Norris surges to pole position in Belgium ahead of Piastri and Leclerc

Lando Norris will start the Belgian Grand Prix from pole position after going fastest of all in Qualifying, the McLaren driver beating team mate Oscar Piastri and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc with an impressive lap around Spa-Francorchamps.

After setting the pace in Q1, Norris was bettered by Piastri in the Q2 segment – but the Briton was quick to lay a marker in Q3, grabbing provisional pole during the first runs with an effort of 1m 40.562s.

That time proved unbeatable as the final laps played out, with Piastri ending up in second place just 0.085s away from the other papaya car. Leclerc, meanwhile, improved to put himself into P3 ahead of the Red Bull of Max Verstappen in fourth.

Alex Albon was an impressive fifth for Williams, slotting in just ahead of Mercedes’ George Russell in sixth. Red Bull’s Yuki Tsunoda followed in seventh, while the Racing Bulls pair of Isack Hadjar and Liam Lawson took eighth and ninth respectively and Kick Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto completed the top 10.

Despite a strong Sprint performance earlier in the day, the Haas duo of Esteban Ocon and Ollie Bearman were not so lucky in Qualifying, having both exited Q2 in 11th and 12th places ahead of Alpine’s Pierre Gasly in 13th.

Off the back of his podium result last time out at Silverstone, Nico Hulkenberg qualified down in 14th for Kick Sauber, while Carlos Sainz wound up in 15th for Williams.

There was early drama in Q1 when an at-risk Lewis Hamilton looked to have done enough to get himself out of danger – only for his lap time to be deleted owing to track limits, which dropped the Ferrari driver down to P16 and out of the session.

Alpine’s Franco Colapinto was just behind in P17, while Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli had a disappointing outing down in P18. It was also a tough Qualifying for Aston Martin, with Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll bringing up the rear in P19 and P20 respectively.

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AS IT HAPPENED

Q1 – Norris fastest as Hamilton exits

A few hours on from the third Sprint of the season, the drivers and teams switched their attentions to Qualifying in order to decide the starting order for Sunday’s Belgian Grand Prix.

There was early drama prior to Q1 getting underway, with Alonso reporting that he “nearly crashed” with Bearman after the Haas moved into the pit lane queue ahead of him, while Hulkenberg ended up with a damaged front wing following contact with the Aston Martin of Stroll, an incident that will be investigated after the session for an unsafe release.

The whole field had bolted on the soft tyres for the opening runs of the 18-minute segment, with the exception of Colapinto on the mediums, and once every driver had put a lap on the board it was Leclerc on top of the timesheets with his effort of 1m 41.635s.

His time was then bettered by Norris, who went faster by 0.625s – while Piastri then slotted into second, but still just under two-tenths adrift of his team mate.

At the other end of the spectrum, the drivers at risk in the danger zone were Colapinto, Russell, Stroll, Antonelli and Bortoleto, with Alonso on the bubble in P15.

As the clock ticked down for the final minutes of Q1, the track became busy as everybody tried to get themselves into the top-10 shootout. Both Mercedes cars improved, with Antonelli slotting into 11th while Russell moved up to eighth.

But there was trouble for Antonelli as the better efforts of others pushed the Italian down the order, moving him down to P18 and out of the session. Also exiting were the Aston Martin duo of Alonso and Stroll, who ended up at the rear of the field in P19 and P20.

Meanwhile all eyes were on Hamilton as the seven-time World Champion found himself at risk. The Briton initially did enough to haul himself up to P7 – but a shock twist saw his lap deleted for exceeding track limits, leaving him down in P16, one spot ahead of Colapinto

Knocked out: Hamilton, Colapinto, Antonelli, Alonso, Stroll

Q2 – Piastri on top as Haas and Hulkenberg miss out

The session continued at pace with Q2, Verstappen leading the pack out as the next segment got underway. Once again, the soft tyre was the preferred option for the remaining 15 drivers as they battled to progress to Q1.

Piastri set the benchmark as the first laps came in, the Australian pumping in a 1m 40.626s to go just 0.089s clear of Norris, while Verstappen was some three-tenths off in third. Further back, Bearman had a moment after a big snap through Pouhon, forcing the Haas driver to abort his lap.

With the opening efforts in, the names at risk were Hulkenberg, Bortoleto, Gasly, Sainz and Bearman – and, following a brief lull in the action, a queue of cars peeled out of the pit lane for their final runs of Q2, prompting a seemingly annoyed Piastri to comment: “Some people need bigger mirrors.”

While Verstappen opted to remain in the pits, the rest of the field were trying to better their times. Gasly moved up to ninth, while Bortoleto went into an eye-catching eighth before an improvement from Lawson then put the Racing Bulls driver into that slot.

The Haas pair – who enjoyed a strong Sprint earlier in the day – both missed the cut when trying to improve, leaving Ocon in P11 and Bearman in P12. Meanwhile Gasly was pushed down to 13th place, and a tough Qualifying left Hulkenberg down in 14th ahead of the Williams of Sainz in 15th.

Knocked out: Ocon, Bearman, Gasly, Hulkenberg, Sainz

Q3 – Norris converts provisional pole into the final result

The track came alive again as the all-important top-10 shootout began – but who would seal pole position at Spa-Francorchamps?

As the first laps went on the board, Piastri initially looked to have taken provisional pole ahead of Verstappen – only for Norris to storm through on an even quicker time, the Briton beating his team mate by 0.189s via his effort of 1m 40.562s.

Verstappen – some half a second back in third – reported that he “just didn’t have the same grip” in the Red Bull, while Leclerc had taken fourth ahead of Russell, Tsunoda, Lawson, Albon, Hadjar and Bortoleto.

With the clock ticking down, all 10 cars headed out for their final grid-deciding runs. Verstappen improved his effort but remained in third place, while Norris also did not better his previous lap. Leclerc moved up to third, pushing Verstappen down a place – but the question remained over whether Piastri could steal pole from Norris.

It turned out that the Australian could not, with his improved lap ultimately not enough to beat Norris’ previous time, meaning that the Briton would start from pole position. Elsewhere, Albon was a notable improvement in fifth, putting him ahead of Russell in sixth.

Tsunoda secured his best grid slot as a Red Bull driver in seventh, while the Racing Bulls of Hadjar and Lawson took eighth and ninth, with Bortoleto rounding out the top 10 for Kick Sauber.

Key quote

"It was a decent lap," said Norris. "I’m happy. I don’t know why everyone was pretty worried after yesterday. I wasn’t even that far off. It was just a couple of little issues that we had. I was confident after yesterday and coming into today, so it’s nice to see that I could get back to the top.”

What's next

The 2025 Belgian Grand Prix is set to begin at 1500 local time on Sunday. Head to the RACE HUB to find out how you can catch the action from Spa-Francorchamps.