#F1: @OscarPiastri pips @Max33Verstappen to #BelgianGP #F1Sprint pole by 0.477s.

Piastri Belgian Sprint Pole – Championship leader Oscar Piastri pipped Red Bull’s Max Verstappen to pole position for the 100km F1 Sprint Race at the Belgian GP whilst Lando Norris completed the top three in the other McLaren MCL39 entry.

The Australian just scraped through to wound up tenth in SQ2 after a lap-time deletion for exceeding track limits at Raidillon to put in a solid lap of a 1:40.510 in SQ3 to take the pole.

In SQ3, the drivers opted for just one flying lap, Norris was the first cross the line with a 1:41.128 whilst Verstappen was next to snatch provisional pole with a 1:40.987 but Piastri snatched pole off the reigning world champion by 0.447 seconds with a 1:40.510 and also beat the track lap record at Spa.

Charles Leclerc put his Ferrari fourth and ahead of MoneyGram Haas F1 Team’s Esteban Ocon who placed fifth and Williams’ Carlos Sainz who followed in sixth.

The other Haas VF-25 entry of Oliver Bearman was seventh and in-front of Alpine’s Pierre Gasly who classified eighth whilst RB’s Isack Hadjar and Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto rounded out the top ten.

In SQ2, which was topped by Norris, a flurry of late improvements including from Norris saw RB’s Liam Lawson knocked out and missing out on an SQ3 appearance by a slim 0.041 seconds meaning the Kiwi will start the 100km Sprint in 11^th place and ahead of Red Bull’s Yuki Tsunoda who took 12^th and Mercedes’ George Russell who was 13^th.

Aston Martin pairing Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll were the slowest of the SQ2 runners in 14^th and 15^th respectively.

In SQ1, which was topped by Piastri, a late improvement from Bearman and Gasly saw Williams’ Alexander Albon the quickest of the Q1 eliminatees in 16^th.

Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg was next in 17^th whilst Sir Lewis Hamilton on his final flyer saw the seven-time world champion suffer a spin at the Bus Stop chicane and into the run-off area bringing out the double-waved yellows, the Briton will start 18^th on the grid. Bearman’s time will be looked into to see if he lifted off the throttle.

The other Alpine of Franco Colapinto was 19^th as Mercedes’ Andrea Kimi Antonelli suffered a spin after running wide into the gravel trap at Stavelot as the team investigated whether the Italian had damaged his floor – The Italian will start at the rear.

You can see the full Formula 1 Moet & Chandon Belgian Grand Prix 2025 Sprint Qualifying Results Classification at the link: https://www.formula1.com/en/results/2025/races/1265/belgium/sprint-qualifying

2025 Belgian GP Sprint Pole Position – Oscar Piastri, #81, McLaren Formula 1 Team-Mercedes, MCL39 – 1:40.510:

“That was a good lap. A little scare in SQ2 with the lap deletion, but the car has been mega all day, and I feel I’ve been able to put in a lot of good laps. This is a track I love, it is my favourite of the year. It’s nice to get a result today. The Red Bulls are very quick in a straight line, that makes life difficult, and Spa is probably the worst track to have pole position at. But the car feels good, so I’ll see what I can do tomorrow.”