Oscar Piastri takes pole position at Spa-Francorchamps
The championship leader, Oscar Piastri, secured pole position for Saturday’s sprint race at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit, surpassing Max Verstappen and Lando Norris.
Piastri set a time of 1:40.510, demonstrating clear superiority over his competitors, after a session that promised to be very close.
The Australian was close to being eliminated in Q2, but managed to advance and secure first place.
Come on, champ! Sorry for the heart attack. That wasn’t in the plan.
Oscar Piastri
Piastri will seek to increase his lead over his McLaren teammate and championship rival, Lando Norris, who finished 0.6 seconds behind. Norris is eight points behind Piastri in the overall standings.The current world champion, Max Verstappen, will start between Piastri and Norris. Verstappen seemed set to lead the session with Red Bull, but Piastri frustrated his aspirations with his final performance.
Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc placed fourth, seven tenths of a second behind Piastri’s time, despite the improvements to his single-seater.
Lewis Hamilton, Leclerc’s teammate, will start in 18th position after a spin in Q1.
Esteban Ocon and Ollie Bearman were the standout figures of the session, qualifying just ahead and behind Carlos Sainz, from Williams, who took sixth place.
Pierre Gasly, Isak Hadjar, and Gabriele Bortoleto completed the top ten.
Mercedes suffered significant setbacks, in addition to Hamilton’s. Kimi Antonelli spun in Stavelot during Q1, which left him out of qualifying.
George Russell, Antonelli’s teammate, failed to advance to Q2.
Yuki Tsunoda, Verstappen’s teammate, struggled and qualified in twelfth position, behind Liam Lawson.
The sprint race on Saturday will be held before the traditional qualifying session, which will determine the grid for Sunday’s race.
The weather forecast indicates that the rest of the weekend could be affected by rain.
