Racing
© Jonathan Borba
Max Verstappen opened the Belgian Grand Prix weekend fastest in first practice at Spa-Francorchamps, putting Red Bull on top with a 1:47.070 after the team reverted from its problematic “Macarena” rear wing to an older specification.
Verstappen beat Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton by 0.145s and Charles Leclerc by 0.207s in a session that suggested Ferrari is Red Bull’s nearest early challenger. Isack Hadjar backed up Red Bull’s pace with the fourth-fastest lap, 0.252s off Verstappen, as the revised rear-wing choice did not stop the team from setting the benchmark.
The result mattered beyond a single practice hour. Multiple reports described it as Red Bull’s first practice-topping session of the 2026 season, and the first time this year that a car without a Mercedes or Ferrari engine finished fastest in practice.
McLaren and Mercedes were present near the front, but neither looked quite as convincing as Red Bull or Ferrari. Oscar Piastri was fifth on 1:47.522, Kimi Antonelli sixth on 1:47.603, Lando Norris seventh on 1:47.931 and George Russell eighth on 1:47.959, leaving both teams more than half a second away from Verstappen’s best.
There was a sting in Red Bull’s encouraging start. Hadjar’s strong lap will not translate into qualifying leverage because he is due to start from the back of the grid after taking multiple new power unit components.
Norris also began the weekend under a penalty cloud. The McLaren driver, who was slow to get into representative running in FP1, is carrying a 10-place grid drop after exceeding his control electronics allocation.
McLaren’s session became more complicated in the closing minutes when Piastri suffered a hydraulic-pressure issue. He stopped briefly near Les Combes before being told to drive slowly back to the pits, leaving the team with a reliability concern to investigate before the rest of the weekend.
For now, though, the clearest early message from Spa is that Red Bull’s switch back to its older rear-wing concept has not knocked Verstappen off the pace. If that carries into qualifying, Ferrari looks the most immediate threat, while McLaren and Mercedes have ground to make up.