Max Verstappen and Carlos Sainz have both been called to the stewards at Spa after a messy moment under double yellows in the closing minutes of FP3 — the sort of “nothing incident” that normally evaporates the second the cars get back to the pits, until someone very nearly drives into the back of someone else.
The trigger was Lewis Hamilton’s late crash in the final practice session for the Belgian Grand Prix. The Ferrari went off on the exit of the Fagnes chicane, in an accident that looked uncomfortably familiar given Pierre Gasly had binned it at the same corner in FP2 on Friday. With Hamilton stopped and the yellow flags out, the field backed off on approach to Fagnes — or at least, they were supposed to.
Verstappen, arriving first, slowed as the double yellows were shown. Sainz, following in the Williams, appeared to react late and locked up heavily behind the Red Bull, closing quickly enough to prompt a sharp radio exchange from both sides.
Sainz’s immediate take was that Verstappen had braked unexpectedly. “The car in front braked quite sudden,” he told his engineer. Verstappen, unimpressed, saw it the other way: “What the f**k? My God! It’s like double yellows and this car it almost crashes in the back of me. Unbelievable.”
The stewards clearly want to know whether both drivers complied with the requirement to slow under double yellows — and it’s notable that both have been summoned rather than this being framed solely as a near-miss caused by the trailing car. Team representatives from Red Bull and Williams are also due, with a hearing scheduled for 14:25 local time.
It’s the kind of episode that tends to hinge on the unglamorous details: throttle traces, mini-sector deltas, and whether a driver demonstrably reduced speed compared to a representative lap. Under double yellows the bar is higher than a token lift; the FIA has leaned increasingly on data to avoid arguments based on “I saw the flag late” or “the car ahead surprised me”. If Sainz’s lock-up is as dramatic on the telemetry as it looked on track, it won’t help his case — but Verstappen’s own level of compliance will be assessed too, which is why both have landed in the room.
Hamilton’s crash itself left Ferrari with real work to do. The rear-right of the car took significant damage, and while the team is no stranger to rapid turnarounds, it’s not how you want to be spending the hours before qualifying — especially at Spa, where confidence through the fast change-of-direction stuff is everything and the knock-on effects of an off can follow a driver into Q1.
On the timesheets, Kimi Antonelli led the way for Mercedes, setting the pace ahead of Lando Norris by 0.139s. Verstappen slotted in third, narrowly behind Norris, with George Russell fourth at 0.367s off his team-mate. Ferrari had been in the mix before the late drama: Hamilton and Charles Leclerc ended the session fourth and fifth respectively, with Leclerc arriving at Spa off the back of winning the last race in Britain as Ferrari chase back-to-back victories for the first time since October 2024.
Sainz’s session was far less representative. He finished 18th, 0.702s slower than Alex Albon in 16th — and now carries the added distraction of a stewards’ visit just before the paddock’s collective focus snaps to qualifying.
Ferrari, meanwhile, are already on the stewards’ spreadsheet this weekend. On Friday the team was fined after a procedural error in which it failed to physically return two sets of tyres for each car following the opening practice session. The punishment stopped at a financial penalty: €5,000 per driver, €10,000 in total.
Qualifying for the Belgian Grand Prix — round 10 of the 2026 season — is set for 16:00 local time at Spa. Whether Verstappen and Sainz arrive there with nothing more than a warning, or with a sanction that complicates their Saturday, will depend on what the data says happened when the flags came out and instincts took over.
