Norris dominates qualifying in Belgium: Pole position ahead of Piastri

Lando Norris Dominates Qualifying at Spa-Francorchamps, Oscar Piastri Second

Lando Norris, McLaren driver, secured pole position at the Belgian Grand Prix, surpassing his teammate and rival, Oscar Piastri. This result marks a McLaren dominance on the front row of the starting grid. Norris achieved a time of 1:40.562 on his first lap, securing the top spot. Piastri, for his part, was only 0.085 seconds behind his teammate, demonstrating the internal competitiveness at McLaren.

This result promises another exciting duel between the McLaren drivers, who have dominated the season, exchanging victories in almost every race.

It was a decent lap, I’m very happy. The car has been flying all weekend, Oscar has been doing a good job, so we are pushing each other a lot.

Lando Norris

Norris will seek his third consecutive victory on Sunday, after his triumphs in Austria and the British Grand Prix.

Previously, Piastri had extended his lead over Norris in the sprint race, finishing ahead of him, although behind Max Verstappen, who took the victory. Piastri expressed his disappointment at finishing second in qualifying.

A little disappointing. The second lap was going very well, and I made a small mistake at turn 14 and lost a lot of time.

Oscar Piastri

Verstappen, who had achieved the third-best time, suffered a spin at the first corner on his key lap, losing the position to Charles Leclerc by only 0.003 seconds. Leclerc, satisfied with the result, commented that they didn’t expect to be so close to Norris.

I am very happy today, although it’s strange to say it because we are still 0.3 seconds behind Norris and it’s only a third place, but I didn’t expect it.

Charles Leclerc

Lewis Hamilton’s week continued to be difficult, being eliminated in Q1 after his lap was invalidated for exceeding track limits at Eau Rouge. Hamilton, who had initially set a time to advance to Q2, will start from 16th position. Alex Albon of Williams was one of the standouts of the session, qualifying fifth, ahead of George Russell of Mercedes. Yuki Tsunoda, with a new floor as part of Red Bull’s updates, qualified seventh, his best result since the Australian Grand Prix. Racing Bulls drivers, Isack Hadjar and Liam Lawson, finished eighth and ninth respectively, with Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto qualifying in tenth place. Haas’s promising performance in the sprint qualifying and sprint race did not materialize, with Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly eliminated in Q2. Pierre Gasly finished 13th, ahead of Nico Hülkenberg and Carlos Sainz. Franco Colapinto, from Alpine, placed behind Hamilton, while Kimi Antonelli, from Mercedes, continued to have a difficult weekend, qualifying 18th. Aston Martin had a session to forget, with Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll at the back of the grid.