By Camille Lebez Leroy
Andrea Kimi Antonelli secured pole position for the Belgian Grand Prix after a closely fought qualifying session at Spa-Francorchamps. Here’s how Q1, Q2 and Q3 unfolded as the grid was decided for Sunday’s race.
Q1
Qualifying at Spa began with a quiet pit lane before Aston Martin sent Lance Stroll out first, followed by Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Perez. Stroll later abandoned his lap after running on used soft tyres, allowing Perez to set the early benchmark ahead of Bottas.
Once the rest of the field joined on fresh softs, the lap times quickly improved. Max Verstappen briefly went fastest with a 1m45.930s before Lando Norris edged him by just 0.065s to top the opening runs.
Arvid Lindblad impressed by going third, while Charles Leclerc split the two Mercedes. George Russell and Kimi Antonelli both struggled to match the front-runners, with Lewis Hamilton also reporting tyre temperature issues.
After the first runs, Norris led Verstappen, the two Red Bulls and Lindblad, while Colapinto, Ocon, Perez, Bottas, Alonso and Stroll were in the drop zone. Norris, Verstappen and Hadjar stayed in the pits for the final runs, while the rest headed back out knowing they would only have one chance to improve around Spa’s long lap.
In the closing minutes, Ollie Bearman and Nico Hulkenberg climbed out of danger, while Colapinto and Gasly also improved to secure places in Q2. Ocon was eliminated in 18th, and Alex Albon was pushed out of the top 15 after failing to improve.
17th – Alex Albon
18th – Esteban Ocon
19th – Valtteri Bottas
20th – Sergio Perez
21st – Fernando Alonso
22nd – Lance Stroll
Q2
With 16 cars left fighting for 10 places in Q3, the second session again began quietly as the drivers waited before heading out. Most planned two flying laps, although Ollie Bearman and Carlos Sainz had to use used soft tyres.
Andrea Kimi Antonelli set the early pace with a 1m45.142s, finishing almost half a second clear of Max Verstappen, who recovered with a strong second sector after a slow start. Charles Leclerc moved into second ahead of Lando Norris, while Lewis Hamilton climbed to fourth, leaving Verstappen fifth.
After the opening runs, Lawson, Gasly, Hulkenberg, Colapinto, Sainz and Bearman were in the elimination zone.
For the final runs, Hamilton, Antonelli, Norris and Verstappen stayed in the garage, confident their times were enough, while the rest returned to the track.
Hadjar improved just enough to secure ninth, but Gasly, Colapinto, Hulkenberg and Sainz all failed to escape the drop zone. Liam Lawson’s final lap was only good enough for 11th, meaning he missed out on Q3 by one place.
After being knocked out in Q2, Hulkenberg had to stop his car on track due to a hydraulic leak.
11th – Liam Lawson
12th – Pierre Gasly
13th – Franco Colapinto
14th – Nico Hulkenberg
15th – Carlos Sainz
16th – Ollie Bearman
Q3
The fight for pole began immediately, with the drivers wasting no time leaving the pit lane. Isack Hadjar headed out first on used tyres ahead of Max Verstappen, initially pulling away before dropping back later in the lap to give the Dutchman a tow.
Verstappen briefly took provisional pole with a 1m44.984s, but Andrea Kimi Antonelli responded to go fastest before Charles Leclerc split the pair. Lando Norris then topped the session by just 0.039s, before a red flag was brought out after Oscar Piastri dragged gravel onto the track.
After the restart, everyone had one final flying lap. Verstappen again benefited from a tow and briefly went fastest, but Antonelli produced an outstanding final lap to secure pole position by three-tenths of a second.
Russell could only manage fourth after losing time in the final sector, while Leclerc was unable to improve. Norris abandoned his final lap after running wide into the gravel at Turn 13, meaning he stayed third-fastest. However, with his 10-place grid penalty, Antonelli officially claimed pole position for Sunday’s race.
Pole – Kimi Antonelli
2nd – Max Verstappen
3rd – Lando Norris
4th – George Russell
5th – Charles Leclerc
6th – Lewis Hamilton
7th – Oscar Piastri
8th – Arvid Lindblad
9th – Gabriel Bortoleto
10th – Isack Hadjar
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