SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS, Belgium – Lando Norris snagged pole position for the Belgian Grand Prix, leading a McLaren front-row lockout and setting the stage for another duel with teammate Oscar Piastri. Norris’s blistering lap time of 1:40.562 was just enough to edge out Piastri, who finished 0.085 seconds slower.
Norris takes pole at Spa, a dominant performance that highlights McLaren’s strength.
- Lando Norris secured pole position at the Belgian Grand Prix.
- Oscar Piastri qualified second, completing a McLaren front-row lockout.
- Max Verstappen qualified fourth after a challenging session.
- Lewis Hamilton was eliminated in Q1 and will start 16th.
- Alex Albon qualified an impressive fifth for Williams.
Can Lando Norris continue his winning streak from pole at the Belgian Grand Prix? Norris heads into Sunday’s race aiming for his third consecutive victory, following wins in Austria and at his home race in Britain.
“It was a decent lap, so happy,” Norris shared after the session. “Everyone was pretty worried after yesterday. I wasn’t even that far off, it was just a couple of little issues that we had. The car has been flying all weekend, Oscar has been doing a good job all weekend, so we are pushing each other a lot.”
The McLaren teammates have been dominant this season, sharing all but two of the race wins. Earlier in the day, Piastri had widened his championship lead over Norris to nine points by finishing ahead in the sprint race. Max Verstappen took victory in that sprint event after a close battle, but he couldn’t replicate that success in qualifying.
Piastri expressed his disappointment with second place. “A bit disappointing,” he said. “The second lap was coming together really well, and I just made a little mistake into [Turn] 14 and lost a lot of time. I felt like the car was very good again, but it’s fine margins out there. It’s obviously not a bad place to be starting but there was more in it, which is always disappointing.”
Verstappen encountered wheelspin on his crucial lap, dropping him to fourth. He was narrowly beaten to third by Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, who was just 0.003 seconds behind. Leclerc, 0.338 seconds off Norris’s pace, was pleased with the unexpected result. “I’m very happy today. It’s strange to say that because it’s still 0.3s [to Norris] and it’s only a third place, but I did not expect it. We thought we were quite a lot more back. We knew that we had something more in the car with the upgrade this weekend, but we still struggled yesterday, but that was a really, really good lap.”
Meanwhile, Lewis Hamilton’s difficult weekend persisted. His lap was deleted for exceeding track limits at Eau Rouge, leading to his elimination from Q1. He had initially set a time good enough to advance. Barring penalties, Hamilton will start 16th, mirroring his struggles in the sprint qualifying, where he was also eliminated in Q1, started 18th, and finished 15th.
Williams driver Alex Albon was a standout, qualifying fifth. He will start ahead of Mercedes’ George Russell, who finished outside the top ten in the sprint.
Red Bull showed promise with Yuki Tsunoda in seventh, benefiting from a new floor as part of an upgrade package. This marks his best qualifying performance since the Australian Grand Prix. Racing Bulls drivers Isack Hadjar and Liam Lawson secured eighth and ninth, respectively. Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto rounded out the top ten, a beneficiary of Hamilton’s deleted lap.
Haas saw their sprint pace fade, with Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly eliminated in Q2. Gasly qualified 13th, ahead of Nico Hülkenberg and Carlos Sainz. Behind Hamilton, Alpine’s Franco Colapinto was 17th, with Mercedes rookie Andrea Antonelli qualifying 18th.
Aston Martin endured a challenging session, with Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll occupying the final two spots on the grid.
