Max Verstappen beat both McLarens to victory in the Sprint race at Spa-Francorchamps on Saturday, meaning Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris were out for revenge in qualifying for the Belgian Grand Prix
Lando Norris spearheaded a McLaren front-row lockout, denying team-mate Oscar Piastri a double pole at the Belgian Grand Prix. The Aussie had dominated qualifying for the Sprint race but, ahead of the main event at Spa-Francorchamps, it was the Brit who shone.
It puts Norris in an ideal position to try to narrow the gap to Piastri in the championship once again, following on from his win at Silverstone two weeks ago. However, as Piastri saw in the Sprint, it is often tough to retain the lead on the first lap at this venue because of the long flat-out section after the first corner.
Still, Piastri said he was “disappointed” to have missed out on pole. In contrast, third-placed Charles Leclerc sounded delighted as he admitted he “didn’t expect” to be able to qualifying so high with Ferrari struggling for pace.
A farcical start to qualifying saw Nico Hulkenberg try to but into the queue that had formed at the end of the pit lane to begin the session, only to make contact with the Aston Martin of Lance Stroll who was already in the fast lane. The Sauber driver needed a new front wing as a result of the damage, while the Canadian needed to return to the pits for his mechanics to fix some damage on his car.
It may have had an effect on Stroll’s efforts as he could manage only dead last place, one spot below team-mate Fernando Alonso as Aston Martin suffered a wretched session – both slowest overall. Kimi Antonelli was also disappointed to find himself 18th, having failed to make it out of the bottom five in both qualifying sessions at Spa-Francorchamps.
Franco Colapinto was last for most of Q1 but at least managed to jump up to 17th with his final effort, while rookie Gabriel Bortoleto was handed a reprieve when Hamilton saw his best lap time deleted and was dropped to 16th, allowing the Sauber driver to progress.
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