2026 Belgian GP Preview & Predictions
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What are the expectations for Ferrari and Mercedes at the upcoming Belgian Grand Prix?
Thank you for listening to the Late Breaking F1 podcast. Make sure to check out new episodes every Wednesday and every Sunday.
Hello and a very warm welcome to the Late Breaking F1 podcast presented by Sam Sage and me, Ben Hawking. F one is back this weekend, it's the Belgian Grand Prix. Sam, I'm sure you're hoping for a home appearance by Stoffel Van Dorn, your favourite driver.
Yes, he is the number one. I hope he does crawl out of the Aston Marsing engine cover. And one will allow them to shed weight as part of their car development, but also just to see his lovely smiling face, because Stoffel is indeed wonderful.
How are you, Ben? You doing well? I I'm doing all right, thank you. Yeah, I I feel like I'm uh I'm gonna appreciate this Belgian GP even more than usual because it's not something we'll get every year from uh from Melbourne. That's true.
It's this is the last time in a couple of years it will be seeing it due to it alternating back and forth. Now is it with Barcelona? It's currently contracted to move acrosswards.
Yeah, yeah. So we'll I think do we see it next year, but then not in not in 2028 or something like that. But yeah. Um so we'll we'll make sure we savour the Belgian GP uh this week. And we've got lots to lots to get through today. We've got uh a very special Belgian Grand Prix, true or false, coming up later on. Uh we've got some comments on I know Sam Sam's face, if you're not watching on video, by the way.
Well they're true or false.
Absolute fake. Uh Carlos Science, some comments from him uh about Williams, uh the potential of some rain, possibly over the weekend. We're gonna get into that in a little bit. But let's start by saying round ten of the 2026 season, it sees us return to Spa Francochamp uh in the Ardennes Forest of Belgium. Uh, much like the previous two rounds in Britain and in Austria, this circuit proves uh a test of power unit effectiveness with some long straight. And count them, five straight mode zones. That's not all the teams we'll need to contend with, though. The sparse circuit features significant elevation changes, a middle sector full of medium to high speed corners, and unpredictable weather. Again, we will get into that in a bit.
Last year it was McLaren who took victory with their cars cruising to a 1-2 finish. But it's just Mercedes and Ferrari that have collected. Victory in Main Grand Prix in 2026. Now Ferrari might be trailing in both championships, but they have won two of the last three races, including last time out for Charles Leclerc at Silverstone. So we'll start with I guess it's a simple question, Sam, that might not have a simple answer. Can they do it again?
It's a lot of variables, isn't there, that are very different between um Spa and Silverstone. You spoke about the undulation already. You spoke about the fact there are five straight line zones in uh in spa, which is the most we've had so far this season.
I think it maybe it matches Melbourne from from a does it? I thought that had four. Oh you no, you might be right. I I mean it's crazy anyway.
Five is in tense. Um And and of course, you are right in saying that we see some crazy differences in both pace, set up, performance across the three sectors here because they're so different in the way they run. Only a couple of years ago we were speaking about how sectors one and three were the sectors of Red Bull and sector two was Oscar Piascan's sector because they set the current so differently. It's skillies. He owns that place.
Someone's gotta earn it off him.
Okay, I like that. Challenge accepted. Um, I do think we're gonna see a real different challenge for the drivers here, but on face value, I think then it will still be Mercedes who are going to be leading the way in terms of domination. But it might be slightly closer. There's some changes that Ferrari are making that could open up that challenge. So they've removed their more changes, they've removed their blow diffuser at the back, which is allowing them to have a few more horsepower going into the engine, which is a nice
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What are the expectations for Ferrari and Mercedes at the upcoming Belgian Grand Prix?
0:00–9:58
2
How might Ferrari’s recent upgrades affect its competitiveness against Mercedes on Spa’s long straights?
9:58–25:30
3
Why could wet‑weather conditions at Spa benefit certain drivers or teams?
25:30–33:44
4
How did Charles Leclerc’s Silverstone win influence his chances at Spa?
33:44–47:19
5
What bold predictions do Ben and Sam have for the race outcome and podium finishers?
47:19–54:52
6
How reliable are Red Bull’s rear‑wing and overall car performance heading into Spa?
54:52–1:01:14
7
What are the key takeaways from the “true or false” quiz about Spa’s history and records?
1:01:14–1:10:36
8
How might the upcoming wet race at Spa change the championship battle for Hamilton, Verstappen and Leclerc?
1:10:36–1:13:25