F1 2026: Belgian Grand Prix Preview and Predictions

After Charles Leclerc delivered Ferrari’s 250th F1 race win in Silverstone two weekends ago, racing moves to the iconic Spa for the Belgian Grand Prix. With only two races to go before the summer break, teams will be looking to head into the month-long break with rhythm and some crucial points.

Ahead of the Belgian Grand Prix 2026 this weekend, here’s our race preview and predictions.

Can Ferrari keep the title fight up?

Two second place finishes and two wins in the last five races has seen Ferrari well and truly arrive at the Constructor’s Championship fight as the Italian team have put their name in the hat for the title against Mercedes. While Mercedes are still 78 points ahead of Ferrari in the standings, Ferrari will be looking to close the gap heading into the summer break.

Ferrari have shown strong race pace since the pre-season tests but failed to fight for the wins until Lewis Hamilton’s win in Barcelona.  Leclerc followed it up with a win at Silverstone to bring themselves right into the title fight. Right from Hamilton’s second place finish at Monaco, where he was six seconds behind Kimi Antonelli, Ferrari have been closing the gap to Mercedes. Over the last three races, not only has Ferrari won two of them but also outqualified one Mercedes to deny a front-row lock out for the Silver Arrows. 

Coming to Spa, Ferrari should be high on confidence as it’s a track they have done well and should suit their current machinery. While Mercedes are in the fight for the win on almost all weekends given their package, expect Ferrari to continue to take the fight to Mercedes and we expect a tight fight in Belgium as well. 

Pole prediction: George Russell / Kimi Antonelli

Race winners prediction: Mercedes / Ferrari

Antonelli under pressure?

At the end of the sixth round of the ongoing Formula One 2026 season when the Monaco Grand Prix 2026 concluded with Kimi Antonelli picking up his fifth win in six races, the young Italian led the Drivers’ Championship by 66 points and was 68 points clear of his teammate, George Russell. 

Three races post that, Russell is now only 25 points behind Antonelli with Antonelli having suffered a DNF and a harrowing mechanical issue in the last three races. Reliability issues have hurt Antonelli on Sundays but the young Italian has also shown nerves on track. He is in his second season in Formula One and in a championship battle and this will be a test of his mantle and skill. A championship battle against your teammate is never easy but Antonelli has shown that he has the skills on Sunday to take the win but he will be tested when he’s not leading the pack and has to move to the front. 

Antonelli would want to go into the summer break with a substantial lead in the championship battle and he needs to do that by having two strong weekends starting from the Belgian one. Antonelli will be under the spotlight in Belgian but count on the young Italian to bounce back strongly after a couple of rough weekends. 

The McLaren situation

While Mercedes and Ferrari fight for the win week in and out and Red Bull are struggling to keep up with the front two, there is another team who is floating on their own, detached from the rest – McLaren. The reigning Constructors’ champions had a horror start to the season as they had one DNS in the season opener in Australia and a double DNS in China. Lando Norris suffered retirements in Canada and Monaco as well and while McLaren are well clear of the rest of the midfield, they are clearly a step behind Ferrari and Mercedes this season. 

Saturdays haven’t been ideal for McLaren as they are yet to get on the front row and starting behind the Ferrari and Mercedeses means they have to play catch up on Sundays. While they are able to comfortably steer clear of the rest of the field and are mostly fighting with Red Bull for the final podium spot and a strong haul of points, the British team will be hoping for more, especially after the season they had in 2025.

McLaren are 154 points behind Mercedes in the Constructors’ standings and don’t seem likely to defend their title this year. McLaren are running on their own this year and don’t expect them to suddenly burst in the fight for race wins.

F1 Belgian Grand Prix 2026: Race details

Circuit: Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps
Venue: Stavelot, Belgium
Practice Session 1 time: 17:00 IST, July 17, 2026
Practice Session 2 time: 20:30 IST, July 17, 2026
Practice Session 3: 16:00 IST, July 18, 2026
Qualifying time: 19:30 IST, July 18, 2026
Main race time: 18:30 IST, July 19, 2026
Where to watch: F1 TV Pro / FanCode