As it happened
The final practice session in Belgium got off to a quiet start. When the pit lane opened, Verstappen was, for example, still chatting with his team rather than sitting in his car, and the first drivers did not head out on track until three minutes into the session.
After the first 15 minutes, Hamilton topped the timesheets with a 1:47.4, becoming the first frontrunner to switch to the soft tyres. The Ferrari driver then improved further, lowering the benchmark to a 1:46.7.
Meanwhile, Antonelli made his first real statement of the day by jumping to the top of the timesheets with a 1:45.9, a lap that was eight tenths quicker than Hamilton’s and Verstappen’s previous best efforts.
With 15 minutes remaining, the drivers bolted on a fresh set of soft tyres for their final flying laps ahead of qualifying. Russell improved on his final run and closed the gap to Antonelli, but still finished fourth, more than three tenths adrift of his teammate. Antonelli, meanwhile, was unable to improve on his final attempt.
The two Ferrari drivers were the last to complete their flying laps. Hamilton could only improve to fifth, while Leclerc made a mistake at Turn 1.
Full results – FP3 of the 2026 Belgian Grand Prix
Belgian Grand Prix Results
Practice 1
Practice 2
Practice 3
ALL
