Series leader Oscar Piastri secured pole position for Saturday’s sprint race at the Belgian Grand Prix when he beat Red Bull’s Max Verstappen by 0.477 seconds with a devastating record lap in his McLaren. The 24-year-old Australian, who leads the drivers’ championship by eight points ahead of McLaren team-mate Lando Norris, clocked a fastest lap in 1min 40.510sec on Friday to seize the prime starting position. He was six-tenths of a second faster than Norris who was third ahead of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, Esteban Ocon of Haas, Carlos Sainz of Williams and Oliver Bearman in the second Haas. Pierre Gasly was eighth for Alpine ahead of Racing Bulls’ rookie Isack Hadjar and Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto while seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton wound up in 18th place after spinning his Ferrari in SQ1.
“That was a good lap!” said Piastri. “I had a scare in SQ2 with the deletion of my lap, but the car has been mega all day so thanks to the team. The car is great.”
Piastri’s success helped him erase his disappointment at the British Grand Prix where he was handed a 10-second penalty and felt he missed out on a victory as Norris won to trim his lead in the title race.
Verstappen, in his first race weekend since the exit of team boss Christian Horner, said he was satisfied with P2.
“To be there between the two of them is a good result for us,” he said. “And I enjoyed it out there and the lap was good. The gap is big, so we have to focus on ourselves and the balance of the car.”
– ‘This is Red Bull’ –
The session began in bright and breezy conditions at the majestic old circuit in the Ardennes, soon after new Red Bull boss Laurent Mekies had made his first public appearance after replacing Horner.
As expected, the Frenchman told a news conference his priority was to secure the future of Verstappen.
He also revealed he had been as shocked as everyone else when he received the news of Horner’s exit and the job offer.
“It came in a completely unexpected way,” he said. “It came out of the blue and I asked for time to think about it before I realised ‘this is Red Bull’ and so I rang them back.”
As the sprint qualifying began, Verstappen remained in the garage while mechanics worked on his car. It was a minor delay and he was soon on track as Kimi Antonelli spun off at Stavelot in his Mercedes and returned via a deep run in the gravel trap.
The Italian was followed by Hamilton who had a big slide off at Stavelot, just managing to stay out of the gravel before going off again at the chicane –- a mechanical problem on his Ferrari wrecking his lap and session.
At the top, Verstappen managed to split the two McLarens as he had during the morning practice ahead of Fernando Alonso and George Russell.
The two McLarens were first out for SQ2, Piastri once again setting the pace before his lap was deleted because he exceeded track limits at Raidillon, leaving Norris on top.
The Australian had to go again as the rest joined the fray, led by Verstappen and Leclerc.
A frantic finale ensued with Norris clocking a late fastest lap ahead of Verstappen and Leclerc while Piastri squeezed through in 10th.
The Melbourne-native then produced a stunning third lap to secure pole for the following day.
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