2026 Belgian GP FP3: Antonelli Fastest as Hamilton crashes

Kimi Antonelli strengthened his position as the driver to beat at Spa-Francorchamps by topping the final practice session ahead of the Belgian Grand Prix, while Lewis Hamilton’s late crash handed Ferrari a major repair job just hours before qualifying. The Mercedes driver continued his impressive form throughout the weekend to finish ahead of McLaren’s Lando Norris and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen.

Antonelli had already led the way during Friday afternoon’s second practice and backed that performance up once again in FP3, setting a best lap of 1:45.990 to edge Norris by just over one tenth of a second. While Mercedes celebrated another encouraging display from its championship leader, Ferrari’s attention immediately shifted to repairing Hamilton’s damaged SF-26 after the seven-time World Champion crashed in the closing moments of the session.

Formula One History Recommends

• 

  2026 Belgian GP FP1: Verstappen strikes first as Ferrari lead the chase

• 

  2026 Belgian GP FP2: Antonelli hits back with fastest time

• 

  2026 Belgian Grand Prix: F1 Race, Qualifying & Winners

Unlike Friday’s busy opening exchanges, Saturday’s final practice began at a much more measured pace. Although the pit lane opened at 1230 local time under clear skies and dry conditions, teams were in no hurry to commit to the circuit, preferring to wait until the track evolved before beginning their final qualifying preparations. As a result, it was almost 20 minutes before the majority of the field ventured out for representative laps.

2026 Belgian Grand Prix FP3 Results

2026 Belgian Grand Prix FP3, 18 July 2026

Pos.	No.	Driver	Team	Time / Gap	Laps
1	12	Kimi Antonelli	Mercedes	1:45.990	13
2	1	Lando Norris	McLaren	+0.139s	21
3	3	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing	+0.148s	14
4	63	George Russell	Mercedes	+0.367s	12
5	44	Lewis Hamilton	Ferrari	+0.392s	17
6	16	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	+0.760s	17
7	81	Oscar Piastri	McLaren	+0.795s	20
8	27	Nico Hulkenberg	Audi	+0.934s	20
9	5	Gabriel Bortoleto	Audi	+1.059s	18
10	6	Isack Hadjar	Red Bull Racing	+1.106s	19
11	41	Arvid Lindblad	Racing Bulls	+1.186s	23
12	30	Liam Lawson	Racing Bulls	+1.700s	23
13	43	Franco Colapinto	Alpine	+1.914s	20
14	87	Oliver Bearman	Haas F1 Team	+1.930s	23
15	10	Pierre Gasly	Alpine	+1.959s	21
16	23	Alexander Albon	Williams	+2.000s	19
17	77	Valtteri Bottas	Cadillac	+2.654s	22
18	55	Carlos Sainz	Williams	+2.702s	20
19	31	Esteban Ocon	Haas F1 Team	+2.740s	22
20	11	Sergio Perez	Cadillac	+3.000s	21
21	14	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin	+4.165s	17
22	18	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin	+4.641s	15

Hamilton was among the first frontrunners to begin qualifying simulations and immediately moved to the top of the timesheets with a 1:47.436 on Pirelli’s soft-compound tyre. Oscar Piastri briefly looked capable of challenging the Ferrari benchmark, ending up only fractions of a second behind during his opening run.

Arvid Lindblad continued to underline his growing confidence around Spa by briefly taking over at the top of the leaderboard for Racing Bulls before Hamilton responded with a considerably faster 1:46.789. At that stage, however, several of the main contenders had yet to appear, including both Mercedes drivers and Verstappen.

When the reigning world champion finally completed his first representative lap, Verstappen slotted into second position, around four tenths behind Hamilton. Mercedes, meanwhile, delayed its first qualifying simulations until almost 25 minutes into the session as the team waited for conditions that more closely resembled those expected later in qualifying.

The decision quickly paid off.

Antonelli immediately vaulted to the top of the timing screens with a superb 1:45.990, finishing almost eight tenths quicker than Hamilton’s earlier benchmark and once again demonstrating the pace Mercedes had shown throughout practice. George Russell, however, endured another frustrating session. The Briton could manage only fourth on his first attempt, finishing more than 1.2 seconds slower than his team-mate while reporting a lack of straight-line speed after losing around six tenths through the opening sector alone.

Elsewhere, Isack Hadjar’s morning proved considerably more complicated. The Racing Bulls driver, who already faces a significant grid penalty following power unit changes, ground to a halt at the pit exit before his car was recovered back to the garage.

After eventually returning to the circuit, Hadjar endured another scare when he locked up approaching Turn 8 and narrowly avoided the rear of Lance Stroll’s Aston Martin. Forced to abandon the lap, the Frenchman informed his engineers that “nothing is ready, everything is too cold” as he struggled to generate sufficient tyre temperature on his out lap.

Russell returned to the circuit for another attempt shortly afterwards and showed encouraging gains through the opening sector, but those improvements disappeared over the remainder of the lap. Despite finding more speed, he remained around one second adrift of Antonelli’s benchmark as Mercedes searched for answers on the opposite side of the garage.

Verstappen also found additional performance during the closing stages, climbing to second place despite briefly dipping a wheel into the gravel on the exit of Turn 9. His improved effort moved him to within two tenths of Antonelli before Norris responded with a strong lap of his own, promoting the McLaren driver into second and pushing both Verstappen and Russell back one position.

Antonelli attempted to improve further during the final 10 minutes but was unable to better his session-leading lap. The Italian first had to abandon a flying lap after running wide at La Source, telling his race engineer, “I didn’t get the gear in”, before suffering a sizeable slide through the Les Combes chicane on his next attempt. Even so, his earlier effort remained enough to secure top spot for the second consecutive practice session.

The biggest drama of the hour arrived in the closing moments.

Having ended the session fifth quickest, Hamilton lost control of his Ferrari through the fast left-hander at Turn 13 in an accident remarkably similar to Pierre Gasly’s crash during Friday afternoon’s FP2 session. The Briton spun into the gravel before making light contact with the barriers, bringing his damaged Ferrari to a halt further around the circuit and leaving the Scuderia facing a race against time to prepare the car for qualifying later in the afternoon.

Behind the leading five, Charles Leclerc finished sixth for Ferrari ahead of Piastri, while Audi enjoyed another encouraging session with Nico Hülkenberg and Gabriel Bortoleto securing eighth and ninth respectively. Hadjar recovered sufficiently to round out the top 10 despite his disrupted morning.

Lindblad narrowly missed out on the leading group in 11th ahead of Racing Bulls team-mate Liam Lawson, while Ollie Bearman split Alpine pair Franco Colapinto and Pierre Gasly.

Alex Albon placed 16th for Williams ahead of Cadillac driver Valtteri Bottas and Carlos Sainz, whose session concluded with the Spaniard under investigation for an alleged yellow flag infringement.

Esteban Ocon finished 19th for Haas ahead of Cadillac’s Sergio Perez, while Aston Martin pair Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll completed the order as the field turned its full attention to qualifying later on Saturday, where Antonelli will attempt to convert his dominant practice pace into pole position for the Belgian Grand Prix.