Before the race, a minute of silence was observed to mark the one-year anniversary of the death of Anthoine Hubert, who had been killed at the same circuit during the 2019 Formula 2 feature race. Pierre Gasly, one of Hubert's closest friends, wore a tribute helmet throughout the weekend, and all teams and drivers displayed a star sticker on their cars and helmets in his memory.
The Belgian Grand Prix retained its original date despite the pandemic disruption that had cancelled or postponed numerous other rounds. The race weekend ran without the substitution drivers or special arrangements that had affected several earlier events in the season.
Valtteri Bottas led the opening practice session for Mercedes ahead of Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen. The second session was topped by Verstappen for Red Bull, with Daniel Ricciardo second for Renault before suffering a hydraulics failure on the Kemmel Straight that triggered a virtual safety car period. A subsequent red flag followed when an advertising billboard came loose and fell onto the circuit at turn 1. Hamilton was fastest in the third and final practice.
In qualifying, Hamilton took pole position by 0.511 seconds over Bottas, with Verstappen a further 0.015 seconds behind in third. Hamilton dedicated the pole to Chadwick Boseman, who had died in the days preceding the race weekend. Ricciardo qualified fourth with Alexander Albon fifth and Esteban Ocon sixth. The remainder of the top ten was completed by Carlos Sainz, Sergio Perez, Lance Stroll and Lando Norris. Ferrari's Charles Leclerc and Sebastian Vettel were 13th and 14th respectively, and the team failed to reach Q3 for the first time since the 2014 British Grand Prix. George Russell qualified an impressive 15th for Williams, reaching Q2 for the fifth time that season.
Carlos Sainz was unable to start the race due to a power unit failure that also damaged his exhaust. On lap 10, Antonio Giovinazzi lost control exiting turn 14 and crashed into the barriers. A wheel detached from his Alfa Romeo and struck the front right suspension of George Russell's Williams, forcing both to retire and bringing out the safety car.
The majority of the field pitted under the safety car, with the exception of Pierre Gasly and Sergio Perez, who remained out on older tyres. When racing resumed, Hamilton, Bottas and Verstappen held the top three positions, with Gasly and Perez briefly running fourth and fifth before their older rubber began to fade and they were overhauled by Ricciardo and others.
Perez pitted at the end of lap 18 for hard tyres from last position and began a long charge through the field. Gasly made his stop from tenth on lap 26, taking on medium tyres that would carry him to the finish. By lap 36 Gasly was tenth and Perez ninth, and Gasly passed Perez on lap 39 before taking eighth from Stroll on lap 42.
Hamilton led every lap of the race from lights to flag, with Bottas and Verstappen also holding second and third throughout. Ricciardo finished fourth and set the fastest lap on the final tour to claim the bonus point, closing to within three seconds of Verstappen at the chequered flag. Ocon passed Albon on the last lap to finish fifth. Kimi Raikkonen finished seventh, notably ahead of both Ferrari cars and his former teammate Vettel.
The result maintained Mercedes' dominant position in both championships. Ferrari's performance at Spa underlined a difficult season for the Scuderia, who would go on to finish outside the top five in the Constructors' standings for the first time since 1980. The race also demonstrated the strength of Renault's recovery under Daniel Ricciardo, who delivered one of the weekend's strongest drives despite starting from the pit lane equivalent of fourth.