Winners and losers from Belgian GP F1 practice

Formula 1 returns to Spa-Francorchamps for the 71st Belgian Grand Prix but 2026 brings harvesting woes and worries.

Friday practice was therefore prime time to test harvesting strategies - and trial new parts, of which there were many declared in Belgium.

Here's who we thought won - and lost - over Friday's pair of practice sessions.

Winner: Kimi Antonelli

Mercedes' relatively low-key performance in FP1 hinted at a harder weekend than anticipated, but certainly on Antonelli's side of the garage, there was already a major course correction come the second session.

"It was a messy first session where we didn't have the car in the right place, we thought there'd be a bit more grip than there was - but it looks like other people pitched theirs a bit better. But then we had a chance between sessions to reposition it all and drivers were a lot happier with the car in the afternoon," explained Mercedes trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin.

But it's very obvious Antonelli was the happier of the two drivers. He was in the expected spot in the qualifying simulations, and the standout in long runs - at least as far as can be gleaned from the red flag-limited data.

There was a strange - needless - bit of angst against Williams driver Carlos Sainz, but it seemed more evidence of youthful hot-headedness rather than any sort of title pressure.

"Long run felt very strong as well [as the single lap], but obviously the car changed quite a bit between the two sessions so a lot of work to do overnight in order to be ready for tomorrow and on Sunday," Antonelli summed up. - Valentin Khorounzhiy

Loser - George Russell

Well off the pace in both practice sessions, the Mercedes driver is set for a long Sunday if this pace continues.

He was three-tenths behind Antonelli as Mercedes took P6 and P8 in FP1 - where a power unit was partly to blame for that deficit. In FP2, Russell was 1.285s off his leading team-mate even though that FP1 issue was fixed.

Our long-run analysis implies that Russell might be suffering on the straights compared to Antonelli, and it's an issue he needs to get on top of swiftly, given Spa-Francorchamps's long straights. - SK

Winner: Max Verstappen

Verstappen topped a practice session for the first time in 2026 with his FP1 performance, and then finished third in FP2.

The Dutchman had his usual gearbox gripes but the positives were clear: long run pace sufficient to put him in contention with Mercedes, at least at this early stage, and short runs that could put him in pole contention too.

"The car has been in a good window. Probably in FP2 you see a little bit more of the real gap still, but that's nothing shocking, just expected," Verstappen said, alluding to the half-second gap between him and FP2 leader Antonelli.

Although he was a respectable margin off Verstappen, team-mate Isack Hadjar has a back-of-grid engine penalty to contend with. - SK

Loser: Aston Martin

Aston Martin knew it was in for one more humbling weekend at Spa before its B-spec car, and so it's proving.

Team representative Mike Krack insists the pace is not worse than expected, and he may well be right, but it's still quite something to see the timesheets so merciless, both cars over five seconds adrift in both sessions and both the regular drivers aware they're fighting for nothing.

"We knew this track was going to be probably the hardest of all, but we did not get demotivated by that," Krack said.

But he also said: "We need to be realistic. We are quite far off. The positions you gain are from attrition, but there's nothing to fight for in terms of result. I think it would be quite naive to think you can do something. For that, we are too far off.

"But we still have two cars. We try to do our best, try to execute well, make the right decisions." - VK

Winner - Franco Colapinto

Alpine’s Colapinto sprung the biggest surprise in FP2 as he went seventh for Alpine, ahead of Mercedes’s struggling George Russell.

Colapinto was 0.15s ahead of the fastest Racing Bull, and more reassuring will be the six-tenths gap to next-best midfielder, Haas’s Ollie Bearman in 12th.

The Argentinian also beat team-mate Pierre Gasly in both practice sessions, by three-tenths in FP1 and then by 1.8s in FP2 - where Gasly had a big crash before Stavelot and had his fastest laptime deleted (which was slower than Colapinto's best anyway).

“I think generally I've been feeling comfortable with the car this year. In general I felt much better than last season and it's showing in the results and showing on track,” said Colapinto.

He attributed his turn of pace to the cooler conditions and to some of the “lower-speed” corners at Spa-Francorchamps. - SK

Loser - Pierre Gasly

A crash exiting the Fagnes chicane tore off Gasly’s rear wing and damaged his tyres at the end of FP2, while the fate of the gearbox and drivetrain is unknown.

A snap of oversteer exiting the chicane led Gasly to lose the rear and smash the barriers.

Perhaps it was a more spectacular-looking crash than the mistake deserved, but Alpine now have a long evening ahead - and Gasly has to work out why he’s behind Colapinto. - SK

Winner - Haas

A decent showing from Haas, with Ollie Bearman saying the car “felt strong” on Friday.

The team back-to-back tested a new front wing with Bearman and the Briton said it represented a slight improvement - despite conceding the team was “nowhere near” Racing Bulls and Alpine.

Better balance and behaviour represent a good foundation to build on for Haas as it seeks to close that gap to Williams.

Esteban Ocon was under two-tenths off Bearman in FP2, after being four-tenths off in FP1 where the Frenchman finished 16th to Bearman’s 13th.

Q3 and points might be a stretch, but Haas is set to capitalise if any of the usual top-10 runners falter. - SK