The tenth round of the 2026 Formula 1 season takes place at the Belgian Grand Prix.
One of the most famous tracks on the F1 calendar, Spa-Francorchamps has played host to some truly iconic moments.
As ever, teams have brought a number of updates to the track, with McLaren bringing a new rear wing to test on Friday, making use of the long Kemmel Straight for data gathering. This wing, however, is understood not to be McLaren's 'Macarena' wing, which was taken to Austria but not used.
After Max Verstappen's crash at Silverstone, Red Bull has also elected to bring a more conventional wing to Belgium. In the wake of his off, the Dutchman branded the wing "super-dangerous", with Red Bull committing to a full investigation into the underlying problem.
Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff has warned that the Silver Arrows must fix their reliability woes, with Ferrari now breathing down the neck of points-leader Kimi Antonelli after taking two wins from the last three weekends.
Verstappen initially led the way on Friday, before Antonelli unlocked pace in his Mercedes in the second session, with it appearing as though there is little to separate the top four teams on single-lap pace.
Lando Norris, Isack Hadjar, and Lance Stroll have already had grid penalties confirmed for taking power unit components beyond the pre-set limits, with Fernando Alonso joining this number on Saturday morning.
2026 Belgian Grand Prix Saturday schedule
FP3 11:30am BST - 12:30pm BST
Qualifying: 3:00pm BST - 4:00pm BST
Norris, Verstappen and Hadjar, the top three, are the only drivers who have remained in the pits. Antonelli is on used tyres and isn't improving, but Russell is right on the pace.
Colapinto, Ocon, Perez, Bottas, Alonso and Stroll are the six in the drop zone at present.
The track falls silent, and the drivers are back in the pits, fitting new tyres and/or topping up with fuel.
Norris now moves to the top with a 1m45.865s.
The top four after the opening runs are Norris, Verstappen, Hadjar, and Lindblad.
Hamilton is eighth with his initial effort. That's a comfortable lap, and he will only get faster as he rebuilds confidence in his Ferrari.
But Verstappen now puts his fastest time of the weekend with a 1m45.930s effort. Antonelli is back on that by 0.374s. Lindblad sneaks between the pair, continuing his impressive weekend.
A 1m47.539s for Gasly, as Colapinto slots in behind.
Here come the first times, with the screen a mix of purple and green.
Impressively, Hamilton is already out on the track. He's doing this for the team now.
Perez goes fastest of the two Cadillac drivers with a 1m49.307s. Stroll returned straight to the pits, so that could maybe be his session over already.
Not much messing about from Mercedes, with Antonelli and Russell both out on the track already.
But here we go. Stroll, Bottas, and Perez all head out. For Aston Martin, this is just about clearing the 107% marker and parking up.
The rush is...not happening.
The time ticks over to 3pm BST, and the lights go green at the end of the pit lane. Here we go.
The music has played, and we're ready to get going with qualifying!
As the clock ticks down to 15 minutes before go time, we have just been told that the risk of rain in the session is 10%.
Aston Martin go purple in sector one...
We're 25 minutes away from qualifying. For Norris with a 10-place penalty, Hadjar with a back-of-the-grid penalty, and Stroll and Alonso with their ultimately irrelevant penalties, qualifying will be a different prospect to normal.
In the cases of Hadjar and Norris, they could be used to create a tow for their team-mates in Q3. This could well be the case for Hadjar, but McLaren is yet to show any indication that this could be the plan.
Away from the seriousness of the weekend, this from Mercedes is a real heartwarming moment. Without the fans, there is no racing, and it's great to see the paddock being opened up. File this under 'things we love to see'.
Work is still ongoing, and Ferrari has changed the suspension, floor, rear wing, and gearbox. The team has fired up the engine, and all looks good for the seven-time champion to take part in Q1.
He may be a little bit late out, but touch wood, things are all back to normal.
A little bit of breaking news for you, as Sainz avoids a penalty for failing to slow under double waved yellows following Hamilton's crash.
The full explanation reads: "During the session Car 44 collided with the barrier at the exit of turn 13 triggering a double yellow sector from the approach to turn 12 to turn 14. Car 55 and Car 3 had both passed through this double yellow sector on the previous lap.
"Car 55 was behind Car 3 on the approach to the double yellow zone. Both cars commenced braking prior to the start of the zone but the driver of Car 3 applied more brake pressure than the driver of Car 55 had expected and as a consequence the driver of Car 55 had to take evasive action and move to the right of Car 3, locking brakes but not overtaking. Both drivers stated they were surprised, the driver of Car 3 by Car 55 closing so quickly after Car 3 had commenced braking before the zone, and the driver of Car 55 by Car 3 braking more heavily than he had anticipated.
"The relevant rules require a driver to reduce speed significantly when passing through a double waved yellow marshalling sector. Compliance with the rules does not expressly require that a significant speed reduction occur before the sector but in this case both drivers had commenced to do so, both braking approximately 80m before the start of the sector. By the time Car 55 entered the double yellow sector, it had reduced speed significantly and maintained a significantly reduced speed throughout the sector.
"The Stewards were therefore satisfied that the driver of Car 55 committed no infringement, the locking of brakes was attributable to a misunderstanding of relative braking and determined to take no further action."
Anyway, we should probably turn back to Formula 1 talk. That's what we're all here for, after all.
For anyone who is of a similar vintage to me and played TOCA Race Driver or TOCA 3, Durksen's race engineer sounds exactly the same as the race engineer on those games.
Excuse me while I dig out the PlayStation 2 and turn back time.
This rather scary spin for John Bennett was the cause of the safety car.
Durksen wins from Stenshorne and Beganovic, but will the result stand? The weaving has not even been noted yet. But it is clear that the top two were weaving.
In third, Beganovic could be on for the win here. Tsolov follows in fourth, but any further progression from the championship leader looks unlikely.