McLaren’s Lando Norris claimed pole position for the 2025 Belgian Grand Prix at Circuit Spa-Francorchamps.
Norris recovered from his third-placed finish in the sprint to top two of the Qualifying segments as he eventually took pole from his teammate, Oscar Piastri by 0.085 seconds, whilst Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc outqualified sprint winner – Max Verstappen for third by just 0.003s.
Speaking post-Qualifying to Mclaren.com, Norris was “very happy” with his “decent lap” as he felt confident that he could get pole, but praised Piastri for pushing him to new limits.
“I was confident after yesterday and confident coming into today and it’s nice to see that I could get back to the top. The car has been flying all weekend and I feel good. Oscar’s been doing a good job all weekend too, we’re pushing each other a lot. It’s a good but tough battle that we have at the minute.”
Q1
Alpine’s Pierre Gasly and Franco Colapinto were first on track but were amongst a number of drivers to pit at the end of their flying laps without crossing the line, which left Norris to set 1m 42.076 as the initial benchmark but Piastri went 0.118s quicker than his McLaren teammate.
Once everyone else began to set their own lap times, Leclerc found himself quickest from Carlos Sainz, Liam Lawson and Alex Albon.
Norris however responded with 1m 41.010 to set the pace and ultimately topped Q1, whilst the bottom five comprised of; Colapinto, George Russell, Lance Stroll, Andrea Kimi Antonelli and Gabriel Bortoleto with six minutes left.
At the checkered flag, the track evolution ramped up but only Russell survived as Bortoleto improved to 16th on the grid ahead of Colapinto and Antonelli who qualified 17th and 18th respectively.
Aston Martin rounded out the last row with Fernando Alonso in 19th position just ahead of Stroll who will prop up the field from 20th on the grid.
Bortoleto however was dealt a reprieve after Hamilton’s fastest lap time was deleted after he ran marginally wide over Raidillon, which left the seven-time champion 16th on the grid and Bortoleto through to Q2.
Q2
Verstappen was first on track in Q2 after everyone held back in the first minute before venturing out and set 1m 40.951 as the benchmark time.
Piastri however found 0.325s to go fastest with 1m 40.626 and just 0.089s clear of Norris.
Down the order, Haas’ Oliver Bearman pitted without setting a lap time after he lost the rear end of his Haas through Pouhon, which left him sat bottom at halfway mark.
Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg and Bortoleto meanwhile headed those in the bottom five above Bearman from Gasly and Williams’ Carlos Sainz.
As the checkered flag fell on Q2, Bortoleto escaped elimination at the expense of Esteban Ocon who missed out on Q3 by 0.020s to Albon, but outqualified his teammate – Bearman as Haas locked out the sixth row ahead of Gasly, Hulkenberg and Sainz.
Q3
As the pit exit light turned green to kick off Q3, Russell was first out on track and set 1m 41.540 but Verstappen found 0.462s to go fastest, before Piastri displaced him with 1m 40.751 moments later.
Norris however found a further 0.189s to set 1m 40.562 as the provisional pole time from Piastri ahead of the final runs, with Verstappen third ahead of; Leclerc, Russell, Yuki Tsunoda, Lawson, Albon, Isack Hadjar and Bortoleto.
At the checkered flag, Norris failed to improve his time but Piastri fell 0.085s shy in second, whilst Leclerc snatched third on the grid from Verstappen by 0.003s.
Albon unexpectedly took advantage of being the last car over the line to put his Williams fifth on the grid ahead of Russell in sixth.
Tsunoda outqualified his two former teammates of Hadjar and Lawson in seventh, although the trio were split by just 0.044s, whilst Bortoleto qualified tenth.
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | Lando Norris | McLaren | 1m 40.562 |
| 2 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren | + 0.085 |
| 3 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | + 0.338 |
| 4 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | + 0.341 |
| 5 | Alex Albon | Williams | + 0.639 |
| 6 | George Russell | Mercedes | + 0.698 |
| 7 | Yuki Tsunoda | Red Bull | + 0.722 |
| 8 | Isack Hadjar | Racing Bulls | + 0.748 |
| 9 | Liam Lawson | Racing Bulls | + 0.766 |
| 10 | Gabriel Bortoleto | Sauber | + 1.825 |
| 11 | Esteban Ocon | Haas | 1m 41.525 |
| 12 | Oliver Bearman | Haas | + 0.092 |
| 13 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine | + 0.108 |
| 14 | Nico Hulkenberg | Sauber | + 0.182 |
| 15 | Carlos Sainz | Williams | + 0.233 |
| 16 | Lewis Hamilton | Ferrari | 1m 41.939 |
| 17 | Franco Colapinto | Alpine | + 0.083 |
| 18 | Andrea Kimi Antonelli | Mercedes | + 0.200 |
| 19 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin | + 0.446 |
| 20 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | + 0.563 |
Leave a Reply