F1 title battle, Max Verstappen's future and Aston Martin upgrades among key talking points ahead of Belgium-Hungary double header
Belgium and Hungary host the final two rounds before Formula 1's summer break; the title battle, Max Verstappen's future and Aston Martin's upgrades are set to draw focus; watch every session of the Belgian GP from Spa-Francorchamps live on Sky Sports F1 this weekend
Monday 13 July 2026 07:23, UK
Before Formula 1 reaches its summer break, two key races in Belgium and Hungary are set to decide which drivers and teams will go into August with momentum.
Tightened title battle resumes!
After exceeding all expectations over the opening nine rounds, Kimi Antonelli will arrive at this weekend's Belgian Grand Prix with a 25-point lead at the top of the standings over his Mercedes team-mate George Russell.
Somewhat bizarrely, Antonelli has perhaps been at his most dominant over the rest of the field in terms of pure pace over the last three rounds, but a large chunk of misfortune along with a couple of errors have seen his lead cut by 41 points.
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He has rarely been outpaced by Russell in this period, but the Brit used his experience and grit to grind out a win in Austria and following that up with a second place at Silverstone as wheel-guard failure for Antonelli dropped the Italian from contention for victory to outside the points.
While Antonelli's pace has been consistent, the 19-year-old has made the odd blunder. He was lucky to get away with some overzealous driving at the start of the Austrian Grand Prix, while a poor start at Silverstone saw him overtaken by both Ferraris before the first corner.
There seems to be little doubt that Antonelli is going to continue to deliver strong pace, but the question is whether, with the added pressure of his rivals closing in, he can avoid the sort of trouble that might give them a chance to further reduce his advantage.
Having gone three races without a win after his historic streak of five victories, Antonelli could do with reasserting himself by getting back on the top step in at least one of the two events before the break.
Pressure mounts on Red Bull in Verstappen saga
There's a sense of deja vu around Max Verstappen's situation as we approach the final two races before the summer break.
This time last year there was plenty of speculation around Verstappen's future, before he confirmed ahead of the Hungarian Grand Prix that he would stay with the team for at least one more season.
Verstappen is signed up with Red Bull until the end of 2028 but has an exit clause in his contract stipulating that he can leave the team at the end of this season if he's outside the top two at the start of the summer break, which his retirement at Silverstone confirmed he will be.
It became public knowledge during the previous double-header that Verstappen's representatives had met with McLaren to sound out the Woking squad about whether there might be an opening for the Dutchman.
That story dominated the build-up at Silverstone, and the weekend couldn't have gone much worse for Red Bull team principal Laurent Mekies, with Verstappen spending much of it frustrated by a top-speed issue with his car, before crashing out in the closing stages of the race.
The crash was caused by an issue with the car's rear wing not fully closing, and Verstappen was left saying he was "fed up" with the "dangerous" situation after he had crashed as a result of a similar issue during qualifying in Austria a week earlier.
While it's unclear just how many options Verstappen has away from Red Bull, there's little doubt that Red Bull have never been under more pressure from their star driver.
Leclerc to continue resurgence?
So no more talk of there being some kind of Ferrari contract renewal 'curse' hanging over Charles Leclerc in the wake of his accomplished drive to victory at the British Grand Prix.
Still, there was no disguising the fact that the going had certainly been rough for Leclerc since that extended deal with the Scuderia was announced last month in the lead up to his home race in Monaco.
He crashed out of the race on that very weekend in the Principality, crashed again six days later during qualifying in Barcelona and, while he stuck his SF-26 on the front row a fortnight on in Austria to suggest the tide was turning, the Spielberg race was fairly disastrous too in that he had slumped to eighth place by the finish.
But something appeared to click for Leclerc by the business end of the Silverstone Sprint weekend, allowing him to outperform the in-form Lewis Hamilton in the other Ferrari around the track where the Briton so often makes the difference and finally, with the added fortune of Antonelli's late demise, ending what had become a 624-day personal victory drought.
Leclerc spoke after the race of having the 'feeling back' with his car, although stressed the win was just the first step towards delivering more consistent form. That's where Hamilton has certainly had the edge over him in recent months, allowing the Briton to build what stands as a 39-point advantage in their in-house head-to-head in the standings behind the Mercedes drivers.
Leclerc will now go Spa, scene of the first of his now-nine career grands prix victories back in 2019, surely with renewed confidence as Ferrari aim to show that their surprisingly strong Silverstone form will transfer to Belgium's similarly fast and flowing high-speed track. Should they do that, then Mercedes really may have a true championship fight on their hands heading towards the summer break.
Aston Martin upgrades finally set to arrive
After a dismal start to the season, Aston Martin are hoping to finally turn a corner when they bring a major upgrade package to Hungary.
Team principal Adrian Newey confirmed before the British Grand Prix that the package will result in a significant weight reduction along with some major changes to the AMR26's aerodynamics.
Just how much impact the changes will have remains to be seen, given the team's main issues this season have come from their Honda engine.
While it has not yet been confirmed when an engine update will arrive, the redesign of the car has the potential to allow elements of the power unit to function more efficiently.
These upgrades are not only significant in the context of the team's shocking underperformance, but also in regard to Fernando Alonso's future.
The Spaniard turns 45 a few days after the race in Hungary, and his decision over whether to continue for another year will surely be influenced by whether or not he sees positive results from the new parts.
Having slipped into obscurity, Aston Martin will be right back under the spotlight at the Hungaroring.
'Silly season' to ramp up?
Given Max Verstappen's future - both in terms of him staying in the sport or considering a switch of teams - has been a talking point all season, it's fair to say the Dutchman's situation sits outside F1's regular 'silly season' of speculation around other movement on the grid.
However, whatever he decides will undoubtedly have a bearing on the rest of the grid, potentially freeing up a Red Bull seat and triggering a potential domino effect.
Alonso's retirement decision, which could free up another seat at Aston Martin, will also be a key moment in dictating how much drama we see off track over the coming weeks.
So who would be in line for either of those rather desirable seats, should they become available? If Verstappen were to leave Red Bull for McLaren or Mercedes, whichever driver he replaced at those teams would become an obvious option to make a straight swap.
However, F1 isn't always that simple, and there is no doubt there are a couple of other drivers on the grid who feel they would be just as worthy of a chance to drive for a top team.
Carlos Sainz continues to impress at Williams and may be running out of patience after the team's underwhelming start to 2026. The Spaniard has proven he can deliver under pressure at Ferrari and is a safe bet for any elite squad.
The other name that has been floating around is that of Britain's own Oliver Bearman, who is having a strong season for a Haas team that appear to be falling behind in the development race.
The 21-year-old is contracted to Ferrari but with Hamilton and Leclerc in form, may decide his best route to moving further up the grid is to look beyond the Italian team.
There also continues to be speculation that Haas want to replace Bearman's team-mate Esteban Ocon, who is having a difficult campaign. Former Red Bull driver Yuki Tsunoda is a prime candidate to make a return to the grid in that seat.
Formula 1's summer run continues with the Belgian Grand Prix at legendary Spa-Francorchamps on July 17-19, live on Sky Sports F1. Stream Sky Sports with NOW - no contract, cancel anytime
