25/07/2025 17:33
Oscar Piastri delivered a thunderous lap to land pole position for
the Belgian sprint at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit. Piastri, who
has finished second in the previous two sprints this season in
China and Miami, smashed his F1 rivals, finishing almost half a
second clear of Red Bull's Max Verstappen, in an RB21 sporting
upgrades, notably a new front wing, with a lap record of 1:40.510s.
As for McLaren team-mate Lando Norris, who had topped SQ2, the
Briton was a chasm away of six tenths of a second, leaving him
third on the grid ahead of Ferrari's Charles Leclerc. Given the
length of the circuit, and on soft tyres, it led to the
eight-minute SQ3 being a one-lap showdown, with a surprising gaggle
of qualifiers behind the big four. Esteban Ocon will start fifth
for Haas, with team-mate Oliver Bearman seventh, the duo
sandwiching Williams' Carlos Sainz. Alpine's Pierre Gasly starts
eighth ahead of Isack Hadjar for Racing Bulls, and Stake's Gabriel
Bortoleto. There were major shocks in the first session, with Lewis
Hamilton suffering issues on both his runs, notably the second with
the rear brakes locking on his Ferrari, sending him spinning out
into a run-off area, leaving him to start 18th. Kimi Antonelli,
meanwhile, will line up last after a spin into the gravel at
Stavelot on his first run, from which he never recovered. On a bad
day for Mercedes, George Russell exited SQ2, and will start 13th
behind Red Bull's Yuki Tsunoda. Lewis Hamilton and Kimi Antonelli
suffer major blows In SQ2, on the mandatory medium tyres, Piastri
immediately set the pace with a lap marginally quicker than his
SQ1-leading 1:41.769s, only for it to be exceeded with a marginal
track limits call at the top of the hill through Raidillon. The
Australian, however, did enough on his second attempt, but only
just as he scraped through into the top-10 shootout with the 10th
quickest time of a session in which track evolution ramped up
considerably in the closing stages. It allowed Norris, facing
elimination, to set the pace with a 1:41.412s, to finish 0.171s
ahead of Verstappen, whilst the likes of Gasly, Bearman and
Bortoleto reached SQ3 with their only runs. As Piastri's second run
had come much earlier, it was why he was on the bubble, pipping
Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson by 0.041s. The New Zealander will start
ahead of Red Bull's Yuki Tsunoda, who finished six-tenths of a
second slower than second-quickest team-mate Verstappen, with
Russell suffering a surprise exit, leaving him 13th on the grid.
Aston Martin duo Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll will start 14th
and 15th. The first session, when again mediums are the only rubber
that can be used, also delivered major surprises. Antonelli blotted
his copybook with a spin off the track and into the gravel out of
Stavelot. With dust flying in the air, Russell, following behind,
was forced to ease off the throttle a touch, although he did enough
to escape. Antonelli, however, failed to redeem himself with his
second attempt, finishing slowest, leading to engineer Pete
Bonnington stating the team would 'check the car out to see what
had been done to the floor'. Moments after Antonelli's incident,
and also on the approach to Stavelot, Hamilton suffered a major
snap on the approach that compromised his first run. On the second,
and with Hamilton chasing time as he was down in both the first and
second sectors, on the high-speed run into the Bus Stop Chicane,
Hamilton's SF-25 sustained a shock rear lock under braking, sending
the Briton spinning onto the run-off area. Hamilton lines up 18th,
ahead of Alpine's Franco Colapinto and Antonelli, with Williams'
Alex Albon and Nico Hulkenberg ahead of him in 16th and 17th, the
latter just three weeks on from his heroics in the British Grand
Prix when he clinched his first podium at the 239th time of
asking.
