Practice report
Formula 1 Belgian GP
F1 Belgian GP: Kimi Antonelli fastest as Lewis Hamilton crashes at session's end
The seven-time world champion left his Ferrari mechanics with a big rebuild ahead of qualifying for the Belgian Grand Prix
Jake Boxall-Legge
Edited: Jul 18, 2026, 12:56 PM
Copy link
Share on Viber
Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes
Photo by: Sam Bloxham / LAT Images via Getty Images
Kimi Antonelli concluded the final Formula 1 practice session at the Belgian Grand Prix on top, as Lewis Hamilton crashed at the end of the session on the exit of Turn 13.
Antonelli had set a 1m45.990s with his opening soft-tyre run of the session, laying down the gauntlet for his challengers at the end of the first 30 minutes of the session - but it proved too difficult to beat.
Hamilton attempted to get closer to Antonelli's effort with his final soft-tyre lap of the session, but produced a near carbon-copy of Pierre Gasly's accident in FP2; the Ferrari driver carried too much speed through the second part of Les Fagnes and drew wide into the gravel, clipping the wall with his rear-right tyre to rip his wheel out of alignment.
Read Also:
It gives Ferrari a considerable amount of work to do ahead of qualifying to repair the damage, depending on the impact the collision had on his gearbox.
After sparse running across the opening 10 minutes of the session given the limited quantity of tyres available, the Spa-Francorchamps circuit soon became a touch more lively. With his first run on the soft tyres, Hamilton was first to break below the 1m47s mark with his 1m46.789s lap - his second run on the same set of soft tyres.
Max Verstappen and George Russell were not able to beat this on their first efforts on the soft tyre, but Antonelli could; the Italian rifled across the line with this 1m45.990s to sit a mammoth eight tenths clear of Hamilton. Verstappen, meanwhile, had found time with his second lap - but fell just half a tenth shy of Hamilton's effort.
Lewis Hamilton ended the session in the wall
Photo by: Marc Fleury
On a second set of tyres, Verstappen uncovered much of the time back over Antonelli and soaked up a slipstream from Valtteri Bottas' Cadillac in the final sector - but still fell 0.148s shy at the line of the Italian's benchmark. This was subsequently beaten by Lando Norris by 0.009s, a late first effort on softs having spent most of the session producing a long run on the medium compound.
Antonelli did not improve on his second effort with new softs; he aborted the first run after going wide at La Source, traced to his inability to get the final gear in early enough to benefit from a final burst of engine braking. On the follow-up, he was over a quarter of a second down on his best - but this was deleted for track limits in any case.
Thus, Norris and Verstappen slotted into second and third on the timing boards. Russell had got up to fourth with his second set of tyres, and then backed off on a second run after encountering Sergio Perez through Raidillon. Charles Leclerc endured a similar fate on a new set of softs, this time finding a slow Pierre Gasly at Turn 9, but moved up to sixth - one position below Hamilton - on the follow-up effort.
Oscar Piastri once again trailed Norris and was seventh overall, half a second down on his team-mate. Both Audis found their way into the top 10, Nico Hulkenberg eighth from Gabriel Bortoleto, while Isack Hadjar was 10th overall.
Hadjar overcame a stop and a stall in the pit lane, but his Red Bull was recovered by his mechanics and he was able to continue with the session. The Frenchman reported struggles with an inability to get heat into his tyres, particularly at the front axle. He ended the session just 0.08s clear of Arvid Lindblad, who was ahead of Liam Lawson.
F1 Belgian GP: FP3 Results
All Stats
Cla Driver # Chassis Engine Laps Time Interval Tyres km/h 1
A. Kimi Antonelli Mercedes
12 
Mercedes Mercedes 13
1'45.990
S 237.894 2 L. Norris McLaren 1
McLaren Mercedes 21
+0.139
1'46.129
0.139 S 237.582 3 M. Verstappen Red Bull Racing 3
Red Bull Red Bull 14
+0.148
1'46.138
0.009 S 237.562 4 G. Russell Mercedes 63
Mercedes Mercedes 12
+0.367
1'46.357
0.219 S 237.073 5 L. Hamilton Ferrari 44
Ferrari Ferrari 17
+0.392
1'46.382
0.025 S 237.017 6 C. Leclerc Ferrari 16
Ferrari Ferrari 17
+0.760
1'46.750
0.368 S 236.200 7 O. Piastri McLaren 81
McLaren Mercedes 20
+0.795
1'46.785
0.035 S 236.123 8 N. Hulkenberg Audi 27
Audi Audi 20
+0.934
1'46.924
0.139 S 235.816 9 G. Bortoleto Audi 5
Audi Audi 18
+1.059
1'47.049
0.125 S 235.540 10 I. Hadjar Red Bull Racing 6
Red Bull Red Bull 19
+1.106
1'47.096
0.047 M 235.437 11 A. Lindblad Racing Bulls 41
RB Red Bull 23
+1.186
1'47.176
0.080 S 235.261 12 L. Lawson Racing Bulls 30
RB Red Bull 23
+1.700
1'47.690
0.514 S 234.138 13 F. Colapinto Alpine 43
Alpine Mercedes 20
+1.914
1'47.904
0.214 S 233.674 14 O. Bearman Haas F1 Team 87
Haas Ferrari 23
+1.930
1'47.920
0.016 S 233.639 15 P. Gasly Alpine 10
Alpine Mercedes 21
+1.959
1'47.949
0.029 S 233.576 16 A. Albon Williams 23
Williams Mercedes 19
+2.000
1'47.990
0.041 S 233.488 17 V. Bottas Cadillac F1 Team 77
Cadillac Ferrari 22
+2.654
1'48.644
0.654 S 232.082 18 C. Sainz Williams 55
Williams Mercedes 20
+2.702
1'48.692
0.048 S 231.980 19 E. Ocon Haas F1 Team 31
Haas Ferrari 22
+2.740
1'48.730
0.038 S 231.899 20 S. Perez Cadillac F1 Team 11
Cadillac Ferrari 21
+3.000
1'48.990
0.260 S 231.345 21 F. Alonso Aston Martin Racing 14
Aston Martin Honda 17
+4.165
1'50.155
1.165 S 228.899 22 L. Stroll Aston Martin Racing 18
Aston Martin Honda 15
+4.641
1'50.631
0.476 S 227.914 View full results
Read Also:
Formula 1Why Cadillac abandoned its split F1 livery
Formula 1Aston Martin braced for one more weekend of pain in F1 Belgian GP
Formula 1How Franco Colapinto has survived and thrived in the hothouse intensity of F1
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Why Cadillac abandoned its split F1 livery
Next article Guenther Steiner delivers brutal verdict on Aston Martin's upcoming F1 upgrades
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Jake Boxall-Legge
Ayao Komatsu: Rafael Camara chosen for F1 2027 seat on speed, not Ferrari links
Formula 1
Formula 1
Singapore GP
Ayao Komatsu: Rafael Camara chosen for F1 2027 seat on speed, not Ferrari links
Latest news
MotoGP riders say 850cc bikes will be less physical and more fun to ride
MotoGP
MGP MotoGP
Indonesian GP
23 min
MotoGP riders say 850cc bikes will be less physical and more fun to ride
Christian Horner calls for F1 budget cap rethink: "Teams are spending $500 or $600m"
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
Singapore GP
2 h
Christian Horner calls for F1 budget cap rethink: "Teams are spending $500 or $600m"
Phillip Island to remain in use despite MotoGP and WorldSBK departures
MotoGP
MGP MotoGP
Australian GP
3 h
Phillip Island to remain in use despite MotoGP and WorldSBK departures
Feature
Discover prime content
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe