Overview
- Kimi Antonelli took pole in Spa‑Francorchamps qualifying on Saturday and is the clear race favourite after a dominant Mercedes performance.
- Telemetry and lap‑time analysis show the 2026 cars are materially slower than 2025, with Antonelli about 3.799 seconds off last year’s pole and speed drops of up to roughly 50 km/h in some sectors.
- Reporters and drivers said the new power‑unit limits leave the long middle sector driven almost entirely by the combustion engine, which changes setup trade‑offs and makes Pouhon and parts of Blanchimont far less challenging.
- Several top drivers publicly criticised the effect on spectacle, Max Verstappen used gallows humour to voice his frustration, and operational incidents in qualifying cost Charles Leclerc time while Mercedes investigates a possible mileage‑related power deficit on George Russell’s unit.
- The FIA and engine manufacturers plan staged rebalancing to raise combustion contribution to about 58:42 in 2027 and 60:40 in 2028, a change teams expect will shift setups, overtaking and race strategy back toward previous norms.