F1 start time: What time does the Belgian Grand Prix start?
Lewis Hamilton claimed pole position for the Belgian Grand Prix ahead of Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas and Red Bull's Max Verstappen. Here's how and when you can watch the race

The F1 champion dominated qualifying at Spa to secure his 93rd career pole position by beating Bottas by over half a second.
PLUS: How Hamilton's qualifying record compares to Senna and Schumacher
Verstappen missed out on disrupting the all-Mercedes front row by just 0.015s and, despite being frustrated by running out of energy on his final qualifying lap, he felt he extracted close to the maximum from his Red Bull in qualifying trim.
Further back it was another disastrous qualifying for Ferrari, with Charles Leclerc and Sebastian Vettel knocked out in the Q2 session and will start the Belgian GP 13th and 14th respectively - one year on from locking out the front row at Spa.
While Daniel Ricciardo impressed for Renault to take fourth place, Alexander Albon also showed encouraging improvements with a "more predictable" F1 car to take fifth and his joint best qualifying result of the season so far.
With Esteban Ocon slotting into sixth for Renault, Carlos Sainz Jr will start from seventh for McLaren ahead of Racing Point duo Sergio Perez and Lance Stroll, while Lando Norris completed the top 10 in Q3.
Daniil Kvyat starts from 11th as the highest placed contender with a free choice of tyres to start the race on, with AlphaTauri team-mate Pierre Gasly alongside him in 12th and in front of the Ferrari pair.

When is the F1 Belgian Grand Prix?
Date: Sunday 30 August 2020
Start time: 3:10pm local time, 2:10pm BST
How can I watch the Belgian GP?
In the United Kingdom, Sky Sports has exclusive live broadcasting rights (excluding the British GP), with the Belgian GP race shown live on Sky Sports F1. Pre-race coverage will be starting at 12:30pm BST ahead of the race start at 2:10pm BST.
Channel 4 will be showing extended highlights of the race on Sunday evening, starting at 6:30pm BST.
Autosport is running a live text commentary for the Belgian GP.
Weather forecast for the Belgian GP
Current weather forecasts predict cloudy conditions at Spa-Francorchamps on race day, with a strong chance of rain from early afternoon and during the race. The temperature is expected to be 18 degrees Celsius for the start of the race - the same temperature as qualifying and Friday's FP2 session.
How many laps is the Belgian GP?
The race is scheduled to complete 44 laps of Spa-Francorchamps, covering a total race distance of 308.052km.
Belgian GP starting grid
Pos | Driver | Car | Gap |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1m41.252s |
2 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 0.511s |
3 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull/Honda | 0.526s |
4 | Daniel Ricciardo | Renault | 0.809s |
5 | Alexander Albon | Red Bull/Honda | 1.012s |
6 | Esteban Ocon | Renault | 1.144s |
7 | Carlos Sainz Jr. | McLaren/Renault | 1.186s |
8 | Sergio Perez | Racing Point/Mercedes | 1.280s |
9 | Lance Stroll | Racing Point/Mercedes | 1.351s |
10 | Lando Norris | McLaren/Renault | 1.405s |
11 | Daniil Kvyat | AlphaTauri/Honda | 1.478s |
12 | Pierre Gasly | AlphaTauri/Honda | 1.493s |
13 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 1.744s |
14 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 2.009s |
15 | George Russell | Williams/Mercedes | 2.216s |
16 | Kimi Raikkonen | Alfa Romeo/Ferrari | 2.491s |
17 | Romain Grosjean | Haas/Ferrari | 2.586s |
18 | Antonio Giovinazzi | Alfa Romeo/Ferrari | 2.698s |
19 | Nicholas Latifi | Williams/Mercedes | 2.886s |
20 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas/Ferrari | 3.062s |

Autosport 70: F1's age-old problems and how to fix them
Wolff calls Hamilton's F1 Belgian GP qualifying display "extra-terrestrial"

Latest news
Ford: F1’s boom means it "requires consideration"
Ford’s motorsport boss says it would be remiss of the American car giant not to be considering a Formula 1 return amid the series' rapid growth in the United States.
Diriyah E-Prix: Ticktum tops Friday practice from Buemi
Dan Ticktum topped the second Diriyah E-Prix free practice session with a 1m10.099s, seeing off a late challenge from 2015-16 Formula E champion Sebastien Buemi.
Toyota WRC boss Latvala plotting rally return
Toyota World Rally Championship boss Jari-Matti Latvala is plotting a competitive rally return with an outing behind the wheel of Toyota’s new Rally2 GR Yaris.
No Ferrari number one driver, but Vasseur won't hesitate to "take action"
New Ferrari Formula 1 boss Fred Vasseur says there will be no number one driver at the team this season, but he won't hesitate to "take action" if needed.
Why Vasseur relishes 'feeling the pressure' as Ferrari's F1 boss
OPINION: Fred Vasseur has spent only a few weeks as team principal for the Ferrari Formula 1 team, but is already intent on taking the Scuderia back to the very top. And despite it being arguably the most demanding job in motorsport, the Frenchman is relishing the challenge
The crucial tech changes F1 teams must adapt to in 2023
Changes to the regulations for season two of Formula 1's ground-effects era aim to smooth out last year’s troubles and shut down loopholes. But what areas have been targeted, and what impact will this have?
Are these the 50 quickest drivers in F1 history?
Who are the quickest drivers in Formula 1 history? LUKE SMITH asked a jury of experienced and international panel of experts and F1 insiders. Some of them have worked closely with F1’s fastest-ever drivers – so who better to vote on our all-time top 50? We’re talking all-out speed here rather than size of trophy cabinet, so the results may surprise you…
One easy way the FIA could instantly improve F1
OPINION: During what is traditionally a very quiet time of year in the Formula 1 news cycle, FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem has been generating headlines. He’s been commenting on massive topics in a championship that loves them, but also addressing necessary smaller changes too. Here we suggest a further refinement that would be a big boon to fans
How can McLaren keep hold of Norris?
Lando Norris is no longer the young cheeky-chappy at McLaren; he’s now the established ace. And F1's big guns will come calling if the team can’t give him a competitive car. Here's what the team needs to do to retain its prize asset
What difference did F1's fastest pitstops of 2022 make?
While a quick pitstop can make all the difference to the outcome of a Formula 1 race, most team managers say consistency is more important than pure speed. MATT KEW analyses the fastest pitstops from last season to see which ones – if any – made a genuine impact
When F1 ‘holiday’ races kept drivers busy through the winter
Modern Formula 1 fans have grown accustomed to a lull in racing during winter in the northern hemisphere. But, as MAURICE HAMILTON explains, there was a time when teams headed south of the equator rather than bunkering down in the factory. And why not? There was fun to be had, money to be made and reputations to forge…
What Porsche social media frenzy says about F1’s manufacturer allure
Porsche whipped up a frenzy thanks to a cryptic social media post last week and, although it turned out to be a false alarm, it also highlighted why manufacturers remain such an important element in terms of the attraction that they bring to F1. It is little wonder that several other manufacturers are bidding for a slice of the action
Subscribe and access Autosport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.