Mercedes’ Andrea Kimi Antonelli topped Friday Practice for 2026 Belgian Grand Prix at Circuit Spa-Francorchamps.
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen topped FP1 but Antonelli rebounded in FP2 to emerge quickest overall in a busy day of practice, albeit chaotic in FP2 with two red flags.
FP1
Williams’ Carlos Sainz was first on track but it was Cadillac’s Sergio Perez who set the initial benchmark pace of 1m 53.734 on the hard tyres, whilst many drivers opted for the medium tyres in their opening stints.
Red Bull however opted to split their opening tyre strategies as Isack Hadjar on the soft tyre headed his teammate, Verstappen on the medium tyre by 0.389 seconds, having set 1m 48.918 on his soft tyre compound.
Verstappen however twice lowered the benchmark time to an eventual 1m 47.859 on his medium tyres, of which the second time was posted in the 16th minute and immediately bettered by Hadjar who went fastest by 0.081s with 1m 47.778 as the opening stint concluded.
Once the soft-tyre qualifying simulations began, Antonelli set 1m 47.603 as the new benchmark time but Hadjar responded with 1m 47.322 to go quickest again on the half-hour mark.
Verstappen a minute later found further time to top the session with 1m 47.070 by 0.252s from Hadjar, as the Frenchman slipped to fourth come the end of the session after Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc improved to second and third respectively.
McLaren’s Oscar Piastri finished the session fifth-fastest but suffered a hydraulic pressure issue in the closing minutes, which left him crawling back to the pits at slow speed to maximise their repair time.
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 1m 47.070 |
| 2 | Lewis Hamilton | Ferrari | + 0.145 |
| 3 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | + 0.207 |
| 4 | Isack Hadjar | Red Bull | + 0.252 |
| 5 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren | + 0.452 |
| 6 | Andrea Kimi Antonelli | Mercedes | + 0.533 |
| 7 | Lando Norris | McLaren | + 0.861 |
| 8 | George Russell | Mercedes | + 0.889 |
| 9 | Arvid Lindblad | Racing Bulls | + 1.164 |
| 10 | Gabriel Bortoleto | Audi | + 1.336 |
| 11 | Liam Lawson | Racing Bulls | + 1.362 |
| 12 | Nico Hulkenberg | Audi | + 1.892 |
| 13 | Oliver Bearman | Haas | + 1.940 |
| 14 | Alex Albon | Williams | + 2.267 |
| 15 | Franco Colapinto | Alpine | + 2.333 |
| 16 | Esteban Ocon | Haas | + 2.379 |
| 17 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine | + 2.642 |
| 18 | Valtteri Bottas | Cadillac | + 2.769 |
| 19 | Sergio Perez | Cadillac | + 3.156 |
| 20 | Carlos Sainz | Williams | + 3.792 |
| 21 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | + 5.738 |
| 22 | Jak Crawford | Aston Martin | + 6.129 |
FP2
Bottas was first out on track and set 1m 51.014 as the initial benchmark time as everyone opted for a medium-tyre opening stint, but Antonelli moments later set 1m 46.911 to set the pace.
Hadjar fell 0.011s shy of the Italian whilst Verstappen was a further 0.020s behind in third as the red flags came out in the 12th minute due to gravel on track at Stavelot.
Once the session resumed, everyone bar Piastri – who hadn’t done an opening run due to repair to his hydraulic issue – switched to soft-tyre qualifying simulations and Hadjar lowered the benchmark time to 1m 46.714 in the 22nd minute.
Verstappen a minute later lowered the benchmark to 1m 46.416 but Antonelli responded with 1m 45.944 to top the session, whilst Norris waited until the 31st minute to show his pace as he fell 0.190s shy in second.
Red flags were back out with 14 minutes left after Gasly lost the rear of his Alpine on the exit of Campus and slid into the outside barriers, but the Frenchman escaped the incident unhurt and the session resumed with two minutes left to allow cars to do a practice start on the grid.
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | Andrea Kimi Antonelli | Mercedes | 1m 45.944 |
| 2 | Lando Norris | McLaren | + 0.190 |
| 3 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | + 0.472 |
| 4 | Lewis Hamilton | Ferrari | + 0.747 |
| 5 | Isack Hadjar | Red Bull | + 0.770 |
| 6 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren | + 0.982 |
| 7 | Franco Colapinto | Alpine | + 1.203 |
| 8 | George Russell | Mercedes | + 1.285 |
| 9 | Arvid Lindblad | Racing Bulls | + 1.350 |
| 10 | Liam Lawson | Racing Bulls | + 1.490 |
| 11 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | + 1.524 |
| 12 | Oliver Bearman | Haas | + 1.848 |
| 13 | Gabriel Bortoleto | Audi | + 2.008 |
| 14 | Esteban Ocon | Haas | + 2.014 |
| 15 | Alex Albon | Williams | + 2.075 |
| 16 | Carlos Sainz | Williams | + 2.312 |
| 17 | Nico Hulkenberg | Audi | + 2.389 |
| 18 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine | + 3.011 |
| 19 | Valtteri Bottas | Cadillac | + 3.255 |
| 20 | Sergio Perez | Cadillac | + 3.652 |
| 21 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | + 5.187 |
| 22 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin | + 5.474 |