July 20, 2026
The Kimi Antonelli Spa Win 2026 is the headline, but it undersells a Belgian Grand Prix weekend that delivered incident after incident from the moment Friday practice began. Two red flags in second practice, a heavy Saturday-morning crash for Lewis Hamilton, a title rival’s race ending on the opening lap, a wheel-to-wheel clash between two more championship contenders, and a pit-lane scare that could have changed the result again – Spa-Francorchamps produced almost everything before Antonelli crossed the line 1.9 seconds clear of Charles Leclerc for his sixth career victory. It is round ten of twenty-two, the last race before Formula 1’s summer break, and it leaves the championship picture looking very different to how it did on Friday morning.
Nearly every flashpoint from the weekend happened at a circuit guests can drive themselves at SIMPRO Academy Phuket, inside Boat Lagoon Marina – Les Combes, where two separate incidents happened eight laps apart, is part of the same Spa-Francorchamps circuit data loaded on our Simucube 2 Pro rigs. Whether you followed the race live from Thailand or you are landing in Phuket this week with the result already in your feed, here is the full story of how Belgium was won and lost, session by session.
Free Practice set the tone immediately. Max Verstappen topped FP1 on Friday morning with a 1:17.070, with both Ferraris of Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc close behind and Oscar Piastri fifth for McLaren before a late hydraulic problem cut his session short. Red Bull’s Isack Hadjar was fourth-fastest but had already accepted a back-of-the-grid penalty after taking new power unit elements. FP2 was where the weekend turned properly chaotic: a red flag flew roughly 20 minutes in for gravel scattered on the circuit at Stavelot, and a second, longer stoppage came with 14 minutes left when Alpine’s Pierre Gasly ran wide on the exit of Turn 13 and slid into the barriers just before Stavelot. Kimi Antonelli topped the session regardless, ahead of Lando Norris and Verstappen. Saturday morning brought yet another Turn 13 incident, this time for Hamilton, who crashed during FP3 and was still classified fifth – behind an Antonelli/Norris/Verstappen top three separated by less than 0.15 seconds, with Russell fourth. Two different Turn 13 accidents inside 24 hours was the clearest sign yet that Spa was not going to let anyone have an easy weekend.
Antonelli converted that practice form into pole position, lapping Spa in 1:44.361 to beat Verstappen by 0.317 seconds, with Norris a further 0.123 seconds back in what would have been third on the grid. It never turned into third on the road: McLaren had already decided to fit Norris’s car with a fourth power-electronics unit for the season, over his quota, and take the resulting 10-place grid penalty deliberately, reasoning that Spa’s long straights make overtaking easier than almost anywhere else on the calendar. Norris had already lost three separate units to a Chinese Grand Prix no-start, a Japanese practice failure and a repaired unit that failed again in Monaco; the fourth carried reliability fixes, and McLaren judged the trade worth it. That dropped him from third to thirteenth on the grid and promoted Russell to the front of the second row – a position that would matter enormously less than a minute into Sunday’s race. Behind them, Leclerc, Hamilton, Piastri, Lindblad, Bortoleto and Hadjar completed the top ten.
Almost every flashpoint from this Belgian Grand Prix happened at corners SIMPRO Academy Phuket guests already drive every week. Les Combes, where both the Hamilton-Russell contact and the Leclerc-Piastri clash happened eight laps apart, and Turn 13, where both Gasly and Hamilton lost their cars across the weekend, are part of the same Spa-Francorchamps circuit data we run on Assetto Corsa Competizione, Automobilista 2 and iRacing. On our Simucube 2 Pro direct-drive rigs (25 Nm) with Simtrecs load-cell pedals and triple 32-inch curved monitors, you can feel exactly why those corners caught out four different F1 drivers in one weekend: Les Combes is a heavy braking zone straight after the long Kemmel Straight, where a car ahead can legitimately hold the racing line while a car behind is still carrying enormous closing speed, and Turn 13’s exit kerb punishes any driver who asks for slightly more than the tyre has left. In 23+ years as an airline pilot, including managing training and checking standards on a Boeing Business Jet, I have seen how repeatedly rehearsing a demanding sequence under a coach’s eye is what turns a near-miss into a clean lap – the same principle applies whether you are a tourist trying sim racing for the first time in Phuket or a lifelong F1 fan who wants to understand what Antonelli, Hamilton, Leclerc and Piastri were actually managing out there.
🏆 Drive the Corners That Decided the Belgian Grand Prix
Take on Les Combes and Turn 13 – the two corners at the centre of the Kimi Antonelli Spa Win 2026 weekend – on Simucube 2 Pro direct-drive rigs (25 Nm) with Simtrecs load-cell pedals, triple 32-inch curved monitors and 1-on-1 coaching at SIMPRO Academy Phuket.
1,300 THB per 90-minute sim session, or 2,000 THB per hour for 1-on-1 coaching (both all-inclusive – includes 7% VAT and 3% booking fee) — Book at simproacademyphuket.com or call +66 62 962 2822
The race barely survived the opening lap unscathed. Hamilton, who started fifth, passed a struggling Russell – who was fighting a power-deployment issue – down the Kemmel Straight, and the pair made contact in the braking zone for Les Combes as Russell moved to the outside for what the stewards ruled was a legitimate overtake with racing room established. Hamilton, suffering understeer, could not hold his line, and Russell was pitched into the gravel and out of the race on the spot – his second retirement of the season. Stewards gave Hamilton a five-second penalty rather than the standard ten, citing mitigating factors: he had acknowledged Russell, attempted to leave room, and lost the front end rather than driving aggressively, on a first lap where reduced grip is an accepted risk. Eight laps later, at the very same corner, Leclerc and Piastri touched while fighting over third place; Leclerc held his line into Les Combes, Piastri went around the outside, the gap closed, and a glancing blow left the McLaren with damage. Stewards again found no case for a penalty, ruling Piastri had no realistic chance of completing the move and that Leclerc had simply taken a normal racing line – a verdict Piastri publicly disagreed with, arguing at least a black-and-white flag was warranted. Hamilton’s afternoon still was not finished: serving his penalty during a Lap 20 pit stop under Virtual Safety Car conditions, a Ferrari mechanic adjusting a front wing tool stepped into the path of his released car and was struck, falling to the ground but escaping unhurt. Stewards ruled the incident did not merit a further penalty for Hamilton, but fined Ferrari 30,000 euros – 10,000 of it suspended – for the unsafe release. Through all of it, Antonelli controlled the race from pole, hunted down and passed Leclerc, and crossed the line 1.9 seconds clear for his sixth career win and his first at Spa. Verstappen, who had matched the pace of both Mercedes drivers all weekend, brought his Red Bull home third for a rare 2026 podium.
Russell’s lap-one retirement reshuffled the title fight more than any single result so far this season. Antonelli’s win stretches his championship lead to 45 points over Hamilton, who moves up to second in the standings on 159 points despite his penalty and the mechanic incident, simply by finishing fourth while his team-mate scored zero. Russell drops to third on 154, now 50 points off the lead with only the Hungarian Grand Prix left before the shutdown. Leclerc’s second place lifts him to fourth on 126, and Verstappen’s podium – arriving in the same week his Red Bull exit clause became mathematically unavoidable – moves him back ahead of team-mate Isack Hadjar in the drivers’ standings.
Mercedes now leads Ferrari by 73 points in the constructors’ championship, 358 to 285, with McLaren third on 195 despite Norris’s grid-penalty gamble not quite paying off with points to match. Spa lived up to its reputation as one of the least predictable circuits on the calendar – now the paddock heads to Hungary on 26 July for the final round before August’s break, with three drivers from two teams still covered by fewer than 50 points.
The Kimi Antonelli Spa Win 2026 came together from pole position: Antonelli qualified fastest at 1:44.361 and led the race from the front, hunting down and passing Charles Leclerc before crossing the line 1.9 seconds clear for his sixth career win – his first at Spa-Francorchamps. It was made easier by title rival George Russell’s retirement on the opening lap after contact with Lewis Hamilton, who was given a five-second penalty.
Russell was hit by Lewis Hamilton in the braking zone for Les Combes on the opening lap while defending an overtake the stewards ruled was legitimate. The contact pitched Russell into the gravel and ended his race immediately – his second retirement of the 2026 season – while Hamilton received a five-second penalty for causing the collision.
Yes. Spa-Francorchamps, including Les Combes and Turn 13 where several of this race weekend’s incidents happened, is in the SIMPRO Academy Phuket circuit library via Assetto Corsa Competizione, Automobilista 2 and iRacing. Sessions run on Simucube 2 Pro direct-drive rigs (25 Nm) with Simtrecs load-cell pedals and triple 32-inch curved monitors at our Boat Lagoon Marina location.
A standard sim session is 1,300 THB for 90 minutes. A 1-on-1 coached session, with a dedicated coach analysing your driving and a telemetry debrief, is 2,000 THB per hour – an additional fee over the standard session for the coaching itself. Both prices are all-inclusive (7% VAT and 3% booking fee included), so they are the final price you pay.
| Pos | Driver | Team | Points | Gap to Leader | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kimi Antonelli | Mercedes | 204 | – | Won from pole, sixth career victory, first at Spa |
| 2 | Lewis Hamilton | Ferrari | 159 | -45 | Moved up to P2 in standings despite penalty and mechanic incident |
| 3 | George Russell | Mercedes | 154 | -50 | Retired lap 1 after Hamilton contact – second DNF of 2026 |
| 4 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 126 | -78 | Finished P2, no penalty for Piastri clash |
| 5 | Lando Norris | McLaren | 103 | -101 | Grid-penalty gamble did not pay off with a podium |
| 6 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren | 92 | -112 | P5 despite car damage from Leclerc clash |
| 7 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 91 | -113 | Rare 2026 podium, P3 |
Only the Hungarian Grand Prix (26 July) remains before the summer break.
🏁 Book Your Session at SIMPRO Academy Phuket
Professional sim racing and flight simulation coaching in Phuket, on Simucube 2 Pro direct-drive rigs (25 Nm), Simtrecs load-cell pedals and triple 32-inch curved monitors – drive the exact Spa-Francorchamps corners that decided this Belgian Grand Prix before Formula 1 returns from its summer break.
1,300 THB per 90-minute sim session, or 2,000 THB per hour for 1-on-1 coaching (both all-inclusive – includes 7% VAT and 3% booking fee)
📍 23 Boat Lagoon Marina, Soho Pool Club, Moo 2, Koh Kaeo, Ampur Mueang, Phuket 83000
📞 +66 62 962 2822 | ✉️ info@simproacademyphuket.com | 🌐 simproacademyphuket.com
Paul Chappell is Founder and Operator of SIMPRO Academy Phuket. With 23+ years as a professional airline pilot, including a Lead Captain position on a Boeing Business Jet where he managed flight training and checking responsibilities, Paul brings deep expertise in precision performance and simulator-based training. He is a Qualified Flight Instructor with thousands of hours on certified full-motion flight simulators. Beyond aviation, Paul is a lifelong motorsport enthusiast – 10+ years on high-performance motorbikes, multiple track days in an AMG 45S, a professional rally driver training course, and extensive go-kart racing. He founded SIMPRO Academy in 2024 to bring professional-grade sim racing and flight simulation training to Southeast Asia.
SIMPRO Academy Phuket’s Simucube 2 Pro rigs load the Les Combes braking zone from the Kimi Antonelli Spa Win 2026 weekend.
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