14:53
"Did you put front wing in or not?" asks Hamilton.
"No, we did not manage," responds Ferrari.
"F***. I can't turn the car," says Hamilton.
This explains what the mechanic was trying to do. His unsafe release will be looked at after the race.
Antonelli at Spa
© XPB Images
LIVE
F1 Belgian GP LIVE: Reaction after Antonelli wins at Spa
Live coverage of Sunday at the F1 Belgian Grand Prix
KEY MOMENTS
- Norris, Hadjar, Sainz, Alonso and Stroll take grid penalties
- Antonelli starts from pole
- Verstappen chases fifth Spa win
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, was not 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.
Kimi Antonelli proved impossible to beat in qualifying, as he set a scorching pace to take pole position. Verstappen secured second place thanks to a tow from Red Bull team-mate Isack Hadjar, who reached Q3 but was carrying a back-of-the-grid penalty. George Russell and Charles Leclerc start from the second row.
Lando Norris was the other high-profile driver with a grid drop. Having qualified in third place, he will start from 13th on the grid after taking a fourth set of control electronics for the season.
2026 Belgian Grand Prix Saturday schedule
Grand Prix: 2:00pm BST - 4:00pm BST
19 Jul 2026
14:50
We typed that very swiftly, because as we did so, Leclerc was steaming up behind Norris and used overtake mode to get by. The Ferrari driver leads.
Meanwhile, Hamilton is being looked at for an unsafe release, after striking a mechanic as he left the pit box.
14:49
At the halfway point, the top 10 are:
- Norris
- Leclerc
- Antonelli
- Verstappen
- Piastri
- Hamilton
- Hadjar
- Bortoleto
- Lindblad
- Lawson
14:46
The race resumes again. Norris leads but has not stopped. Leclerc is second with Antonelli and Verstappen behind.
14:45
Leclerc is in the net race lead! He is ahead of Antonelli by a few seconds.
14:45
"Box, box." In comes Leclerc, and Hamilton will follow him in. 11 seconds of time lost rather than around 25.
14:44
Hold the phone, Piastri has used his battery to push past Norris on the Kemmel Straight. But the VSC is out again. This will be short, so it's unlikely anyone will be able to take advantage of the situation.
14:43
Into the final chicane, Norris forces his way past Piastri.
"We are opening the gap to Piastri. We need to serve the five-second penalty, that is why." Hamilton finally gets an answer to why his planned strategy has been thrown out of the window.
14:42
Norris is now up to the gearbox of Piastri. These positions will be reversed very swiftly, with the pair on opposing strategies.
14:41
Antonelli pits
The VSC ended very quickly, and Antonelli pitted just after the period. Covering off Verstappen, Antonelli remains in the net race lead, although in fifth on track currently.
14:41
VSC deployed
Hamilton asks what lap he's on. When told he's on lap 18, he responds saying, "What the hell? I told you what strategy I wanted. Now you've put me out with everybody else."
14:39
Verstappen pits
In comes Verstappen. Mediums off, hards on, and he comes out just ahead of Hadjar.
Ferrari will drop behind Hadjar now. That window has closed, and Red Bull look in a very healthy position.
14:38
Antonelli has been given a gentle nudge to up the pace. He's two seconds clear of Verstappen at the front, but has been told his tyres are looking good, so he can use more of them.
14:37
No further action between Leclerc and Piastri. Given Hamilton's penalty earlier, the two decisions alongside each other make little sense.
14:35
Norris is absolutely flying. He's in sixth place and is hunting down team-mate Piastri by over a second per lap. A podium is not out of the question here.
14:35
Perez is in the pits with suspected suspension damage, and Gasly has dropped back to P16 after completing the first planned stop of the race.
Hadjar is up to P10, with his stops out of the way already.
14:34
Russell reacts to lap one Spa F1 exit
"Well, I just got totally swallowed up down the straight. I lost 3 positions down the straight, down, down into turn five, and then the incident was a racing incident," said Russell.
"Maybe I could have gone a bit wider, maybe he could have braked a bit more.
"The incident shouldn't have happened if I had the speed down the straight. Very, very disappointed."
On the potential for dropped points to team-mate Antonelli, who continues to lead the race, Russell added: "I've nothing to say, you, you know, no, no words at the moment."
14:31
"I'm quicker than Charles," says Hamilton. He's after the positions being swapped, here.
14:29
Leclerc looked like he was pulling the same defence on Hamilton there. The seven-time champion is cautious though, and taps the brakes before going into the corner.
14:27
Piastri has been informed about some fairly hefty damage. Hamilton also has damage, but both appear to have decent pace still.
Leclerc has been told that degradation is less than expected, so it looks like they are going to go deep here.
14:26
Yes Ferrari. Yes he does.
14:25
Hamilton will need to serve his penalty when he eventually stops. We're 10 laps into the 44-lap distance, so stops could be any time now.
14:24
Hamilton penalty
A five-second penalty for Hamilton for causing a collision with Russell. Ouch!
14:23
There's a little rain on the cameras now. Hamilton passes Piastri for fourth at Les Combes, and the incident involving Piastri and Leclerc has been noted. This is non-stop!
14:22
Piastri reacts to Leclerc clash
"He didn't leave enough space. That could have been a massive crash," reports Piastri.