Kimi Antonelli added a sixth pole position to his season tally after setting the fastest qualifying lap for the Belgian Grand Prix, fending off challenges from Max Verstappen and Lando Norris.
The Mercedes driver took time to find his rhythm during the hour-long session, but his late effort of 1 minute 44.361 seconds was enough to take first place by three tenths from Verstappen, who narrowly missed Isak Hajjar on his final lap when he was towed by his Red Bull teammate.
Norris, who had dropped to 13th due to a 10-place penalty for exceeding the number of powertrain components, initially set the fastest time after the opening runs in Q3 but could not find enough time to pass Antonelli and ultimately finished ahead of George Russell, Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton.
Most of the top qualifiers were separated by a small gap, with Oscar Piastri taking 7th place from Racing Bulls’ Arvid Lindblad and Gabriel Bortoleto in 9th place. Hajjar qualified 10th but would fall to the back of the field with his penalty in 20th, moving everyone behind him up one place.
Racing Bulls’ Liam Lawson missed out on a Q3 spot by just 0.038 seconds behind a fast Bortoleto and will lead Alpine’s Pierre Gasly (12th) and Franco Colapinto (13th). While his teammate completed Q3, Nico Hulkenberg could only manage 14th for Audi, with his session ended by a sudden hydraulic leak that caused a slight delay to the start of Q3.
Ollie Bierman finished in 16th place behind Carlos Sainz, while Alex Albon’s second Williams failed to make it out of the first quarter and settled in 17th place. He was ahead of Esteban Ocon, who retired early on the 10th anniversary of his Formula 1 debut.
Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Perez took 19th and 20th for Cadillac, with a pair of Aston Martins blocking the back row – although like Hajjar, Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll will also start the Grand Prix with significant grid penalties.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Q1 – Norris is the fastest of the Red Bull duo
Teams and drivers had only a few hours to prepare for qualifying, with Ferrari particularly under pressure to rebuild Hamilton’s car after he damaged the rear in a crash earlier in third practice. Fortunately for the Briton, they were able to make the necessary changes to the suspension, floor and rear wing before the start of the session.
As the light at the end of the pit lane turned green, a pair of Cadillacs joined Stroll as the first cars to hit the track – all three have yet to make it into the second quarter this season, leaving them looking to maximize their track time in the first segment.
Spa-Francorchamps represents the longest lap on the calendar, so many drivers chose to stay in their garages for the first few minutes to get two laps in on the fly. As a result, it wasn’t until the 14th minute that the momentum began to pick up and Perez’s early mark was quickly beaten.
With everyone on soft tyres, Verstappen became the first of the typical front runners to reach the top of the timesheet with a time of 1m 45.930s, something Antonelli was unable to repeat on his first attempt. In fact, it was Racing Bulls’ Lindblad who came closest to the Dutchman in the early stages.
Hajjar, who is due to start Sunday’s race with a 20-place grid deficit, was next behind leader Red Bull before Norris – another driver who will lose grid positions regardless of his qualifying result – took the top spot.
Everyone returned briefly to the pits to prepare for their final attempts, with those at risk looking to make significant improvements – Colapinto, Ocon, Perez, Bottas, Alonso and Stroll all found themselves in the elimination zone as they began their lap.
While the top three of Norris, Verstappen and Hajjar felt safe enough not to go another lap, Colapinto was the only driver to finish in the top 16. He moved up to 13th, just behind his Alpine teammate, who set the fastest final sector of the session, relegating Albon to 17th.
The Williams player suffered his sixth Q1 exit in 10 rounds and was joined by Ocon, marking the 10th anniversary of his debut, both Cadillacs (Bottas ahead of Perez in 19th) and both Aston Martins. Alonso qualified 21st but will be relegated to the back of the grid due to a penalty for replacing numerous powertrain components.
Eliminated: Albon, Ocon, Bottas, Perez, Alonso, Stroll.
Q2 – Antonelli returns to the top and Lindblad shines
It was another gradual start to the second quarter, but eventually a queue formed as everyone looked for a valuable spot among the top 10 in the table. All eyes were on Antonelli, who was aiming to return to first place after a disappointing first-quarter performance in which Russell passed him for the first time this weekend.
The Italian appeared to have rediscovered the pace that allowed him to excel in FP2 and FP3 when he posted a lap time of 1m 45.142s, but Russell struggled on his first lap and was a less-than-ideal 0.547s behind Antonelli.
Things went from bad to worse for the Briton as he lost while Leclerc took second place to Ferrari, albeit still two tenths of Antonelli’s time. Further afield, Lindblad made a stunning bid to capture P6 with his newly upgraded car, putting him in the same league as the likes of Verstappen and Piastri.
Despite a strong finish in Q1, Alpine’s Gasly and Colapinto were unable to make it out of Q2 and finished 12th and 13th respectively, with Lawson narrowly missing out on 10th place due to Bortoleto’s impressive lap.
Hulkenberg crashed out in 14th for Audi and was seen to have pulled to the side of the track with a hydraulic leak after the checkered flag fell, subsequently delaying the start of the top 10 penalty shootout. The latest drivers to fail to progress were Williams’ Sainz and Haas’ Bearman.
Out: Lawson, Gasly, Colapinto, Hulkenberg, Sainz, Biermann.
Q3 – Verstappen loses to superior Antonelli
Everyone was ready and waiting for the start of Q3, but Piastri seemed to think Audi was too keen to send Bortoleto out – the Australian radioed that he had noticed “about three unsafe emissions in one” as he sat patiently in the pit lane.
Despite starting from the back of the grid due to his penalty, Hadjar took part for the entire qualifying hour and the reason became clear as he gave his teammate an extremely useful maneuver to hand Verstappen an early P1.
However, Red Bull were no match for Antonelli, who took a superb provisional pole position before Norris went even faster. His time of 1 meter 44.801 seconds was the fastest of the weekend and McLaren hoped he would qualify as high as possible to minimize the impact of his own penalty in 10th place on the grid.
The meeting was temporarily stopped to clear the gravel at Stavelot before action picked up again. This final lap could change the course of the drivers’ race in Belgium, but who will succeed in the race for pole?
With such a narrow lead, Antonelli, Verstappen, Russell and Lindblad started their lap with great speed before the Dutchman’s efforts were undone by a close collision with Hajjar, who was trying to offer another tow.
This proved to be in vain, with Antonelli storming to pole position with a 0.317 second advantage over Verstappen, with Norris finishing close behind in third. Russell was next ahead of the Ferraris of Leclerc and Hamilton, who were separated by just 0.002 seconds.
Piastri, Lindblad, Bortoleto and Hadjar completed the top ten, with all but the Frenchman given a grid position thanks to a Norris penalty. Like McLaren, Red Bull decided to change some parts of the power unit in Hajjar’s car, leaving him to start towards the back of the grid.
Key Quote
“It’s great to be on pole,” Antonelli said. “It wasn’t a very easy session, the track changed a lot, but we were able to improve lap after lap and bring home pole, which was nice. Of course, tomorrow will be a new day. Max is starting next to me, so it will be important to get a good start and then try to take the lead into Turn 5.”
What’s next
The 2026 Belgian Grand Prix starts on Sunday at 15:00 local time. Go to RACING CENTER to find out how you can follow what’s happening in Spa-Francorchamps.