Kimi Antonelli has won five of this season's nine races
Alex Albon was sixth in last year's Belgian Grand Prix
Recommended bets:
Alex Albon to beat Carlos Sainz in H2H match bet @ 31/20 with LiveScore Bet
The Belgian Grand Prix this weekend is another potential turning point in a fascinating 2026 F1 season as Mercedes bid to strike back after Ferrari's victories in two of the last three races.
Kimi Antonelli's World Drivers' Championship lead has been reduced from 66 points after his success in Monaco to just 25 over his Mercedes teammate George Russell after a winless run of three races.
McLaren finished first and second in the race last year but Lando Norris — runner-up to Oscar Piastri in 2025 — is an outsider this time after picking up a 10-place grid penalty for exceeding the permitted number of power electronics units.
Piastri, Lewis Hamilton, Max Verstappen and Silverstone victor Charles Leclerc are the previous winners in the field but the betting suggests there will be a new name on the roll of honour at the famous Spa-Francorchamps track this year.
The stats
Lewis Hamilton has won the Belgian Grand Prix five times.
Max Verstappen won the race three times in a row from 2021 to 2023.
McLaren finished first and second at Spa last season.
George Russell has had three successive top-two finishes.
Isack Hadjar has finished in the top six at the last five races.
Mercedes and Ferrari have won all nine races this season between them.
Prediction
Kimi Antonelli's World Championship bid appears to have gone off the rails if you just look at the bare results, but there has been little wrong with his performances as a driver since his streak of five race victories ended and he can resume winning ways at Spa.
The Italian youngster had more than two wins in hand over his rivals after his Monaco Grand Prix success but he is within reach of the chasing pack again with just a 25-point advantage after managing only one podium in the last three rounds.
Car failures cost him when he was in contention in both Barcelona and Silverstone, and few would dispute that he was looking the most likely winner of the British Grand Prix when his problems with a displaced tyre guard began.
Antonelli had won the sprint race and taken pole at Silverstone despite another step forward from Ferrari, but Mercedes are expected to be on top this week too at a track where power deployment could again be a key topic.
Both Ferrari drivers have said they expect to be on the back foot this week, and despite George Russell snatching second place in his home race, Antonelli looks the faster Mercedes driver at this point of the season.
The driver head-to-head match bets can often provide some value and Alex Albon is an interesting outsider against his Williams team-mate Carlos Sainz.
The team did not make the expected step forward with the updates they took to Silverstone as both drivers failed to score for the third successive race, but wherever they finish this week, Albon should be hopeful of being competitive with Sainz.
The Thai driver had one of his best weekends of the season when finishing sixth at Spa last year after qualifying fifth, and while the team are nowhere near as competitive these days, he has nominated this as one of his favourite tracks after coming fifth in Belgium on his debut for Red Bull in 2019 and finishing in the points there on three subsequent occasions.
Sainz got to grips with the 2026 Williams faster than Albon, but there was little between them on pace in Britain and Albon is a value option to finish in front of his team-mate this week.
Back Kimi Antonelli to win @ 6/4 with LiveScore Bet
Back Alex Albon to beat Carlos Sainz in H2H match bet @ 31/20 with LiveScore Bet
