Category: Motor Racing

Kimi Antonelli came through from the back of the grid to finish first at an exciting Italian Grand Prix. The Mercedes driver had a fun battle with his teammate George Russell, swapping P1 for many laps and in the end taking a popular victory at Monza.

In an action-packed display of battery-led yo-yo racing, Antonelli overcame a grid penalty following a power unit change and a mid-race pitstop to fly through the field and defeat long-time leader Russell, with Max Verstappen defeating McLaren to the final podium position.

The race started with a bang for the sold-out, tifosi-filled grandstands. As shock polesitter Pierre Gasly held firm against Russell, Lewis Hamilton attempted to pass teammate Charles Leclerc down the inside of the tight Turn 1 chicane, with Leclerc pushing Hamilton wide on exit, costing Lewis six positions as he dropped to ninth.

The incident was noted by race control, but on the end of lap 2 Leclerc suffered a huge crash on the exit of the final Parabolica corner as he fended off McLaren’s Oscar Piastri. Leclerc skated across the gravel and went into the outside wall at high speed, escaping unhurt but bringing out the red flag for lengthy barrier repairs.

Russell had been able to pass Gasly on the front straight earlier on the lap, ensuring the Mercedes driver would take the restart from pole, while Verstappen and Franco Colapinto worked their way up to third and fourth from Piastri.

All drivers were afforded a free tyre change under the red flag, with Verstappen the only frontrunner to pick mediums instead of hards. Following an extra formation lap for Yuki Tsunoda being out of position on the grid, Russell defended the lead from Gasly, while Colapinto passed Verstappen for third. But after Verstappen strike back a trademark move around the outside of the second chicane, Colapinto went off the track in the first Lesmo right-hander, dropping the Alpine driver down to P16.

In the chaos behind the pair, Hamilton moved up to fourth at the expense of Piastri, who was battling teammate Norris and Arvid Lindblad. After a rocket start, Antonelli took advantage of that fight to move up to sixth with a double pass on Norris and Lindblad on the main straight.

On lap 7, Alpine’s hopes of a shock win for Gasly was reduced further when he was passed for second by Verstappen. Three laps later, Gasly also lost third to Hamilton, and he was powerless to keep Piastri and Antonelli behind as Alpine dropped to sixth.

Clearing Gasly quickly was supposed to hand Russell a clear path to victory, but on an day where slipstreaming was key, the Mercedes driver was unable to break away from Verstappen and instead starting coming under pressure from the Red Bull, with the pair trading the lead two more times on lap 12 and 15.

But rather than Russell, Antonelli quickly emerged as the more likely of the two Silver Arrows drivers to take victory despite starting from P19. As the last driver of the three cars, some two seconds behind the leaders, Antonelli had already picked off Hamilton and Piastri in quick succession.

Russell’s battle with Verstappen allowed Antonelli to rapidly close in on the lead battle, snatching second away from the Red Bull driver on lap 16. Antonelli only needed one attempt to pass Russell for the lead, claiming control on lap 18 at Turn 1.

The so-called yo-yo racing, with battery deployment dictating straight-line speeds, continued at a speedy pace, with Russell twice retaking the lead on lap 22 and 23. Suggestions from the pit wall to halt the yo-yo racing and build a gap to Verstappen were met with a grumpy reply from Kimi, but he did comply as he tucked in behind Russell and conserved his medium tyres.

The story of the race changed when Lance Stroll ground to a halt in his Aston Martin, with Antonelli and Verstappen using the virtual safety car to swap from the medium and switch to new tyres. The pair came out in sixth and seventh, just 15 seconds behind Russell, who was nursing his hard tyres to the end.

By lap 37 of 53, Antonelli had worked his way past Hamilton and then Piastri to second place, giving himself 16 laps to close the nine-second gap to his leading teammate while Verstappen followed him through into third.

Antonelli was quick but not initially catching Russell fast enough to close the gap, as George escaped for action for a suspected yellow flag infringement. But Russell’s hard tyres started showing worsening signs of wear towards the end of the race, allowing Antonelli to close the gap by the end of lap 47.

The first clash followed at the start of lap 49, with Russell cutting Turn 2 as he desperately tried to keep Antonelli behind. But Kimi went off as well, drifting through the gravel trap on the outside, allowing George to retain the lead.

Not best pleased by the Turn 1 moment, Antonelli tried again on the following lap but opted for a more straight-forward pass between Lesmo 2 and the Variante Ascari.

The Mercedes driver held onto his hard-fought lead until the finish, winning the Italian Grand Prix at the second time of asking. Russell was a defeated second, with Verstappen joining them on the podium.

Piastri and Norris brought home fourth and fifth for McLaren at the expense of Hamilton, who dropped back on worn medium tyres to finish sixth. From pole, Gasly eventually taking seventh at the finish ahead of Lindblad and Colapinto, with the Racing Bulls car of Tsunoda claiming the final point in tenth on his second weekend as a replacement driver.

In an exciting Monza race, Antonelli is the first Italian winner in 60 years as he increasing his championship lead by seven points, now heading Russell by 66 points into next weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix on the newly-built Madring in Madrid.

Italian Grand Prix, race results:
1 Andrea Kimi Antonelli Mercedes 1:51:15.281
2 George Russell Mercedes +3.857s
3 Max Verstappen Red Bull-Ford +14.718s
4 Lando Norris McLaren-Mercedes +19.056s
5 Oscar Piastri McLaren-Mercedes +19.253s
6 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari +24.655s
7 Pierre Gasly Alpine-Mercedes +27.351s
8 Arvid Lindblad Racing Bulls-Ford +45.136s
9 Franco Colapinto Alpine-Mercedes +47.353s
10 Yuki Tsunoda Racing Bulls-Ford +58.187s
11 Gabriel Bortoleto Audi +65.187s
12 Nico Hulkenberg Audi +66.187s
13 Carlos Sainz Williams-Mercedes +74.117s
14 Liam Lawson Red Bull-Ford +75.609s
15 Oliver Bearman Haas-Ferrari +78.958s
16 Esteban Ocon Haas-Ferrari +1 lap
17 Alexander Albon Williams-Mercedes +1 lap
18 Sergio Perez Cadillac-Ferrari +1 lap
19 Valtteri Bottas Cadillac-Ferrari +1 lap
Lance Stroll Aston Martin-Honda DNF
Fernando Alonso Aston Martin-Honda DNF
Charles Leclerc Ferrari DNF

Pierre Gasly takes a surprising pole position for the Italian Grand Prix, edging out George Russell to take the top spot at Monza.

The 2020 race winner was extremely fast during all three segments of qualifying and to see Gasly go quickest and take P1 is pure joy for fans of motorsport.

On the scene of his maiden race victory, Alpine driver Pierre Gasly has written another chapter in his Formula 1 career by claiming his first-ever pole.

In a thrilling Q3 shootout, Gasly edged out pre-session favourite George Russell by a mere 0.060 seconds to deny the Mercedes driver a fifth pole of the year and take Alpine to the top of the timesheets.

Russell initially was the quickest with a time of one minute, 21.929 seconds, ahead of Oscar Piastri, Gasly and Charles Leclerc.

With the entire top ten covered by less than two tenths, getting optimal track position to benefit from a slipstream being highly important, with Russell had an advantage thanks to Kimi Antonelli.

Antonelli is set to start on the last row due to an engine penalty, so the championship leader was asked to tow Russell around the 5.8km circuit.

But Gasly played the tow to perfection by grabbing a slipstream from Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton, and delivered an outstanding lap to jump Russell.

Piastri and Leclerc were fourth and fifth, followed by Hamilton and Max Verstappen. Antonelli was seventh but will lose that position on the grid, promoting Franco Colapinto to seventh.

Norris was a disappointed ninth after not being able to grab a slipstream from teammate Piastri, who went off in Turn 1. In doing so, Oscar ruined his own lap and left Lando punching a hole in the air by himself. Piastri and Norris had both struggled under brakes in Turn 1, and Piastri is also expected to be investigated for blocking Liam Lawson.

Following post qualifying, the race stewards handed Piastri a three-place grid penalty for impeding Lawson during his flying lap. So Lelcerc is promoted an extra spot on the second row.

Arvid Lindblad qualified P10 and will move up to ninth as a result of Antonelli’s penalty.

The first series of Q2 runs left Ferrari’s Hamilton in the elimation zone, appearing to catch traffic at the wrong time on his run, which left the seven-time world champion with a lot of work to do on his final run.

With Leclerc also under pressure in ninth, neither teammate was in a position to help the each other. Leclerc was unable to improve his lap, but Hamilton did manage to recover half a tenth out of the SF-26, demoting Audi’s Gabriel Bortoleto by a tiny 0.001 seconds margin.

Bortoleto was followed out by Oliver Bearman, who used an upgraded Haas car and power unit to take P12. Lawson was eliminated in P13, denying Red Bull a chance to give Verstappen a tow in Q3.

Lawson, who replaces the injured Isack Hadjar for the second consecutive weekend, will join Antonelli at the back of the grid with an engine penalty.

Nico Hulkenberg, Carlos Sainz and Esteban Ocon also exited the session at the end of Q2.

In Q1, which was surprisingly headed by Gasly ahead of Verstappen and Norris, with Racing Bull’s replacement driver Yuki Tsunoda, who stood in for Lawson.

Tsunoda was on the wrong end of the cut-off in P17 after unable to deliver a clean lap, allowing Williams driver Sainz to escape to Q2 by 0.139 seconds.

Sainz’s teammate Alex Albon also played a role by handing the Carlos a crucial tow on the straight while Alex was down in P18.

Cadillac defeated Aston Martin at the bottom of the order, with Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Perez comfortably ahead of a struggling Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll. Alonso was unable to complete a final run due to a Honda power unit problem.

Aston Martin will not start on the last row of the grid, however, with Lawson and Antonelli following their engine change penalties.

So a surprising and yet welcome news to see Pierre Gasly in pole position. Following the news that the sport’s governing body, the FIA, reinstated the Monaco race result meaning Alpine lost a P3 finish following the hearing from McLaren and Red Bull, it was redemption to have Alpine starting in P1 at Monza.

Italian Grand Prix, qualifying results:
1 Pierre Gasly Alpine-Mercedes 1:21.786
2 George Russell Mercedes 1:21.846
3 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:22.004
4 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari 1:22.011
5 Max Verstappen Red Bull-Ford 1:22.070
6 Oscar Piastri McLaren-Mercedes 1:21.966**
7 Franco Colapinto Alpine-Mercedes 1:22.220
8 Lando Norris McLaren-Mercedes 1:22.256
9 Arvid Lindblad Racing Bulls-Ford 1:22.286
10 Gabriel Bortoleto Audi 1:22.517
11 Oliver Bearman Haas-Ferrari 1:22.756
12 Nico Hulkenberg Audi 1:22.779
13 Carlos Sainz Williams-Mercedes 1:23.453
14 Esteban Ocon Haas-Ferrari 1:23.454
15 Yuki Tsunoda Racing Bulls-Ford 1:23.755
16 Valtteri Bottas Cadillac-Ferrari 1:24.364
17 Sergio Perez Cadillac-Ferrari 1:24.595
18 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin-Honda 1:25.150
19 Lance Stroll Aston Martin-Honda 1:25.222
20 Andrea Kimi Antonelli Mercedes 1:22.093*
21 Alexander Albon Williams-Mercedes 1:24.356*
22 Liam Lawson Red Bull-Ford 1:22.821*
*Grid penalty following power unit changes
**Three-place grid drop for impeding

Lando Norris achieved his second successive victory following Hungary by taking the chequered flag at the final race at Zandvoort. The defending champion finished the Dutch Grand Prix in P1 ahead of the Mercedes duo of Kimi Antonelli and George Russell.

The McLaren driver crossed the finishing line 11.5 seconds ahead of runner-up Antonelli, whose Mercedes teammate Russell completed the podium.

It came after Norris beat sprint winner Russell for pole ahead of third-placed Antonelli and they all, like the rest of the grid, started on slicks despite rain an hour before lights out.

But the rain was on and off, causing a wet-dry surface, the dangers of which emerged at the end of the opening lap once Norris had a perfect getaway while Antonelli overtook Russell at Turn 1.

That’s because Verstappen dipped a tyre onto the white line on the inside of the final corner, causing the Red Bull driver to spin into the barrier leaving debris on the circuit.

“Yeah that’s it – sorry!,” said the Red Bull driver via team radio, having brought out the red flag just as Gabriel Bortoleto also had a spin at the banking but somehow avoided damage, with Nico Hulkenberg in particular avoiding his Audi teammate in a cloud of smoke.

Another standing start followed – after Oliver Bearman suffered an engine issue on the formation lap – much to Lando’s dismay as Kimi squeezed by at Turn 1 for the lead.

That was despite softs on the McLaren compared to mediums for Antonelli, while Russell lost third to hard runner Oscar Piastri at Turn 7.

Russell just did not have the pace, soon being under attack by Charles Leclerc as he reported balance problems, but the tight track allowed him to hold firm before swapping mediums for hards on lap 18.

McLaren responded the previous lap with Piastri, but this backfired as a slow 5.4 seconds tyre change put him behind Russell just as a dominant Antonelli streaked 2.2 seconds clear of Norris out front.

That gap closed to a second once the pit window – where all the frontrunners chose hard tyres except Leclerc on mediums – had passed, yet the reigning champion struggled to gain ground.

The wheel-to-wheel battles were more prevalent lower down. Yuki Tsunoda came out on top in an amazing multi-car fight for the top ten, while Leclerc was constantly on Piastri’s tail.

That battle finally ended on lap 34 when the Ferrari and McLaren went through the opening corners wheel-to-wheel, only for Leclerc to edge by for fourth around the outside of Turn 3.

Unfortunately for Piastri, he was overtaken for fifth at Turn 1 on the following lap by Lewis Hamilton, who quickly closed in on teammate Leclerc.

The seven-time world champion was frustrated by the team orders but they did not arrive and Hamilton sarcastically told his Ferrari team, “great way of wasting time guys, good job!”.

Hamilton eventually moved by, though, once Leclerc had made his second pitstop on lap 43, two laps after the Mercedes duo, and five before Norris came in for another set of hard tyres.

But Ferrari kept Hamilton out, which left him with first on track, yet the battle for the net lead emerged behind as Norris rapidly closed on Antonelli, who complained about his rear Pirellis.

On lap 54 Hamilton, Antonelli and Norris were all within a second and the reigning world champion made a sweeping move on Antonelli around the outside of Turn 1.

It was that same lap that Norris subsequently took the actual lead at Turn 11 from Hamilton, who dropped behind Antonelli at Turn 1 the following lap – just as Esteban Ocon caused a virtual safety car by stopping at Turn 4.

“Are you using me as a guinea pig,” complained Hamilton, wanting to pit, and that he finally did under the VSC by taking softs – same for Antonelli, while Norris and now second-placed Russell stayed out on hard compound.

Norris admitted he was “worried” by that decision and had reasons to be so, as the advantage of the fresher tyre became evident with Antonelli quickly reducing his gap to Russell.

Mercedes eventually told George to let his teammate by with the swap occurring at Turn 1 on lap 65, but this left Russell vulnerable against Hamilton claiming “we’ve lost a double podium”.

But Russell held position, helped by a brief VSC on lap 70 for debris at Turn 5, to take the final podium spot, 4.3 seconds behind Antonelli and 15.8 seconds off Norris who took his second win of the season.

So Hamilton finished fourth, Leclerc took fifth and Piastri was sixth, while Red Bull stand-in Liam Lawson, Audi’s Nico Hulkenberg, Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso and Alpine’s Pierre Gasly respectively completed the top ten.

The result has extended Antonelli’s championship advantage, as the the Mercedes driver has a 59-point lead over both Russell and Hamilton in second as we head into Monza next weekend.

Dutch Grand Prix, race results:
1 Lando Norris McLaren-Mercedes 2:4:44.859
2 Andrea Kimi Antonelli Mercedes +11.536s
3 George Russell Mercedes +15.906s
4 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari +16.755s
5 Charles Leclerc Ferrari +17.258s
6 Oscar Piastri McLaren-Mercedes +32.332s
7 Liam Lawson Red Bull-Ford +79.915s
8 Nico Hulkenberg Audi +1 lap
9 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin-Honda +1 lap
10 Pierre Gasly Alpine-Mercedes +1 lap
11 Yuki Tsunoda Racing Bulls-Ford +1 lap
12 Arvid Lindblad Racing Bulls-Ford +1 lap
13 Gabriel Bortoleto Audi +1 lap
14 Franco Colapinto Alpine-Mercedes +2 laps
15 Sergio Perez Cadillac-Ferrari +2 laps
16 Carlos Sainz Williams-Mercedes +2 laps
Alexander Albon Williams-Mercedes DNF
Valtteri Bottas Cadillac-Ferrari DNF
Esteban Ocon Haas-Ferrari DNF
Lance Stroll Aston Martin-Honda DNF
Oliver Bearman Haas-Ferrari DNF
Max Verstappen Red Bull-Ford DNF

Lando Norris edged out the Mercedes duo of George Russell and Kimi Antonelli to take pole position for the final Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort.

The McLaren driver beat sprint winner Russell by 0.102 seconds to seal a perfect qualifying for McLaren, as the defending champions had topped every session.

It came after Norris, who also topped Q2, had already claimed provisional pole with a lap time of one minute, 11.344 seconds and that was 0.151 seconds faster than Russell with Oscar Piastri two tenths off in third.

Until then, the qualifying session had been held in dry conditions but rain was about to fall down on the seaside track, causing a series of cars to leave the pitlane as quickly as possible for their second laps in Q3.

This did cause some trouble though, as Norris and Russell entered the track at the same time and were seen racing each other on their outlaps with five minutes remaining.

Both finally got rid of each other and Norris was first to cross the finishing line, improving to a time of one minute, 11.163 seconds on his final lap and although Russell also improved his own time, it was only one minute, 11.265 seconds.

They displaced Antonelli who had briefly gone to the top of the timesheet and Russell’s Mercedes teammate was eventually 0.133 seconds off pole with Piastri taking fourth place.

The McLaren driver was 0.142 seconds behind teammate Norris and it will be an all-Ferrari third row with Lewis Hamilton in fifth, 0.331 seconds off, and Charles Leclerc sixth, 0.395 seconds behind pole.

Seventh went to Red Bull’s home hero Max Verstappen, who was 0.455 seconds behind Norris, and he will share the fourth row with temporary teammate Liam Lawson as he is replacing the injured Isack Hadjar.

Gabriel Bortoleto qualified ninth for Audi and Racing Bulls’ Arvid Lindblad rounded out the top ten on the day he achieved his fifth, straight Q3 appearance.

Pierre Gasly was just a tenth away from Q3 as he took P11 for Alpine and will share the sixth row with former teammate and Racing Bulls stand-in Yuki Tsunoda upon his Formula 1 return.

A late improvement from Nico Hulkenberg means P13, meaning Gasly’s teammate Franco Colapinto dropped to P14 ahead of Haas driver Esteban Ocon in P15.

Rounding out the Q2 drop zone was Alex Albon, whose teammate Carlos Sainz suffered a second, consecutive Q1 exit as he took P17 on the weekend he has signed a Williams contract extension.

It was an encouraging result for Aston Martin, who confirmed the step forward it has made with its upgraded engine and chassis despite drivability issues in the sprint sessions.

Fernando Alonso took P18 with teammate Lance Stroll in P19, while Bearman’s fears that Haas had regressed to becoming the ‘second worst team’ came true as he qualified P20.

That was ahead of only newcomer Cadillac, which was a second off Q2 and 1.7 seconds behind Piastri’s Q1 benchmark with Valtteri Bottas taking P21 and Sergio Perez last in P22.

So congratulations to Lando Norris with pole. As overtaking is tricky thanks to the narrow, old school circuit at Zandvoort, the McLaren is looking good and it will be interesting if Norris can achieve another race victory following Hungary last month.

Dutch Grand Prix, qualifying results:
1 Lando Norris McLaren-Mercedes 1:11.163
2 George Russell Mercedes 1:11.265
3 Andrea Kimi Antonelli Mercedes 1:11.296
4 Oscar Piastri McLaren-Mercedes 1:11.305
5 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari 1:11.494
6 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:11.558
7 Max Verstappen Red Bull-Ford 1:11.618
8 Liam Lawson Red Bull-Ford 1:11.733
9 Gabriel Bortoleto Audi 1:12.079
10 Arvid Lindblad Racing Bulls-Ford 1:12.185
11 Pierre Gasly Alpine-Mercedes 1:12.616
12 Yuki Tsunoda Racing Bulls-Ford 1:12.627
13 Nico Hulkenberg Audi 1:12.797
14 Franco Colapinto Alpine-Mercedes 1:12.800
15 Esteban Ocon Haas-Ferrari 1:13.137
16 Alexander Albon Williams-Mercedes 1:13.182
17 Carlos Sainz Williams-Mercedes 1:13.574
18 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin-Honda 1:13.650
19 Lance Stroll Aston Martin-Honda 1:13.818
20 Oliver Bearman Haas-Ferrari 1:13.826
21 Valtteri Bottas Cadillac-Ferrari 1:14.371
22 Sergio Perez Cadillac-Ferrari 1:14.600

George Russell won a lights-to-flag sprint at Zandvoort with Charles Leclerc providing the only highlight with an overtake on Lando Norris to take second position in a processional 24-lap race.

It came after Russell grabbed sprint pole after profiting from floor damage for his teammate Kimi Antonelli, who lost “25 points” of downforce due to an off at the penultimate corner in SQ1.

That left the championship leader fifth on the grid behind a front row of Russell and Norris, with Leclerc and teammate Oscar Piastri respectively lining up third and fourth.

At lights out, Russell enjoyed a solid getaway from Norris, but Antonelli immediately gained a position with a move around the outside of Piastri at Turn 1.

The Mercedes driver applied pressure on Leclerc, who started on soft tyres compared to the rest on medium tyres, but as expected overtaking proved difficult.

The opening laps were rather static around the tight seaside Zandvoort circuit, but the evenly-matched drivers still remained within touching distance of each other as they preserved their tyres.

On lap 10 Mercedes allowed Russell to push harder and the leader quickly moved clear of a now vulnerable Norris by two seconds.

“I’ve got no rear,” reported the defending world champion, who could not keep his eyes off the Ferrari and Mercedes in his mirrors.

It resulted in Leclerc finally making his overtake down the inside of Norris at Turn 1 on lap 18 – which was the only highlight in this sprint race – the Ferrari quickly pulled ahead, the McLaren still had to defend from Antonelli.

But once again at Zandvoort, staying within a second of the car in front is one thing, yet overtaking is another, and all Norris really needed to do was keep it within the track limits.

That he did, so Norris managed to hold on to third behind winner Russell, who crossed the line 1.4 seconds ahead of Leclerc – the Ferrari driver taking his third sprint podium of 2026.

Antonelli finished in fourth, 0.4 seconds off Norris, with an extra 4.6 seconds to fifth-placed Piastri who had Red Bull’s Max Verstappen just 0.3 seconds behind in sixth in front of his home crowd.

Lewis Hamilton took seventh, with Alpine’s Pierre Gasly completing the points positions in eighth.

Well done George Russell with his third sprint race win. Hopefully this will kickstart his championship fightback to his young teammate in the second half of the season.

Dutch Grand Prix, sprint race results:
1 George Russell Mercedes 30:25.318
2 Charles Leclerc Ferrari +1.360s
3 Lando Norris McLaren-Mercedes +5.196s
4 Andrea Kimi Antonelli Mercedes +5.581s
5 Oscar Piastri McLaren-Mercedes +10.185s
6 Max Verstappen Red Bull-Ford +10.529s
7 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari +12.188s
8 Pierre Gasly Alpine +42.510s
9 Gabriel Bortoleto Audi +44.437s
10 Arvid Lindblad Racing Bulls-Ford +44.971s
11 Liam Lawson Red Bull-Ford +47.471s
12 Franco Colapinto Alpine-Mercedes +54.466s
13 Yuki Tsunoda Racing Bulls-Ford +56.483s
14 Esteban Ocon Haas-Ferrari +66.098s
15 Oliver Bearman Haas-Ferrari +66.588s
16 Alexander Albon Williams-Mercedes +74.632s
17 Lance Stroll Aston Martin-Honda +74.650s
18 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin-Honda +75.284s
19 Valtteri Bottas Cadillac-Ferrari +1 lap
20 Carlos Sainz Williams-Mercedes +1 lap
21 Sergio Perez Cadillac-Ferrari +2 laps
22 Nico Hulkenberg Audi +17 laps

George Russell edged out defending champion Lando Norris to take sprint pole at Zandvoort. This was the Mercedes driver’s third sprint P1 this season.

The Silver Arrows driver beat the Papaya by a tiny margin of only 0.041 seconds and it came particularly out of the blue after topping neither SQ1 or SQ2 – respectively done by Charles Leclerc and Oscar Piastri – but recorded a lap time of one minute, 11.567 seconds in the final segment of sprint qualifying.

It was a very tight SQ3 too, as third-placed Leclerc was just 0.055 seconds off the pace for Ferrari with Oscar Piastri in fourth and 0.099 seconds behind Russell.

A slightly bigger gap then emerged to Russell’s teammate Kimi Antonelli though, who was 0.227 seconds behind, with another three tenths precisely to Max Verstappen in sixth for Red Bull.

Lewis Hamilton struggled in the other Ferrari as the seven-time world champion was 0.624 seconds behind Russell in seventh, but five tenths above Alpine’s Pierre Gasly in eighth.

Audi’s Gabriel Bortoleto and Racing Bulls Arvid Lindblad respectively rounded out the top ten at Zandvoort, both setting a lap that was 1.016 seconds and 1.170 seconds behind Russell ahead of the sprint race.

It was a respectable Red Bull return for Liam Lawson, who has replaced the injured Isack Hadjar, as he qualified P11 after being eliminated by his usual teammate Lindblad.

“I have no idea what happened,” reported Lawson, who was four tenths off SQ3, and will share the sixth row with his Racing Bulls stand-in and Formula 1 returnee Yuki Tsunoda.

Franco Colapinto will be on the seventh row in P13, shared with Nico Hulkenberg, while Esteban Ocon and Alex Albon respectively rounded out the SQ2 drop zone.

In SQ1 a late improvement from Oliver Bearman put him P17 and one position above Williams driver Carlos Sainz, who was pushed into the elimination zone by Bearman’s Haas teammate Ocon.

The last four positions were occupied by the usual suspects: Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll in P19, the Cadillac duo of Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Perez P20 and P21 with Fernando Alonso in P22.

Alonso particularly struggled as he locked up at Turn 1 and finished last despite a slipstream from a Cadillac and it was later confirmed that the straight line mode on his rear wing did not work.

Dutch Grand Prix, sprint qualifying results:
1 George Russell Mercedes 1:11.567
2 Lando Norris McLaren-Mercedes 1:11.608
3 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:11.622
4 Oscar Piastri McLaren-Mercedes 1:11.666
5 Andrea Kimi Antonelli Mercedes 1:11.794
6 Max Verstappen Red Bull-Ford 1:12.094
7 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari 1:12.191
8 Pierre Gasly Alpine-Mercedes 1:12.578
9 Gabriel Bortoleto Audi 1:12.583
10 Arvid Lindblad Racing Bulls-Ford 1:12.737
11 Liam Lawson Red Bull-Ford 1:13.136
12 Yuki Tsunoda Racing Bulls-Ford 1:13.145
13 Franco Colapinto Alpine-Mercedes 1:13.439
14 Nico Hulkenberg Audi 1:13.616
15 Esteban Ocon Haas-Ferrari 1:13.893
16 Alexander Albon Williams-Mercedes 1:14.294
17 Oliver Bearman Haas-Ferrari 1:14.728
18 Carlos Sainz Williams-Mercedes 1:14.738
19 Lance Stroll Aston Martin-Honda 1:15.391
20 Valtteri Bottas Cadillac-Ferrari 1:15.472
21 Sergio Perez Cadillac-Ferrari 1:15.545
22 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin-Honda 1:16.014

Lando Norris achieved his first victory as the defending Formula 1 world champion with a solid drive at the Hungarian Grand Prix beating his McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri – who suffered a retirement – and finishing ahead of Max Verstappen and Kimi Antonelli.

Piastri passed polesitter Norris at the start with a cutback at Turn 2 and controlled the first half of the Hungarian Grand Prix, with Norris appearing quicker but unable to find a way past on the twisty Hungaroring track.

Verstappen moved to third position ahead of Ferrari duo Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc, as the latter was sandwiched by his two rivals. Meanwhile, George Russell suffered an awful start as anti-stall kicked in on his Mercedes, dropping him as low as P19.

Both Ferraris started on softs, as opposed to mediums for the other frontrunners, but as they were stuck behind Verstappen, Hamilton and Leclerc were unable to put their faster tyres to good use.

On lap 14, Hamilton came in with an early stop for hards. Verstappen responded on the following lap, but while he was unable to avoid the undercut from Hamilton, Verstappen did a dive bomb down the inside of Turn 1 to regain his position.

The end result of the first pit sequence was that the top five held station, with the exception of Antonelli going long to try and pull off a one-stop strategy. However, the Mercedes driver was losing too much lap time to pull it off, having to come in on lap 23 for hards. Which was too early to make it to the end of the 70-lap race. Russell had meanwhile recovered back to seventh.

After the first round of pitstops, Norris was right on Piastri, though the world champion did lose grip through Turn 4 on lap 29, running off which handed Oscar a temporary break.

Lando’s off-track moment prompted a cautionary message from his race engineer to settle down as the team suspected the defending champion was trying to show off how much quicker he was than his leading teammate. But with little pressure from Verstappen behind and Piastri having taken the lead fair and square at the start, McLaren did not seem particularly motivated to issue any kind of team orders like the Papaya Rules.

An impatient Norris asked his team to pit him first and gain an undercut, which the team refused, but it did bring in Piastri for a second stop on lap 34. That put Piastri into lapped traffic as he was caught up in a battle between Carlos Sainz and Fernando Alonso in the first sector, with Sainz staying on the racing line and making contact into Piastri.

“Get out of the f***ing way, you idiot, oh my god”, a furious Piastri raged as he escaped damage, but lost enough time to be overcut once Lando came in for his own pitstop. Seeing Norris emerge from the pitlane ahead, Piastri also redirected his frustration at his own team, sarcastically thanking them for putting him in that position in the first place. Sainz received a five-second time penalty for ignoring the blue flags.

Norris then passed championship leader Kimi Antonelli, who was trying to nurse an ambitious one-stop strategy. Piastri was unable to follow Norris for a 1-2, though, as he dramatically retired from the race with a gearbox failure on lap 56.

The virtual safety car delivered an exciting end to the race with the battle for the remaining podium places behind Norris.

With Antonelli having already on his one-stopper, Hamilton had moved to second but also came in for fresh tyres, while Verstappen stayed out to gain track position. Hamilton also lost third to Antonelli on pit exit, with Leclerc fifth after his own third pitstop.

At the front, Norris comfortably controlled his lead to take both his and McLaren’s first Grand Prix win of the 2026 season, though one that will prompt a lengthy debrief at the outfit.

Verstappen was able to take an unexpected second position after struggling all weekend with the behaviour of his RB22. The entertaining duel for third between Antonelli and a chasing Hamilton was halted by a five-second penalty for Lewis for speeding in the pitlane, which dropped him to fifth behind Leclerc in the final result.

Isack Hadjar was sixth for Red Bull, with Russell able to take seventh from his poor start, despite unable to avoid losing further points in the championship.

Liam Lawson and Racing Bulls won the midfield battle in eighth, followed by Audi’s Nico Hulkenberg and Arvid Lindblad, the end result of a four-car battle between the two teams.

Lance Stroll took an encouraging P12 for Aston Martin in its upgraded car, behind Gabriel Bortoleto’s Audi, while both Cadillacs of Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas joined Piastri in retirement as their brakes caught fire.

Formula 1 now heads into its summer break, with Antonelli heading with an 50-point lead on Hamilton and a 59-point advantage over Russell. The racing action will resumes on August 23rd with the final edition of the Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort.

So congratulations to Lando Norris. A strong weekend as the defending champion with pole position and race victory. The upgraded McLaren has definitely improved the performance.

Hungarian Grand Prix, race results:
1 Lando Norris McLaren-Mercedes 1:39:56.180
2 Max Verstappen Red Bull-Ford +15.080s
3 Andrea Kimi Antonelli Mercedes +18.728s
4 Charles Leclerc Ferrari +23.840s
5 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari +24.540s
6 Isack Hadjar Red Bull-Ford +55.488s
7 George Russell Mercedes +57.503s
8 Liam Lawson Racing Bulls-Ford +1 lap
9 Nico Hulkenberg Audi +1 lap
10 Arvid Lindblad Racing Bulls-Ford +1 lap
11 Gabriel Bortoleto Audi +1 lap
12 Pierre Gasly Alpine-Mercedes +1 lap
13 Lance Stroll Aston Martin-Honda +1 lap
14 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin-Honda +1 lap
15 Franco Colapinto Alpine-Mercedes +2 laps
16 Esteban Ocon Haas-Ferrari +2 laps
17 Alexander Albon Williams-Mercedes +2 laps
18 Carlos Sainz Williams-Mercedes +2 laps
19 Oliver Bearman Haas-Ferrari +2 laps
Oscar Piastri McLaren-Mercedes DNF
Sergio Perez Cadillac-Ferrari DNF
Valtteri Bottas Cadillac-Ferrari DNF

Lando Norris snatched pole position for the Hungarian Grand Prix from the Ferraris with an impressive final Q3 run in an upgraded McLaren.

In the final moments of qualifying, Norris crossed the line with a lap time of one minute, 17.207 seconds, perfectly timing his effort to avoid two late yellow flags brought out by a spinning Max Verstappen and a stranded George Russell.

Lewis Hamilton was unable to improve on his final Q3 run and had to settle for P2 ahead of Charles Leclerc. While championship leader Kimi Antonelli was only in P4 after a frustrating session for Mercedes.

However, post-qualifying the stewards have penalised Lewis Hamilton for impeding Oscar Piastri during his Q3 run. Meaning the Ferrari will lose his front row grid slot and drops down three positions. In addition, championship leader Kimi Antonelli also received a grid penalty for not slowing down significantly under yellow following Max Verstappen’s spin. The Mercedes driver will drop down three places on the grid.

Asked to park up by his team, Russell qualified P7 behind Oscar Piastri and Max Verstappen as both Red Bull drivers suffered spins during the final segment.

Isack Hadjar claimed P8, with Arvid Lindblad and Nico Hulkenberg rounding out the top ten qualifiers at the Hungaroring.

Heading into the decisive Q3 shootout, all the frontrunners had kept at least two fresh sets of Pirelli’s softest C5 tyres, with Hamilton leading Norris and Charles Leclerc after the first of two runs. Hamilton set a time of one minute, 17.219 seconds to be a tenth below Lando’s time, the McLaren driver losing time with a huge slide out of the final corner, with Charles another tenth behind.

The performance of Mercedes was a mystery as the dominant team appeared to struggle for balance across both cars on the bumpy and windy Hungaroring. Kimi Antonelli was fourth after the first set of runs ahead of Oscar Piastri, with George Russell split by the Red Bulls of Max Verstappen and Isack Hadjar. But neither team appeared to be a threat to either Ferrari or McLaren.

The decisive Q3 run confirmed as much, and the tricky conditions made it difficult to find additional lap time gain. Neither Hamilton or Leclerc did, but Norris went purple in sector two and then executed a much cleaner final sector to edge ahead of Hamilton by 0.012 seconds. It was enough for a first Grand Prix pole as the reigning world champion, with the McLaren driver having also taken a sprint pole in Miami.

Hamilton and Leclerc settled for second and third respectively, while championship leader Antonelli did improve on his final flying lap but had to settle for fourth, catching yellows in the final corner for a spin by Verstappen.

Piastri had been on the back foot all weekend compared to Norris and was fifth, while Verstappen could only manage sixth as a result of his spin on his second run.

Russell also caught yellows as Verstappen returned to the circuit, but had not been on a better second lap anyway. Hadjar was eighth, with midfielders Arvid Lindblad and Nico Hulkenberg impressing to take ninth and tenth respectively.

In Q2, Hadjar spun his Red Bull in Turn 12 on his first lap as Hamilton initially claimed the top of the timesheets with one minute, 17.931 seconds. The Ferrari driver enjoyed a 0.247 seconds gap to Antonelli, who complained of a complete lack of grip, suggesting Mercedes was “doing something wrong with tyres”.

Norris ended up quickest with one minute, 17.456 seconds from Leclerc and Hamilton, while Hadjar recovered from his spin to go fourth quickest as all the other frontrunners also comfortably advanced to Q3.

Fernando Alonso was the surprise package of Q2 as he and Aston Martin finally made it through into the second qualifying segment thanks to the all-new AMR26 for Hungary with significant car upgrades.

Alonso set his Q2 laps earlier than the rest of the pack to avoid the traffic, but P16 was the best the two-time world champion could only achieve.

Of the midfield runners, Lindblad impressed in seventh and Hulkenberg snagged the final Q3 spot in P10. That dropped out Liam Lawson, who complained of an undriveable car.

Alpine duo Pierre Gasly and Franco Colapinto was also eliminated, as was Gabriel Bortoleto and Haas driver Esteban Ocon, although the latter did snap a streak of defeats against his teammate Oliver Bearman.

Norris took the early lead in Q1 with a time of one minute, 18.277 seconds on softs ahead of Verstappen and Antonelli. Ferrari had enough confidence to try and advance on mediums, with Hamilton’s one minute, 18.730 seconds lap good for fourth.

At the rear of the field all eyes were on Aston Martin with the B-spec, and whether or not the Silverstone outfit’s mid-season changes would be enough to escape the rear of the grid. Following encouraging signs in free practice, Alonso confirmed Aston Martin has worked itself into Formula 1’s midfield, squeezing through at the expense of Bearman, who complained of a “horrible” car balance.

Aston Martin’s big performance upgrade also lifted it over Williams, aided by the Hungaroring not being a power sensitive circuit where Honda’s deficit compared to the likes of Mercedes and Ferrari. But Williams was also particularly poor in its own right, with Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon P18 and P19 as the latter was confused by the constantly changing balance on the FW48.

Behind Lance Stroll in P20, Cadillac was the slowest team on the grid with Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Perez departing from the back row.

So great news to see the defending champion back on top with pole position. It will be fascinating if McLaren has got good race pace to stay ahead of the Ferraris.

Hungarian Grand Prix, qualifying results:
1 Lando Norris McLaren-Mercedes 1:17.207
2 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:17.445
3 Oscar Piastri McLaren-Mercedes 1:17.684
4 Max Verstappen Red Bull-Ford 1:17.725
5 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari 1:17.219*
6 George Russell Mercedes 1:17.760
7 Andrea Kimi Antonelli Mercedes 1:17.479**
8 Isack Hadjar Red Bull-Ford 1:17.856
9 Arvid Lindblad Racing Bulls-Ford 1:18.281
10 Nico Hulkenberg Audi 1:18.686
11 Liam Lawson Racing Bulls-Ford 1:18.765
12 Pierre Gasly Alpine-Mercedes 1:18.844
13 Franco Colapinto Alpine-Mercedes 1:19.027
14 Gabriel Bortoleto Audi 1:19.105
15 Esteban Ocon Haas-Ferrari 1:19.734
16 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin-Honda 1:19.808
17 Oliver Bearman Haas-Ferrari 1:20.233
18 Carlos Sainz Williams-Mercedes 1:20.621
19 Alexander Albon Williams-Mercedes 1:20.658
20 Lance Stroll Aston Martin-Honda 1:20.659
21 Valtteri Bottas Cadillac-Ferrari 1:20.886
22 Sergio Perez Cadillac-Ferrari 1:21.322
*Three-place grid drop for impeding Oscar Piastri during Q3
**Three-place grid drop for not slowing down under yellow flags

Kimi Antonelli achieves his sixth victory of the season with a great drive at Spa-Francorchamps. The Mercedes driver beat Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen to score 50 points over his teammate and rival George Russell at the Belgian Grand Prix.

As the five red lights went out, it was actually Verstappen who made a solid getaway on the grid and he took the lead on Antonelli on the opening lap at Eau Rouge, but he was unable to stay ahead of the Mercedes driver and quickly gave up the lead on the Kemmel straight.

While Antonelli went to the front, there was heartbreak for his teammate who fell behind both Ferraris and made contact with Lewis Hamilton, spinning George Russell into the gravel and bringing his race to an end. This non-finish will be an important factor in terms of the championship.

Kimi resisted the pressure of a safety car restart as well as a late challenge from Charles after retaking the lead to take the chequered flag by 1.9 seconds, securing his sixth race win of the 2026 season and first since the Monaco Grand Prix.

Leclerc missed out on claiming consecutive victories following his Silverstone success but confidently held onto second position ahead of Verstappen, who crossed the finishing line ahead of Hamilton – who had to serve a five-second time penalty for the collision with Russell and will also be investigated after the race for an unsafe pitstop release – and McLaren’s Oscar Piastri.

The top five were followed by Isack Hadjar, the Red Bull driver charging from the back of the grid to P6, with Lando Norris similarly improving from P13 to P7. Gabriel Bortoleto scored for Audi in eighth, while Arvid Lindblad and Franco Colapinto rounded out the top ten.

Just two laps after Antonelli had made his switch to the hard tyre, a virtual safety car was called on lap 20 to clear debris at Blanchimont, which offered a wide enough window for Ferrari to pit both cars. Leclerc, who had been behind both Antonelli and Verstappen, used this opportunity to switch to the hard tyre and moved out ahead for the lead.

The Ferrari driver was able to build a lead gap once he had cleared the off-strategy Lando Norris, who was yet to pit after starting on the hard tyre, as Antonelli also needed a few laps to clear the McLaren.

There was about three seconds between them once Norris was cleared, but Antonelli demonstrated the strong pace and closed in on the Ferrari, helped when Leclerc stuck by Valtteri Bottas through Turn 15. Antonelli broke past at Turn 5 on the following lap after chasing the Ferrari up the hill.

Leclerc stayed with Antonelli for a few laps of the Spa-Francorchamps circuit, just about holding on in overtake range, but had been unable to seek an opportunity to return to the lead. Instead, Antonelli maintained enough speed in hand to open the gap beyond the one-second bap needed to avoid a potential Leclerc fightback.

Antonelli continued to manage his lead, ultimately finishing 1.9 seconds ahead of Leclerc to extend his championship lead as Russell unable to score following his first-lap contact with Hamilton’s Ferrari.

Russell had been battling Leclerc through the first couple of corners. Misfortune struck when he ran out of battery deployment half-way along the Kemmel Straight on the opening lap, which led to the Mercedes driver being swamped by the cars around him on the entry to Les Combes. He was side-by-side with Hamilton – the Ferrari driver’s snap of oversteer led to contact between the two, pitching Russell into the gravel.

Verstappen finished third, despite a somewhat distant to the leading pair after being passed by Leclerc during the VSC pitstops. The four-time champion had put pressure on Antonelli in the opening laps, but fell back as Leclerc began to find pace ahead of the pit phase.

Hamilton took fourth, despite serving a five-second penalty for the contact with Russell. Another potential penalty could be a threat following an unsafe release. The seven-time champion had the green signal from his pit gantry post-stop, and had not seen a mechanic attempting to make a last-minute front wing adjustment.

Lewis passed Oscar to reach fourth, but the McLaren had been able to hang onto the Ferrari’s tail in the event of a penalty. Piastri had suffered contact earlier in the race with Leclerc, causing minor damage to his car which hurt his race pace.

Isack Hadjar worked his way up to sixth after using the early safety car to conduct his mandatory tyre change, later using the VSC to pick up a lightly used set of hard tyres in the middle of the race. This helped the Red Bull driver avoid a late fightback from Norris, whose alternate strategy was undone by a very slow pit stop. A slow left-rear wheel change put the defending champion behind Gabriel Bortoleto on-track, but he soon passed the Audi for seventh.

Bortoleto finished eighth ahead of Arvid Lindblad, who at one point was investigated for potential contact with teammate Liam Lawson, while Franco Colapinto pulled off a two-for-one move on Pierre Gasly and Lawson along the Kemmel Straight to take the final championship point.

So congratulations to Kimi Antonelli with victory number six in this season. With a non-finish for George Russell, there is now a fifty points gap between the Silver Arrows drivers. The Hungarian Grand Prix is next before the summer break.

Belgian Grand Prix, race results:
1 Andrea Kimi Antonelli Mercedes 1:24:42.479
2 Charles Leclerc Ferrari +1.952s
3 Max Verstappen Red Bull-Ford +11.586s
4 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari +17.245s
5 Oscar Piastri McLaren-Mercedes +18.988s
6 Isack Hadjar Racing Bulls-Ford +23.307s
7 Lando Norris McLaren-Mercedes +24.014s
8 Gabriel Bortoleto Audi +49.140s
9 Arvid Lindblad Racing Bulls-Ford +50.406s
10 Franco Colapinto Alpine-Mercedes +76.037s
11 Pierre Gasly Alpine-Mercedes +76.991s
12 Liam Lawson Racing Bulls-Ford +77.523s
13 Nico Hulkenberg Audi +78.348s
14 Oliver Bearman Haas-Ferrari +94.465s
15 Alexander Albon Williams-Mercedes +104.684s
16 Carlos Sainz Williams-Mercedes +105.856s
17 Esteban Ocon Haas-Ferrari +110.925s
18 Valtteri Bottas Cadillac-Ferrari +1 lap
19 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin-Honda +2 laps
Lance Stroll Aston Martin-Honda DNF
Sergio Perez Cadillac-Ferrari DNF
George Russell Mercedes DNF

Kimi Antonelli achieved his sixth Formula 1 pole position of the season with the quickest lap at Spa-Francorchamps, edging out Max Verstappen by 0.317 seconds.

The Mercedes driver continued the Silver Arrows’ lock-out of pole positions despite having to chase Verstappen’s second lap, as the four time champion made use of a “tow and a half” from Isack Hadjar – following a series of grid penalties for power unit changes – to briefly move to the top.

Antonelli then pushed to gain three tenths over Verstappen’s lap to set a time of one minute, 44.361 seconds, which none of the remaining drivers were able to get close to across their final laps. Thus, the championship leader booked his top spot alongside Verstappen on the front row, who praised the efforts of Red Bull to use Hadjar for slipstreaming purposes.

Largely against the run of play, Lando Norris had set the quickest time of the first runs after finding 0.039 seconds on Antonelli’s opening effort, while Charles Leclerc also put himself into the contention with a lap within the same hundredth of the cars ahead.

A red flag emerged between runs to clear gravel which emerged on-track at Stavelot, producing a slightly extended gap between the first and second runs of Q3.

Both Antonelli and Verstappen moved ahead of Norris on their final laps, but the McLaren driver’s opening Q3 effort remained good enough for third. The McLaren driver later aborting his second lap after running across the gravel at Turn 13. To his relief, he managed to avoid the wall-clipping fate of Pierre Gasly and Lewis Hamilton in similar incidents at that corner in practice.

Norris, however, takes a 10-place grid penalty for the Belgian Grand Prix and will start P13 on the grid when accounting for other penalties. George Russell thus moves up to third after finishing fourth in the session, alongside Leclerc on the second row.

Hamilton qualified sixth and will move up to fifth alongside Oscar Piastri, who improved late to move ahead of an impressive Arvid Lindblad. The Racing Bulls driver will start seventh, alongside Gabriel Bortoleto. Hadjar did not get a qualifying time in, knowing that he will start the race from the last row of the grid.

Liam Lawson improved on his second run of Q2, but just fell four-hundredths short of overturning Bortoleto and could not join his teammate Lindblad in the top ten. Lawson, not running the team’s updated car this weekend as only one set of parts was available, ended up half a second off.

Both Alpines qualified P12 and P13, Gasly from Franco Colapinto, as the latter found time on his last lap to move ahead of Nico Hulkenberg – whose car stopped on track during his in-lap with a hydraulic leak to produce a delay to Q3. Carlos Sainz and Oliver Bearman had just 0.002 seconds between them as they completed the Q2 drop zone.

Alex Albon was knocked out at the climax of Q1, as both Alpine drivers improved on their final laps. Colapinto had been in the drop zone after the opening runs, but he pulled himself out over Albon’s expense.

The Williams driver was just 0.007 seconds off Bearman at the end of the first stage, while the other Haas driver – Esteban Ocon – struggled to make use of a slipstream from the cars ahead and fell out in P18.

Valtteri Bottas was just 0.022 seconds behind Ocon and led the finishing line for Cadillac, moving Sergio Perez in their second runs. Perez had been a full two seconds clear of Fernando Alonso, the fastest of the Aston Martins, while Lance Stroll propped up the qualifying order.

Alonso will start at the back regardless, after taking a series of power unit changes for this weekend.

The run up to the Les Combes corner on the opening lap of the Belgian Grand Prix is going to be fascinating thanks to the slipstream effect. So expect Kimi Antonelli versus Max Verstappen to lead. Bring on the race!

Belgian Grand Prix, qualifying results:
1 Andrea Kimi Antonelli Mercedes 1:44.361
2 Max Verstappen Red Bull-Ford 1:44.678
3 George Russell Mercedes 1:44.869
4 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:44.893
5 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari 1:44.895
6 Oscar Piastri McLaren-Mercedes 1:45.016
7 Arvid Lindblad Racing Bulls-Ford 1:45.143
8 Gabriel Bortoleto Audi 1:45.628
9 Liam Lawson Racing Bulls-Ford 1:46.120
10 Pierre Gasly Alpine 1:46.331
11 Franco Colapinto Alpine 1:46.392
12 Nico Hulkenberg Audi 1:46.671
13 Lando Norris McLaren-Mercedes 1:44.801*
14 Carlos Sainz Williams-Mercedes 1:46.777
15 Oliver Bearman Haas-Ferrari 1:46.779
16 Alexander Albon Williams-Mercedes 1:47.120
17 Esteban Ocon Haas-Ferrari 1:47.801
18 Valtteri Bottas Cadillac-Ferrari 1:47.823
19 Sergio Perez Cadillac-Ferrari 1:47.971
20 Lance Stroll Aston Martin-Honda 1:50.177
21 Isack Hadjar Red Bull-Ford 2:03.555*
22 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin-Honda 1:50.002*
*Ten-place grid penalty for power unit change