2020 Belgian Grand Prix

Previous race

Hamilton won the Spanish Grand Prix with Verstappen second and Bottas third, extending Hamilton’s lead at the top of the championship.

Milestones

This weekend marks one year since Anthoine Hubert’s fatal accident in the Formula 2 race at Spa. A minute of silence is held before the race. Pierre Gasly, one of Hubert’s closest friends, wears a tribute helmet, and all teams and drivers carry a star sticker on their cars and helmets in his memory.

Tyre choices

Pirelli brings the C2, C3, and C4 compounds — the second, third, and fourth hardest available.

Practice

Bottas led a Mercedes one-two in the first practice session, with Hamilton second and Verstappen third. Haas drivers Kevin Magnussen and Romain Grosjean and Alfa Romeo’s Antonio Giovinazzi were all unable to set a lap time, with power unit issues on the Haas cars and unexplained problems for Giovinazzi.

Verstappen went fastest in FP2 ahead of Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo and Hamilton. Ricciardo suffered a hydraulics failure on the Kemmel Straight shortly after setting his time, triggering a virtual safety car. A brief red flag followed when an advertising billboard came loose and fell onto the track at turn 1. In the final practice session, Hamilton was fastest ahead of Esteban Ocon and Lando Norris. Ferrari struggled throughout the weekend, with Charles Leclerc 17th and Sebastian Vettel last in FP3.