July 18, 2026
Verstappen led FP1, Antonelli topped a disrupted FP2, and Spa’s red flags made Friday look more decisive than it really was. The early takeaway: useful pace clues, but plenty of teams still have questions.
Isack Hadjar and Lance Stroll will both take grid penalties at Spa, increasing the cost of starting deep in the field on a weekend where track position is already hard to recover.
Formula 1 teams arrived at Spa with 21 declared upgrades, while Racing Bulls used a rare spec split with Arvid Lindblad to judge its latest package more carefully.
Red Bull expects to have mechanical fixes ready for its Macarena rear wing in time for the Hungarian Grand Prix, potentially bringing back a design it had temporarily parked.
