Oscar Piastri will start the Belgian Grand Prix sprint race in pole position for McLaren. The championship leader will be joined on the front row with Max Verstappen while Silverstone winner Lando Norris had to settle for third.
The McLaren driver just made it through in SQ2 due to a deleted lap time, but then set lap time of one minute, 40.510 seconds in the final segment of sprint qualifying to put almost five tenths on Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, with Lando Norris a massive six tenths behind in third.
“Sorry for the heart attack,” Piastri told his team over the radio. “That wasn’t in the plan, but the car was mega.”
Charles Leclerc claimed fourth for Ferrari, while Esteban Ocon excelled for Haas by taking fifth on the sprint grid.
Carlos Sainz was sixth for Williams ahead of Oliver Bearman and Alpine’s Pierre Gasly. Isack Hadjar and Gabriel Bortoleto completed a top ten that saw several big players missing out.
McLaren’s Norris and Piastri went out early for a banker lap in SQ2, which was delayed to clean up gravel, though the latter’s time was crucially deleted for track limits at the top of the Raidillon.
That meant Verstappen momentarily got in front, with Norris taking over the segment lead with his second lap, with one minute, 41.412 seconds effort.
Piastri almost paid a huge price for his deleted lap, with his second attempt only good enough to make it through to SQ3 in P10, by just 0.041 seconds.
Liam Lawson was the first to be eliminated in P11, followed by Yuki Tsunoda. Instead of Piastri, the biggest victim was George Russell, who went out in P13.
The Aston Martins of Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll only managed P14 and P15, while Sauber’s Bortoleto and Alpine’s Gasly were the stars of the session in fifth and sixth.
Piastri led the early runs in SQ1 from Verstappen and Norris, with one minute, 41.769 seconds, as drivers scrambled to avoid the back of the grid.
Andrea Kimi Antonelli suffered a spin on the exit of Stavelot, heading through the gravel but escaping without apparent damage.
Lewis Hamilton also had a big moment on his first run, meaning he and Antonelli were two of five drivers in danger of being knocked out, alongside Gasly, Franco Colapinto and Bearman, who aborted his lap.
But neither driver’s luck improved on the second run, with a frustrated Hamilton spinning at the Bus Stop chicane after his rear tyres instantly locked under braking, seeing the seven-time world champion knocked out in P18.
Gasly saved himself in P15 at the expense of Alex Albon, while Nico Hulkenberg was down in P17 after having to fight for track position with Lawson. Behind Hamilton, Colapinto was out in P19 with Antonelli last after reporting brake issues.
So a solid pole position for the sprint race for the championship leader. The first lap is going to be interesting thanks to the long drag race towards Les Combes. Bring on the sprint!
Belgian Grand Prix, sprint qualifying:
1 Lando Norris McLaren 1:40.510
2 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1:40.987
3 Lando Norris McLaren 1:41.128
4 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:41.278
5 Esteban Ocon Haas 1:41.565
6 Carlos Sainz Williams 1:41.761
7 Oliver Bearman Haas 1:41.857
8 Pierre Gasly Alpine 1:41.959
9 Isack Hadjar Racing Bulls 1:41.971
10 Gabriel Bortoleto Sauber 1:42.176
11 Liam Lawson Racing Bulls 1:42.169
12 Yuki Tsunoda Red Bull 1:42.184
13 George Russell Mercedes 1:42.330
14 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin 1:42.453
15 Lance Stroll Aston Martin 1:42.832
16 Alexander Albon Williams 1:43.212
17 Nico Hulkenberg Sauber 1:43.217
18 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari 1:43.408
19 Franco Colapinto Alpine 1:43.587
20 Andrea Kimi Antonelli Mercedes 1:45.394
Oscar Piastri took Sprint pole position ahead of the Belgian Grand Prix this weekend, beating Max Verstappen by nearly half a second as McLaren team mate Lando Norris could only salvage third.
With teams only able to use one set of soft Pirelli tyres in the final part of Qualifying, all 10 drivers waited until the final moments to head out for a one-lap shootout around the Spa-Francorchamps Circuit, with Verstappen and the two McLaren drivers favourite for top spot.
Norris was the first to post a lap time, the Briton setting a 1m 41.128s which was headed by Verstappen, as the Dutchman set a 1m 40.987s, but both were unable to beat Piastri, the Australian setting a 1m 40.510s to finish top.
Best of the rest was Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, nearly eight tenths in arrears, from the impressive Haas of Esteban Ocon as team mate Oliver Bearman grabbed seventh with the Williams of Carlos Sainz splitting the pair.
Alpine’s Pierre Gasly finished eighth after an impressive SQ2 time to reach the final stage of Qualifying, while Isack Hadjar’s Racing Bulls and the Kick Sauber of Gabriel Bortoleto completed the top 10 ahead of Saturday’s Sprint.
https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article/piastri-dominates-for-sprint-qualifying-pole-position-at-spa-ahead-of.5jmGju5W4gY3503UmzlFuV
Oscar Piastri was delighted to “get a result” after taking pole position in Sprint Qualifying at the Belgian Grand Prix, while McLaren team mate Lando Norris admitted that he was “not the happiest” following his P3 finish.
Having been disappointed by his race last time out at Silverstone – in which he received a 10-second time penalty – Piastri looked determined to make up for that as the weekend got underway at Spa-Francorchamps, bouncing back from a deleted lap time in SQ2 to go fastest in SQ3 on a time of 1m 40.510s.
Reflecting on his session after jumping out of the car, the Australian was all smiles as he said: “It was a good lap. A little scare in SQ2 with the lap deletion, but the car’s been mega all day and I feel like I’ve been able to put in a lot of good laps.
“Thanks to the team, the car’s been great and this is a track I love. It’s my favourite one of the year and, I don’t know, maybe that gave me a couple of extra tenths! It’s always good fun around here, when the car’s handling as well as it is today it’s a pleasure.”
Quizzed on why he had appeared so confident throughout the day at Spa, Piastri responded: “I don’t know. The car has been in a good window from Lap 1, and again it’s a track I always enjoy coming to and, yeah, I don’t know why.
“I think [I] had good confidence, I feel like the last few weekends have been good from a pace perspective but not so much from a results perspective, so it’s nice to get a result today.”
Looking ahead to how he might fare in Saturday’s Sprint, Piastri admitted that there are still some unknowns but sounded an optimistic note.
“I need to go and look,” the 24-year-old said. “The Red Bulls were very quick in a straight line, in practice – I don’t know if it was the same in Sprint Qualifying, but that makes life difficult and Spa is probably the worst track to have pole position at!
“Let’s see and I’ll go have a look, but the pace in the car is really strong. I’ve felt good today so hopefully we can have a good race tomorrow.”
https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article/piastri-thrilled-to-get-a-result-with-pole-in-spa-sprint-qualifying-while.2kSGiuszxsu3r7YOIeeRus
Lewis Hamilton spun out during SQ1 in Belgium after locking up the rear wheels going into the final chicane. As a result, the seven-time champion will start the Belgian sprint race from 18th on the grid.
Sky Sports F1 commentator and former Formula 1 driver Martin Brundle branded the incident as “highly unusual” during the broadcast.
“His rear axle broke up under braking – highly unusual,” he said. “I don’t think there’s anyone more surprised at that than Lewis Hamilton.”
It came as no surprise that the British driver was frustrated following the session.
“First time I think in my career,” he said, when asked if it was caused by rear locking. Speaking about the overall feeling in the car, he added, “Not great. There’s not really a lot to say.”
Looking ahead to tomorrow, Hamilton is hopeful that he can turn it around.
“Tomorrow’s a new day, so we’ll try to… obviously I’m massively frustrated. A lot of work has gone in, and to be there is not really great, so hopefully tomorrow will be better.”
Former driver and Sky Sports analyst Anthony Davidson felt it was surprising that the Ferrari driver seemed to take the blame for the incident.
“It’s surprising that he’s taken the blame for that,” he explained. “Maybe if he listens back to it again, and by the time he gets back to the data and works it through with the engineers, he might think differently.
“But at the moment, he’s a bit downtrodden and beating himself up for it.
“They will clearly see that there was rear locking, and it’s quite hard for a driver to cause that, unless you’ve been a bit careless and thrown your brake bias too far to the rear.
“There’s very little a driver can do in these digital cars that they drive. They’re not very analogue these days. There’s only so much you can do on a flappy paddle gearbox to make the thing try to lock up.
“No matter what he says, the car spun him round to a certain degree.”
https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/lewis-hamilton-frustrated-after-sprint-qualifying-spin-blame-questioned-by-ant-davidson/10745135/