F1 Belgian GP: Lando Norris beats Oscar Piastri to pole, Max Verstappen only fourth

McLaren’s Lando Norris has struck back against team-mate Oscar Piastri by taking his fourth pole of the 2025 Formula 1 season at the Belgian Grand Prix.

Norris saw title rival Piastri take pole for the sprint at the iconic Spa-Francorchamps circuit, and finished behind his team-mate during Saturday’s 15-lap contest, but the Briton then went on to clinch his first-ever Belgian pole in the afternoon to set up an intriguing McLaren battle on Sunday.

Norris drew first blood in the deciding top 10 shootout by virtue of a 1m40.562s lap, the only driver to improve on his best Q2 lap on that first salvo of runs. Norris’ lap was almost two tenths quicker than team-mate and title rival Piastri and a massive five tenths better than Verstappen, who was running a used set of softs that couldn’t provide the same level of grip as track temperatures increased.

On the second round of runs Verstappen started with a huge slide out of La Source, which set up a lap that proved slower than his first effort and saw him pipped to third by Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc by a mere 0.003.

The McLarens were up next, but Norris’ struggle to improve opened a window of opportunity for Piastri. But the championship leader could only shave a tenth off his best lap, ensuring Norris clinched his fourth pole of 2025 to draw level with his McLaren team-mate.

Behind Leclerc and Verstappen, Alex Albon excelled with a fifth-place starting berth for Williams, defeating George Russell who couldn’t go quicker than his best Q2 run for Mercedes. Yuki Tsunoda delivered his best Red Bull performance yet by taking seventh, three tenths behind Verstappen, ahead of Racing Bulls duo Isack Hadjar and Liam Lawson, as well as impressive Sauber rookie Gabriel Bortoleto.

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing

Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool

McLaren led the proceedings out of pitlane at the start of Q2, with Piastri setting a 1m40.626s lap that would stay on top for the remainder of the segment, leading Norris by 0.089s and Verstappen conceding 0.325s.

After the first barrage of runs, Sauber duo Hulkenberg and Bortoleto found themselves on the wrong side of the top 10, as did Alpine’s Pierre Gasly, Williams man Carlos Sainz and Oliver Bearman. Haas driver Bearman had suffered a huge slide coming out of the rapid double right-hander of Pouhon which forced the British rookie to abort his flyer.

Gasly was the first driver up to salvage a spot in Q3, but his ninth-fastest time was soon shuffled down the order. A poor final sector for Esteban Ocon meant his missed the cut-off by a mere 0.020s compared to 10th-polaced Alex Albon, while a messy passage through Turn 1’s La Source also undid Haas team-mate Bearman’s efforts as the pair proved unable to repeat their sprint qualifying heroics.

Gasly settled for 13th, followed by Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg and Sainz in 14th and 15th respectively.

The start of qualifying in Q1 saw a pitlane skirmish as Hulkenberg was sent out into the path of Aston’s Lance Stroll in a busy pit exit queue, with Hulkenberg damaging his front wing before being summoned by to the stewards to discuss an unsafe release call.

The McLarens were out first here as well, donning used soft tyres as Piastri narrowly led Norris with a 1m41.998s effort. Carlos Sainz then briefly grabbed top in the Williams, having brandished a fresh set of soft tyres to set a 1m41.691s.

Lando Norris, McLaren, Oscar Piastri, McLaren

Photo by: Steven Tee / LAT Images via Getty Images

On a fresh set of their own, Norris went top with a 1m41.010s, with Piastri’s time 0.191s shy of his team-mate and Verstappen another tenth in arrears.

An extremely tight battle for survival showed some similarities to sprint qualifying, with both Mercedes cars of Russell and Andrea Kimi Antonelli under pressure again after the first set of banker lap runs.

But given the rapid track evolution those banker laps proved of little use for drivers desperate to advance. Having come under pressure from cars vastly improving around him as well, Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton found a late improvement to jump clear of the drop zone as the chequered flag fell.

But the Ferrari driver saw his time deleted due to marginally crossing track limits at the top of Raidillon, with his first lap time demoting the seven-time world champion into the elimination zone in 16th, his second Q1 exit of the weekend. Hamilton’s deleted time provided a reprieve for Sauber’s Bortoleto, who slipped through in 15th as a result.