Antonelli leads Belgian GP FP3 as Hamilton crashes at Spa

Kimi Antonelli carried his Friday momentum into third practice at Spa-Francorchamps, topping the timesheets ahead of qualifying for the Belgian Grand Prix. Yet the defining moment came at the other end of the session, when Lewis Hamilton crashed heavily at Turn 13 and left Ferrari facing a race against the clock.

Hamilton’s incident mirrored Pierre Gasly’s FP2 accident at the same corner. The Ferrari went off the circuit, clipped the wall and sustained major rear-end damage in the closing stages of an otherwise productive session. With no further improvements possible, Ferrari must now repair the SF-26 before qualifying.

Antonelli holds off McLaren and Verstappen

Antonelli’s best lap remained unbeaten, even after the Mercedes driver failed to improve during the final qualifying simulations. Lando Norris finished second, while Max Verstappen was third, with both challengers within two-tenths of the leading time.

The result extends Antonelli’s strong run at Spa after he also led FP2. His performance continues to frame Mercedes as the benchmark over a single lap, although the gap behind him narrowed significantly when the final soft-tyre runs began. Readers can also revisit Antonelli’s FP2 performance and Mercedes’ setup changes for the wider context from Friday.

George Russell completed the top five alongside team-mate Antonelli, but both Russell and Hamilton were almost four-tenths slower than the session leader. Charles Leclerc ended FP3 sixth for Ferrari.

A disrupted preparation for qualifying

The session began quietly, with no driver eager to head immediately onto the circuit. The pace then increased as teams divided their programmes between longer runs and early soft-tyre qualifying simulations.

Verstappen waited 20 minutes before joining the action and went straight onto the soft tyre, as did both Mercedes drivers. Isack Hadjar also endured a difficult start after losing power at the end of the pit lane, although Red Bull mechanics pushed his car back and he soon returned to the track.

At the halfway point, Antonelli was eight-tenths clear with a 1:45.990. Later, Verstappen reduced the deficit to 0.148 seconds, while Norris moved into second, just 0.09 seconds ahead of the Red Bull. Russell improved with 22 minutes remaining but remained one second off Antonelli at that stage.

The final qualifying runs produced no further changes. Hamilton’s crash brought the session to an abrupt end and leaves Ferrari with urgent work before the most important competitive session of the weekend.