Spa 2026, the other podium

F1 Spa, the report cards of the promoted

1. Charles Leclerc. He deserved the criticism and now deserves the praise. He worked hard (words of the engineer), he had the humility to ask himself questions and the skill to find answers within himself, starting from driving. And then it happens that twice in a row you are rewarded by good luck, both in the contact with Piastri and in the VSC entry (but then did we understand why it came out or do we have to call Stefano Nazzi?). Without it, he would probably have been third. But what a race anyway. Great start, perfect from La Source to Kemmel, a pace I would never have imagined on a track that should expose the limits of the power unit. But this Ferrari is indecipherable: it was supposed to suffer at Silverstone and Barcelona and it won, at Spa it was Antonelli’s main rival, at Monte Carlo it was supposed to win and lost. So now it seems that Leclerc goes to Hungary as the favorite: but are we really sure?

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2. Kimi Antonelli. In his first year in a winning car, in the babyface’s record we find: pole and victory at Suzuka, pole and victory at Monte Carlo, pole and victory at Spa. It would have been pole and victory also at Silverstone, without the wheel shield break. A very strict graduation committee, but passed with 110 cum laude and academic kiss. The sixth win of the season (he is at -1 from Russell, who has six more years of experience) is the summary of what Antonelli has become: a driver much more mature than his 20 years to come. A driver who maintains youthful exuberance pushing always and everywhere (to the point of alarming the team about track limits) and meanwhile has learned the art of patience. And so he does not get upset at the start when Verstappen overtakes him before Eau Rouge; he does not do it mid-race when Leclerc puts his nose in front thanks to the VSC; he does not even do it at the end of the GP when Charles breathes down his neck. Kimi has to win at least twice, like at Monte Carlo. He manages it, right where 12 months ago he was crying like a kid dumped by his girl. Well, that child is becoming a man, and above all he is realizing his dreams. Fasten your seatbelts, because we might just be at the beginning of the journey.

3. Franco Colapinto. Along with Bortoleto, Hadjar and Norris, best supporting actor. If we rely on the images broadcast by the TV direction, I could even tell you that he arrived in the points on three wheels, playing a milonga and driving with his left big toe – you would have no way to contradict me. But he takes the points by overtaking Gasly and Lawson in one shot at Kemmel. It will be an “artificial” overtake, but why not show it?

F1 Spa, the report cards of the failed

3. Aston Martin. Alonso is in the top-5 happiest men on earth. He goes around hugging strangers, walks whistling, does heel clicks in the park like a Broadway dancer. At Spa he parked the AMSA truck just in time to watch the World Cup final: qualifying time equal to the race pace of the others; Aston Martin’s race pace that in the end falls into the tragicomic and is 1.5″ slower than the F2 pole. The B version arrives in Hungary, but not even recreating the F2004 would erase the first part of 2026. The most embarrassing flop in F1 history.

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2. Postcards from Pyongyang. I must be getting old, and my memory must be failing, but in the live TV broadcasts I don’t remember many full onboards on Kemmel, at Eau Rouge or before the Bus Stop. The signal was coming and going, like in Sacchi’s crozzian connections on Mai Dire Gol (“I only heard the part where I was called extraordinary“). And I must need glasses, but I don’t even think I saw the speed and battery management graphics on the halo. What curious coincidences, all this disappeared between Silverstone and Spa, the latter particularly demolished by a hitman regulation. But how much do we bet that the graphics will miraculously return in Budapest and Zandvoort?

1. George Russell. He does nothing to be loved, and at least in Italy he seems to have become the last of the Bottas. Russell, however, has little to prove in terms of driving and comes from a great 2025. He is however a struggling guy, who made a terrible mistake: underestimating Kimi Antonelli. A mistake he has been carrying since Melbourne, and weekend after weekend it is creating insecurities and ghosts. He is still able to raise his head, as in Austria, but that “I want the same car“, referring to Antonelli’s, shows that there is a lot of mental work to do.

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