– After Mercedes was not found near the front in the first session, the Silver Arrows turned the tables in the second practice in Spa-Francorchamps (follow Formula 1 2026 live in the ticker) in the afternoon and took the best time.
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In a session interrupted by two red flags, World Championship leader Kimi Antonelli set a time of 1:45.944 minutes, just under two tenths of a second faster than Lando Norris, who took second place in the McLaren.
Only behind them came the two fastest from the first session: Max Verstappen (Red Bull) was already just under half a second behind in third, Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) was seven and a half tenths behind, which was still enough for fourth place.
Hamilton’s teammate Charles Leclerc was found only in eleventh place with a 1.5 second deficit, while Oscar Piastri, after his hydraulic failure in the first session, only managed eleven laps and finished sixth behind Isack Hadjar (Red Bull).
George Russell (8th) was even 1.3 seconds behind his teammate, so he ended up behind Franco Colapinto (7th/Alpine). As often, the two Racing Bulls of Arvid Lindblad and Liam Lawson occupied the last two top-10 positions.
Nico Hülkenberg was only 17th in his Audi with a 2.4 second deficit. The big worry again was the Aston Martins, who were more than five seconds off the pace – 1.5 seconds behind Cadillac.
The session had to be interrupted by two red flags: first the track had to be cleaned of gravel that Max Verstappen had stirred up, later there was an accident involving Pierre Gasly.
The most important points in brief:
Result: 2nd Free Practice in Spa-Francorchamps
Photos: Grand Prix of Belgium 2026
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Why was there the first red flag?
After twelve minutes, the activity was suddenly stopped. However, a stationary or crashed car was not the reason; instead, the track had to be cleared of gravel.
The (co-)culprit: Max Verstappen. The Dutchman had gone a bit wide in turn 14 on a fast lap and had pushed a lot of stones onto the asphalt, which had to be removed first.
After a short break of about five minutes, the session could continue normally.
Why was there the second red flag?
A quarter of an hour before the end, there was the first major crash of the weekend. Pierre Gasly suddenly rolled over the track without a rear wing and with a bent right rear wheel and parked his Alpine A526 between turns 14 and 15.
The Frenchman had gotten into the gravel at the exit of turn 13 and was pulled out. Before that, he had to countersteer briefly, which caused him to run out of space on the track. Gasly touched the track boundary with the right rear side of the car and then spun again. Fortunately, he was uninjured.
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“I just lost it out of nowhere,” Gasly radioed to his team. “I must have lost the rear.”
What do the long runs say?
Due to the red flag in the final phase, the long runs in Belgium were quite short this time. Mercedes and Red Bull had been able to complete the most laps among the top teams beforehand. Antonelli was the fastest of the leading drivers with an average of 1:51.5 minutes, followed by Verstappen, who was three tenths slower at 1:51.8 minutes.
F1: Grand Prix of Belgium (Spa) 2026
Russell was another tenth behind Verstappen, while Hadjar was quite a bit behind in this regard – although different stint lengths were driven. Mercedes also stood out again due to better tire wear compared to Red Bull.
At Ferrari, the first lap looked quite good, but their long run can hardly be evaluated due to the short distance. So there are still some question marks to clarify before Saturday and Sunday.
What was going on with Max Verstappen?
The Dutchman complained during the session about the gear shifts in his RB22. “My goodness, these damn gear shifts,” he grumbled on the radio. “Unbelievable, man. Why are they so bad? That’s unacceptable.”
However, the tensions seemed to have calmed quickly after the session: “I always react very sensitively to such things because I want to work on it and improve it,” he said when asked about the problems.
“I think there was a software update or downgrade, which meant it took a little while for the gear shifts to be learned, and in the end it got a bit better again.”
In general, he had no problems with the car: “The car was in a pretty good window. In the second free practice, you probably see a bit more of the actual gap, but that’s nothing shocking or unexpected,” said the four-time world champion. “The balance was quite okay.”
What’s next at the 2026 Belgian Grand Prix
Formula 1 Saturday (July 18) in Spa-Francorchamps begins at 12:30 pm with the third and final free practice. At 4 pm, qualifying for the race on Sunday follows. Kevin Scheuren and Stefan Ehlen will report live from 9 pm on the Formel1.de YouTube channel and discuss all important topics about qualifying.
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On Sunday (July 19), the race start in Spa-Francorchamps is scheduled for 3 pm. At 8 pm, Kevin Scheuren and Stefan Ehlen will start their Grand Prix analysis to finish just in time before the start of the World Cup final between Spain and Argentina. As always, channel members can ask their questions live.
All information about streams and TV broadcasts in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland can be found in our current overview. Details about the weather forecast are available in our preview.
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After Spa, it continues immediately with the Hungarian Grand Prix next weekend. Then follows the summer break with three race-free weekends in a row. (View the 2026 race calendar here!)
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