BWT Alpine Formula One Team heads to the legendary Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps for the 2026 Belgian Grand Prix, Round 10 of the FIA Formula One World Championship season for the final double-header before the Summer Shutdown.

A drivers’ favourite, the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa is one of four races that featured on the original Formula One calendar, 76 years ago, and still do today with a much longer version of the circuit playing host to the event. The modern track is the longest on the entire 2026 calendar at 7.004km but that is just under half the length of the course first used by the sport [14.120km] and still includes the characterful La Source, Eau Rouge/Raidillon and Blanchimont corners which make up the iconic circuit.

The Alpine Academy is in action once again in FIA Formula 2 with all three drivers in the championship in strong positions following Silverstone. Gabriele Mini extended his run of podiums to six rounds, returning to the rostrum in the Saturday Sprint Race and sits second in the standings. Alex Dunne is fourth with Kush Maini, sixth, following a Feature Race podium.

The team will once again pay tribute to Anthoine Hubert upon their return to Spa. Anthoine, a member of the Renault Sport Academy, tragically lost his life during an FIA Formula 2 race in 2019 and on the evening of Thursday 16th July, the annual ‘Run for Anthoine’ will commemorate him and Dilano van ‘t Hoff who sadly lost his life in 2023. All members of the F1, F2 and F3 paddocks are invited to run or walk the circuit in honour of Anthoine and Dilano. The run begins at 18:00 on the Start-Finish straight making a stop at Eau Rouge to remember Anthoine and on the Kemmel Straight in honour of Dilano.

PIERRE GASLY:

“I am looking forward to Spa this weekend as it is one of the most special events on the calendar for many different reasons. As a track it has some of the best corners of the season and provides one of the best challenges we face at the wheel. This year might appear a little different with the current generation of cars and some of the energy management we will have to do on the lap, such is the nature of the circuit with long straights and fast, flowing corners. We will probably have to go there with a very open mind and try to arrive with a few ideas up our sleeve to maximise lap-time. I am sure we will see some variety up and down the grid in how to make the most of the package. I am determined for a better performance than some of the previous races and take the fight back to our rivals in the championship, which is now extremely close. There is also the more emotional side of returning to Spa year-on-year as I, amongst many others, remember Anthoine. I am organising the Run For Anthoine again on Thursday evening, the fourth time this special gathering has been held as we reflect fondly on all the memories with him.”

FRANCO COLAPINTO:

“I’m very happy to be returning to Spa this week for one of my favourite races on the calendar. I am a huge fan of the circuit which is fast and exciting to drive in every category. The high-speed corners always require a lot of commitment and there are a lot of overtaking areas too and especially this year with cars that can follow much closer. The energy management, as well, will add an interesting element to the weekend and we will work very hard during Free Practice to fine tune our optimum strategy around the challenging track. Scoring points in Silverstone was positive, especially after making up 10 places to finish P9, however the fight with our rivals is incredibly tight in the Constructors’ so we are working hard to make sure we can race them in Belgium as we go into the final double-header before the summer break. I'm excited for Wednesday night. Big World Cup semi-final versus England where a lot of my team members are from! We'll see who is happier on Thursday!”

STEVE NIELSEN:

“We enter the final double header before the summer break with plenty to ponder after a hard-fought couple of weeks on and off track. Clearly, we are in a very close midfield fight in the battle for P5 in the Constructors’ Championship and it is evident that right now we are just that step behind some of our rivals, which we must quickly resolve. Silverstone was a tough event but both drivers did a good job to recover from difficult starting positions and finish inside the points, especially Franco to gain 10 places to go from P19 to P9. Many races so far this season have come down to attrition and it is important we are there to seize any opportunities. On this occasion, though, our rivals were in a much more competitive position to benefit even more from the circumstances, and we have to better our own performance in order to be in that situation in the future. And that is exactly where our fight is: to add more performance to the car. The team in Enstone is working hard on upgrades and it is important that, when we do introduce them to our package, they are effective and decisive. Belgium will be an interesting test in the current generation of cars, and it might be a very different spectacle entirely to what we have seen at Spa before. It is a special track on the Formula One calendar, certainly one of the more iconic, and, as always, we go there with optimism and the aim of delivering the strongest possible result with both cars.”