The weekend carried significant off-track drama. Force India had entered administration during the preceding Hungarian Grand Prix weekend, and in Belgium the team arrived under new management. A consortium led by Lawrence Stroll purchased the team's racing assets and operations through a company named Racing Point UK Ltd. Because the original Sahara Force India entity could not participate in the remaining races, it was excluded from the Constructors' Championship. The restructured team, operating as Racing Point Force India, was granted a late entry and began its championship participation at Spa. The two drivers, Esteban Ocon and Sergio Pérez, qualified third and fourth respectively, underlining the pace of the underlying Mercedes-powered car.
In an additional point of interest for the weekend, McLaren reserve driver Lando Norris made his first appearance at a Formula One Grand Prix, replacing Fernando Alonso in the first practice session.
Lewis Hamilton took pole position for Mercedes with a lap of 1:58.179, with Vettel second in 1:58.905. Ocon and Pérez put the Racing Point Force India cars third and fourth. Several drivers incurred heavy grid penalties for power unit component changes during the weekend, among them Valtteri Bottas, Nico Hülkenberg, Carlos Sainz Jr., and Stoffel Vandoorne, shuffling the starting grid significantly from the qualifying order.
The race distance was 44 laps over the 7.004 km circuit, covering 308.052 km in total. The weather was cloudy.
The opening seconds produced one of the most dramatic first-lap incidents of the season. Hülkenberg misjudged his braking and struck the back of Alonso's McLaren, launching the Renault into the air. The car came down on top of Charles Leclerc's Sauber, with Hülkenberg's car landing directly on the halo safety device. All three drivers — Hülkenberg, Alonso, and Leclerc — retired before completing a lap. The halo, then in only its first season of mandatory use in Formula One, was widely credited with preventing serious injury to Leclerc.
After the first-corner chaos subsided, Vettel passed Hamilton along the Kemmel Straight on lap 1. Hamilton, along with Ocon and Pérez in their Racing Point Force India cars, attempted a four-wide challenge at the end of the straight. Vettel held his position and was not seriously threatened again throughout the race. Hamilton was unable to mount a sustained challenge and finished second, eleven seconds behind. Max Verstappen completed the podium in third for Red Bull Racing, having started seventh after a strong recovery drive.
Bottas finished fourth despite taking a five-second time penalty for causing a collision with Sergey Sirotkin. Pérez and Ocon rounded out the points-paying positions for Racing Point Force India in fifth and sixth. Haas entries Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen finished seventh and eighth. Daniel Ricciardo retired from eighth place on lap 31 with collision damage. Kimi Räikkönen retired from the race on lap 9, also due to collision damage.
Valtteri Bottas set the fastest lap of the race: a 1:46.286 on lap 32.
Vettel's victory was his fifty-second career win in Formula One, moving him past Alain Prost into third place on the all-time wins list. The victory tightened the Drivers' Championship: Hamilton led Vettel 231 to 214 points. In the Constructors' Championship, Mercedes held a fifteen-point advantage over Ferrari, 375 to 360.
The win proved to be Vettel's last for more than a year; his next came at the 2019 Singapore Grand Prix. For Racing Point Force India, the Belgian Grand Prix marked a successful debut under new ownership, with both cars finishing in the points.
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