This is a childhood dream. My first, and certainly not my last, Formula 1 event. As we’re living in Belgium, it was obvious – dare I say, convenient – to pop our F1 cherry at the longest track with the shortest name in the 2026 calendar: the legendary Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps.
I bought tickets without any prior research. On 3 August 2025, I decided that enough is enough. I’d followed Formula 1 during the early 2000s with Michael Schumacher dominating, and now with Max Verstappen showing utter brilliance behind (almost any) wheel, I need to experience this in person. Two bronze weekend tickets secured for the 2026 Belgian Grand Prix.
PART ONE – QUESTIONS AND TIPS
Before we dive into the photos (feel free to scroll straight down to Part Two), here are a few questions I had before the event and my answers based on this recent experience, as well as a few tips.
What is a bronze ticket? A bronze ticket is a general admission ticket, meaning you don’t have a seat at any of the grandstands, but you can sit almost anywhere else. A weekend ticket covers Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.
TIP! Learn from my mistake and buy tickets from the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps website instead of Formula 1 Tickets. You’ll save €50 per ticket. Last time I checked, bronze tickets were still available on the Thursday before race weekend. It doesn’t matter if you buy a year in advance or the day before.
Is it worth buying bronze tickets at Spa? In my humble opinion, yes – especially if you’re going for the first time, as you’re able to explore the whole track. With a seated ticket, chances are you wouldn’t venture far.
We explored. On Friday, we were mainly at the first sector – the Kemmel Straight and around Eau Rouge–Raidillon. On Saturday, we found a decent spot in the second sector at the Double Gauche, and on Sunday we started in the forest next to the Double Gauche before relocating to the third sector at Blanchimont, next to the chicane. As you’ll see below, it was worth it. Over the whole weekend we visited all three sectors – something we probably wouldn’t have managed with seated tickets.
Yes, we walked a lot. Yes, being in decent shape helps, but it’s certainly not mandatory – we saw people on crutches making their way up to the Kemmel Straight. Those who know how steep that climb is will appreciate the effort. And there were plenty of, how shall I put this, people with a high body mass index. Hiking shoes are useful, but any comfortable footwear will do. Also, be prepared to inhale a lot of dust. That’s inevitable.
TIP! Find a spot where you can see a big screen, and don’t rely solely on speakers. At Blanchimont we had a screen but no working speakers. At both the Kemmel Straight and the Double Gauche, we had both. You can of course watch the track while following along on F1TV, but that might ruin the magic. Commentary alternates between English, French, and Dutch, so be prepared to test your linguistic skills.
Is the shuttle worth it? We live in Brussels, so we took the city shuttle from Brussels North/South station. The bus was comfortable, with plenty of legroom and good (perhaps too good) air conditioning. Brussels to the circuit takes roughly three hours. It departs Brussels at 06:30, arrives at Spa around 09:00, and leaves Spa at 19:00 – back in Brussels by around 21:30–22:00.
TIP! If you’re considering the shuttle, I preferred Brussels North. Getting in and out of the city is quicker than from Brussels South. We used Brussels North on Friday. The price? €75 per person return. Worth it.
What are the food and drink options? Food and drink at the track are plentiful.
TIP! Bring your own food and a plastic or metal bottle – water refill stations are dotted all around. You can of course buy burgers, hot dogs, pizzas, pasta, kebabs, and more. But you’ll pay for it.
€8 for fries and sauce; €5 for Pepsi; €16 for a pita; €6.30 for a waffle; €16 for a burger. Just bring sandwiches and drink water.
Any feedback on WC facilities? If you have a small bladder or a sensitive stomach, stay calm. Toilet facilities at the track are plentiful and surprisingly clean – I saw an army of cleaners keeping things in order even after a crowd with multiple beers in their system. Getting to those facilities, though, is another matter. If you’re at the Kemmel Straight or the Double Gauche on race day, somewhere in the middle of the Bronze area, it will be a challenge. Blanchimont is slightly easier. The woods are more accessible, if you know what I mean, and people aren’t packed in quite as tightly (unless you want a view of the chicane).
TIP! Bring a foldable chair. You can sit on the ground, but a chair makes a huge difference for your back. People were setting up chairs on the most unlikely surfaces – when the incline looked too steep, someone always found a way. I’ll admit I used rocks on Saturday to level mine out, or I’d have slid forward all afternoon.
Can I buy official merchandise at the track? The rumours on Reddit are true: official merchandise at the track carries a markup of around 20%, if not more. Better to buy online. Unless you’re after older stuff – we found an outlet store with discontinued and previous-season items. We bought jackets. I also found a deck of cards at the Spa merchandise store. The collection keeps growing.
When you attend a Formula 1 event, you get more than just Formula 1. Alongside the main event, there’s Formula 2, Formula 3, and the Porsche Supercup. For any racing enthusiast, it’s a treat. The smell of rubber and exhaust, the sound of high-pitched engines, and the sheer speed of it all – especially Formula 1 – is something else.
PART TWO
Let’s get into the photos.
Max Verstappen
As I mentioned, the driver I support is Max Verstappen – so you’ll understand my joy at seeing him in person, albeit from afar. We caught him at the fanzone during the meet-and-greet, and saw the Championship trophy bearing all the champions’ signatures, including all four of Max’s. On race day, I was proudly rocking Max’s No. 3 football jersey.
Imagine our surprise when Max went fastest in Free Practice 1 – a first for him in 2026.
Qualifying at Double Gauche
What’s the first impression upon hearing an F1 car? It sounds like a jet engine – at least, that’s the first thing that came to mind. It comes at you like a jet, then switches to that iconic high-pitched sound. And the speed? Impressive, yes – though you still manage to catch both the driver’s helmet and his racing number. Here are the photos from qualifying.
The Show Car
At the Fanzone you could get up close to a show car. No engine or inner workings, obviously, but still a treat to see one in person.
Not that it was my first time. At the Brussels Motor Show earlier this year I saw the Alpine show car – but the one at Spa looked better, probably down to the natural light. Judge for yourself.
Bronze Areas at Spa
This might interest you the most – what sitting in the Bronze areas actually looks like. As I mentioned, it was packed, people got creative with their folding chairs, and you had to tolerate strangers invading your personal space.
One major negative during the free practice sessions and qualifying was smoking. I get that we were outdoors, but if you need to feed the parasite in your chest, do it somewhere where you’re not bothering other people. What made it worse, there were often children right next to smokers who couldn’t be bothered to blow their smoke up or in the opposite direction. I have nothing against smokers – but the lack of consideration for everyone else was genuinely frustrating.
Luckily, we still enjoyed all the practice sessions and qualifying. For the race, we managed to find a spot where passive smoking wasn’t something we had to endure.
Audi Crash
The show car wasn’t the only Formula 1 car we got to see up close.
Unfortunately, Nico Hülkenberg had a crash during qualifying – but fortunately for us, we were close to where it happened. Once the marshals had cleared the track, both Nico and his Audi were driven past us. Not as close as the show car, but still.
Porsche Mobil1 Supercup
These photos were taken during the Porsche Supercup race from quite a distance. In one of the Bronze area gallery photos you can spot a rainbow umbrella – we were sitting right behind it, and these were shot from exactly that distance using nothing more than my iPhone 17 Pro Max.
What can I say about the Porsche Supercup cars? I want to attend a GT3 race – be it the legendary Nürburgring or somewhere else.
The Fanzone at Spa
What can you find at the Fanzone? Food and drinks, obviously. The show car mentioned earlier. The championship trophy on display. Numerous merchandise stores. A large WC station and plenty of water refill stations. And if you need to cool off, there were sprinklers next to one of the grandstands.
There’s also a main Fanzone stage. You already saw it above with Max and Isac, but before Max there was also Yuki Tsunoda answering fan questions. We didn’t stay for the other drivers.
What surprised us most, though – after the race, there was a concert by none other than Lost Frequencies. We’d already caught his show in Brussels in the spring, so it was a treat to see him live again. All in all, your Formula 1 ticket gets you more than just Formula 1: Formula 2 and 3, the Porsche Supercup, and – if you’re lucky – a well-known artist to close out the weekend.
The Belgian Grand Prix 2026
Formula 1 is not boring. Watching cars go around a track is not boring. At the start they’re all more or less in one group, but midway through the race the backmarkers appear and you’re never waiting more than a minute to see a car go by.
You appreciate the speed. You understand what a second between two cars actually looks like. You gain a visceral sense of how frightening a crash is. You fall in love with the smell of rubber. And you see that those cars are driven not by robots – although the current regulations might challenge that – but by real humans.
I want more. More races. More of that fandom. Getting a glimpse of the pit lane would be wonderful, and that’ll happen – in due time. But I need to re-experience a Formula 1 race again. Multiple times. It’s addictive.
Eau Rouge and Dirty shoes
You stop and take a photo the first time you see Eau Rouge. It’s impressive – because only in person do you appreciate how steep it actually is.
Earlier this year we went sim racing, and one of the tracks was Spa. On the simulator, I lifted going up Eau Rouge–Raidillon. Hats off to anyone who doesn’t.
After a few days at Spa, your shoes are filthy. Worth it.
Conclusion
What more can I say that hasn’t already been said?
My first Formula 1 event in person, and many more to come. The iPhone 17 Pro Max camera is seriously impressive. Formula 1 events are not cheap, but you get your money’s worth – the side events and atmosphere alone justify it. I made notes throughout the weekend for this post, and ended up not using a single one; the memories and emotions are still too vivid.
See you at other Formula 1 races.
Kindly,
Olaaf
