(Motorsport-Total.com) – Kimi Antonelli secured the best time in the third free practice session for the 2026 Belgian Grand Prix and thus goes into the Formula 1 qualifying in Spa-Francorchamps on Saturday afternoon as the favorite. The Mercedes driver had already set the best time of the day on Friday and also took the top spot in the final session in good weather.
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Antonelli set his personal best lap time (1:45.990 minutes) already half an hour before the end. This first attempt was enough to remain first for the full 60 minutes, although he had to abort a later timed fast lap off the ideal line. An indication of how much he seems to be in control this weekend.
Second was (also like on Friday) the reigning world champion Lando Norris (McLaren), with a gap of 0.139 seconds. P3 to P5 followed Max Verstappen (Red Bull/+0.148), George Russell (Mercedes/+0.367), and Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari/+0.392).
For Hamilton, the practice ended with a scare: at the same spot as Pierre Gasly on Friday, he lost control of his Ferrari, slid into the gravel trap – and damaged the right rear suspension. A very unfortunate time for such extensive material damage, only two and a half hours before qualifying started.
“Sorry,” Hamilton apologized over the radio. He could no longer limp back to the team: the session ended under yellow flags because he stopped on the track. Formula 1 expert Günther Steiner said in an interview with ServusTV: “Something like that in the last minute helps no one. But they’ll get the car fixed again.”
On the topic:
Result: 3rd Free Practice Belgian GP
F1 ticker: Paddock live with Ruben Zimmermann
F1 show: Livestream on YouTube and Twitch (9 PM)
Antonelli fast again from the start
The third free practice session did not initially turn out to be too nerve-wracking. It took a quarter of an hour before Antonelli slowly got into the cockpit, and about half an hour until the first notable incident occurred: Isack Hadjar (Red Bull) stopped at the pit exit, at that time with eight laps completed.
Antonelli then delivered another demonstration of power after his Friday best time, immediately setting the pace with 1:45.990 minutes. At the halfway point of the session, he had a 0.799-second lead over his closest pursuer, Hamilton in the Ferrari. “I hope that one or two others can improve. Because eight tenths would be a completely different world,” feared Formula 1 expert Timo Glock in live commentary on Sky.
And for Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff, the worry lines about the second car deepened: 1.296 seconds behind, fifth place in the intermediate classification. By the end, Russell improved to fourth place and reduced the gap to an acceptable 0.367 seconds.
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Glock analyzes: “Antonelli is the one who goes out and can immediately deliver. He has this ease. Russell has the bad luck that small technical problems get stuck in his head. That is not the case with Antonelli.”
Hadjar was back on track a few minutes after his incident – but he was not happy: “Nothing is ready,” he complained over the radio. Verstappen’s mood was only slightly better. The “half local hero” complained that the upshifting was not smooth. As on Friday.
Hadjar slipped down to tenth place. Sixth was Charles Leclerc (Ferrari), but with a gap of four tenths to P5 (Hamilton). Oscar Piastri (McLaren) followed in seventh – and Nico Hülkenberg (Audi) was eighth, although race director Allan McNish had predicted on Friday that Spa could be one of the more difficult weekends for his team. “They are within a second. I think they will get both cars into Q3,” Steiner predicts.
Why does Formula 1 cover up its energy problem?
One topic remained on Saturday morning: energy management. Because the fast corners in Spa are not enough to charge the batteries for the entire lap, the drivers ran out of energy at the end of the straights. And the TV direction tries to consistently hide this from the viewers by ending the onboard live images, for example along Kemmel, before the cars run out of battery and visibly slow down.
Surprising, considering that energy management has been a defining topic in media coverage since the start of the season. Sky commentator Sascha Roos also cannot understand this: “Honestly, I don’t get it. It’s no secret that the cars are slower on the straights than last year. […] You can handle that transparently. It’s more annoying in the end than if you just talked openly about it. And that makes it difficult for everyone involved to a) understand and b) explain.”
What’s next at the Belgian Grand Prix
After the third free practice, qualifying is scheduled for Saturday afternoon from 4 PM. On Sunday, the race start in Spa-Francorchamps is set for 3 PM. At 8 PM, Kevin Scheuren and Stefan Ehlen will start their YouTube 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. (Here’s the link to the Formel1.de YouTube channel!)
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.
After Spa, the season continues directly with the Hungarian Grand Prix at the Hungaroring (July 24 to 26). Then follows the summer break with three race-free weekends in a row. (Here’s the link to the 2026 Formula 1 calendar!)
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