Hamilton Penalised, Leclerc Walks Free | Belgian GP Review 2026

Lewis Hamilton got five seconds for a 50/50 first-lap incident. Charles Leclerc practically ran Oscar Piastri off the road at the end of the Kemmel Straight and got nothing. We're not sure the stewards watched the same race we did.

In this episode, Chris and Tom review the 2026 Belgian Grand Prix, the last one at Spa for a couple of years. George Russell's afternoon ends before turn six and his frustration with his power unit boils over, Kimi Antonelli takes a sixth win of the season with a drive well beyond his years, Isack Hadjar carves from P21 to P6, and Franco Colapinto pulls off the move of the race that F1's TV direction somehow forgot to show us.

Plus: our Prediction League and Fantasy results, and a look ahead to Hungary where Aston Martin's B-spec car is going to change everything. Allegedly.

CHAPTERS
0:00 Intro - Goodbye to Spa, for now
1:45 Russell's first-lap retirement & deployment woes
6:50 Should Mercedes have taken the engine penalty here?
11:14 Antonelli wins again — the mature championship drive
12:26 Ferrari's pace: Leclerc keeps it honest
13:59 Leclerc crowds Piastri — and gets nothing
17:31 The Hamilton/Russell penalty: policing the outcome
21:41 Hamilton's race unravels: pit lane chaos & damage
25:22 Verstappen's podium and a perfect Hadjar tow
26:12 Hadjar P21 to P6 — drive of the weekend?
29:28 Norris & McLaren's strategy miss
33:06 Bortoleto's run continues, Hulkenberg's doesn't
34:19 RB vs Alpine, and Haas' upgrade that wasn't
35:27 Driver of the Day
36:04 Move of the Day
37:48 WTF Moment:v TV direction, Perez's halo passenger & Stroll's DRS
45:49 Prediction League results
47:19 Fantasy League standings (F1 Fantasy & Grid Rival)
48:13 Hungary preview — the great Aston Martin hype
53:43 Our Hungarian GP predictions
57:46 Wrap up (and a very strange episode next week)

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Back of the Grid is a weekly Formula 1 podcast made by fans, for fans. New episodes every Tuesday during the season.

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