Max Verstappen outpaces the Ferraris at Spa; Kimi Antonelli finishes sixth

Max Verstappen got off to a great start to the 2026 Belgian Grand Prix weekend, the tenth round of the Formula 1 World Championship. The Red Bull driver immediately set the pace at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit, posting the fastest time in the first free practice session with a lap of 1’47″070 on soft tires. It is still too early to draw a clear picture of the pecking order ahead of qualifying and the race, but Red Bull has shown strong potential right from the start. This was further confirmed by French driver Isack Hadjar’s fourth-place finish, just 252 thousandths of a second behind his teammate.

The two Milton Keynes-based cars were sandwiched by the Ferraris, which had an encouraging session. Lewis Hamilton finished second, just 145 thousandths behind Verstappen, while Charles Leclerc came in third, 207 thousandths behind. In addition to their single-lap performance, the two Ferraris also showed positive signs in the race simulations conducted toward the end of the session, although it’s worth noting that the various teams’ work programs differed, making a direct comparison difficult.

Mercedes, on the other hand, took a more cautious approach. The Brackley-based team appears to have adopted a particularly conservative engine map, likely to safeguard the power unit’s reliability. World Championship leader Kimi Antonelli finished in sixth place, 533 thousandths behind the leader, while George Russell could not go beyond eighth place, nearly nine tenths off the fastest time. There were also positive signs from McLaren, with Oscar Piastri fifth, 452 thousandths behind Verstappen, and Lando Norris seventh, just ahead of Russell in a standings picture that remains to be determined ahead of the weekend’s decisive sessions.

Here are all the times:

1 Max Verstappen (Red Bull Racing) 1:47.070
2 Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) +0.145
3 Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) +0.207
4 Isack Hadjar (Red Bull Racing) +0.252
5 Oscar Piastri (McLaren) +0.452
6 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 F1 Team) +1.940
14 Alexander Albon (Williams) +2.267
15 Franco Colapinto (Alpine) +2.333
16 Esteban Ocon (Haas F1 Team) +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