The Spa-Francorchamps circuit comes alive today as the Free Practice sessions kick off the thrilling Belgian Grand Prix 2026 on Friday, July 17. Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc enters the weekend with strong momentum after claiming victory at the British Grand Prix that ended in total chaos under a double yellow flag following a late crash by Max Verstappen. Hunting for his first win of the season, the four-time world champion made a bold choice by ditching Red Bull’s experimental new rear wings and reverting to the older ones after back-to-back crashes in Austria and Britain.Â
“We’ll go back to the old one and then see whenever the latest, or new, one is ready again to be used for us,” he said at Spa-Francorchamps on Thursday.
Meanwhile, McLaren’s Lando Norris starts the weekend on the back foot after being handed a harsh 10-place grid penalty for Sunday’s race due to exceeding his seasonal power electronics allocation. Adding to the drama, weather radars show a constant threat of rain looming over the Ardennes forest, setting up a highly chaotic weekend on the grid.
According to the weather forecast for the Circuit of Spa-Francorchamps, Rte du Circuit 55, Stavelot, Belgium, Friday brings cloudy skies with a daytime high of 22°C and a low of 13°C. The city is under Yellow alert for extreme high temperature, according to AccuWeather. There is a 15% chance of rain during the day, accompanied by northwest winds at 7 mph.
Belgian GP 2026 Friday Free Practice Start Time:
The opening day features two practice sessions. Here is the Friday timetable in both track local time and Indian Standard Time (IST):
Free Practice 1 (FP1): 13:30 – 14:30 Local Time / 17:00 – 18:00 IST
Free Practice 2 (FP2): 17:00 – 18:00 Local Time / 20:30 – 21:30 IST
F1 Belgian Grand Prix 2026 Live Streaming Details:
Fans can catch the practice, qualifying, and grand prix action live across these major regions and broadcasting networks:
- India: FanCode App & Website
- United Kingdom: Sky Sports F1 / Sky Sports+
- United States: ESPN / ESPN+ / ABC
- Italy: Sky Italia / TV8
- Australia: Fox Sports / Kayo Sports
- Germany: Sky Deutschland / WOW
- Netherlands: Viaplay
- Canada: TSN / RDS
