After visiting Nivelles in 1972, the Belgian GP moved to Zolder in the Flemish part of Belgium. The organizers started resurfacing late because of a dispute with the teams and so when practice began the tarmac was still not properly hardened. The result was that the track surface broke up in places on Friday. Resurfacing work was carried out overnight, amid threats from the Grand Prix Drivers Association that they would cancel the event if the track broke up again on Saturday. The disputes continued well into Saturday morning but finally it became clear that the track was all right and there was a rush to qualify. The field was as normal with the addition of Chris Amon in a new Tecno. Arturo Merzario was back in action in the second Ferrari having missed the Spanish GP because his new car was not ready.

Qualifying resulted in pole position for Ronnie Peterson's Lotus with Denny Hulme second in the McLaren M23. Then came Ickx's Ferrari and François Cévert's Tyrrell. The third row featured Jean-Pierre Beltoise in his BRM and Jackie Stewart's Tyrrell, while the top 10 was completed by Carlos Reutemann (Brabham), Carlos Pace (Surtees), Emerson Fittipaldi (Lotus) and Peter Revson (McLaren).

Peterson took the lead at the start with Cévert chasing and then Ickx, Hulme and Reutemann. On the second lap Cévert took the lead and began to pull away. Hulme dropped away after going off on oil being dropped by Ickx and soon afterwards Ickx retired with an oil pump failure. This put Reutemann third but he went out with engine failure on the 14th lap. Four laps later Fittipaldi and Stewart (who were now third and fourth) overtook Peterson and on lap 20 the Fittipaldi took the lead when Cévert spun. Five laps later Stewart went into the lead and began to pull away. Fittipaldi began to suffer from fuel pressure problems and on lap 48 dropped behind Cévert to give Stewart a 1-2 with the Lotus driver surviving to finish third.

De Adamish and Lauda ended up fourth and fifth with Amon sixth.