Kimi Antonelli scored his sixth pole position of the 2026 season at the Belgian Grand Prix with a time of 1m44.361s, leaving Max Verstappen three tenths behind. Lando Norris, who had been fastest on the first Q3 run with 1m44.801s, finished third, 440 thousandths behind Antonelli, but a ten‑place grid penalty for exceeding his power unit component allocation will drop him to 13th on the starting grid for Sunday. Isack Hadjar also will not start where he qualified on track. The Frenchman, who had been tenth, received a twenty‑place penalty for the same reason and will start from the back. Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll complete the list of penalised drivers with power unit changes that will send them to the last rows, a penalty that is almost symbolic for an Aston Martin that is completely off the pace this weekend.

Photo By Mercedes F1

Q1 delivered the first tight margins. Alexander Albon was eliminated by 41 thousandths, a tiny gap that left him behind Oliver Bearman. Esteban Ocon, who was celebrating ten years since his Formula 1 debut, also failed to make the cut. The two Cadillacs of Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Pérez were eliminated along with the Aston Martins of Alonso and Stroll, who already knew before the session that their penalties would send them to the back of the grid regardless of what they did on track.

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Q2 eliminated Liam Lawson by 38 thousandths, the margin he needed to take the place from Gabriel Bortoleto, who put the Audi in Q3 for the second consecutive race. Pierre Gasly, Franco Colapinto and Nico Hülkenberg were also eliminated. The German suffered a hydraulic leak that briefly stopped the session before the start of Q3. Carlos Sainz and Bearman completed the list of eliminated drivers in the second round. Colapinto was one tenth behind Gasly, his teammate, and his 11th place on track became ninth on the grid thanks to the penalties for Norris and Hadjar.

Q3 was interrupted by a red flag with six minutes remaining due to gravel spread across the track. The stoppage came just after Norris had snatched first place from Antonelli by 39 thousandths, and before Verstappen could complete his tow‑assisted lap. Red Bull had organised a slipstream game with Hadjar on the back straight, and Verstappen momentarily moved to the front when the session resumed. Antonelli responded with the decisive lap. Hadjar, who went out on used soft tyres for his first Q3 attempt, did not set a valid time in the final run.

Photo By Red Bull Content Pool

George Russell and Charles Leclerc were the direct beneficiaries of Norris's penalty. Russell, who had a difficult Friday where he could not find the balance of the Mercedes, finished fourth, 508 thousandths behind his teammate, and will start from the second row alongside Leclerc, fifth, 532 thousandths behind. Lewis Hamilton and Oscar Piastri will share the third row, with Hamilton just two thousandths behind Leclerc. Hamilton had crashed his Ferrari into the barriers at Turn 13 in final practice, an almost identical accident to Gasly's in FP2 on Friday, but the team rebuilt the car in time for qualifying, and Hamilton responded with the sixth‑fastest time. Sunday's grid has Antonelli and Verstappen on the front row, Russell and Leclerc on the second, and Hamilton and Piastri on the third. Arvid Lindblad and Bortoleto will share the fourth row, followed by Lawson and Gasly. Norris will have to fight from 13th position, and Hadjar from the back.

Belgian Grand Prix - Qualification

Pos.	No.	driver	team	Q1	Q2	Q3
1	12	Kimi Antonelli	Mercedes	1:46.304	1:45.142	1:44.361
2	3	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing	1:45.930	1:45.589	1:44.678
3	1	Lando Norris	McLaren	1:45.865	1:45.454	1:44.801
4	63	George Russell	Mercedes	1:46.185	1:45.689	1:44.869
5	16	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	1:46.278	1:45.397	1:44.893
6	44	Lewis Hamilton	Ferrari	1:46.124	1:45.543	1:44.895
7	81	Oscar Piastri	McLaren	1:46.433	1:45.671	1:45.016
8	41	Arvid Lindblad	Racing Bulls	1:46.191	1:45.629	1:45.143
9	5	Gabriel Bortoleto	Audi	1:46.609	1:46.082	1:45.628
10	6	Isack Hadjar	Red Bull Racing	1:46.062	1:45.823
11	30	Liam Lawson	Racing Bulls	1:46.501	1:46.120
12	10	Pierre Gasly	Alpine	1:46.679	1:46.331
13	43	Franco Colapinto	Alpine	1:46.795	1:46.392
14	27	Nico Hulkenberg	Audi	1:46.893	1:46.671
15	55	Carlos Sainz	Williams	1:47.080	1:46.777
16	87	Oliver Bearman	Haas F1 Team	1:47.113	1:46.779
17	23	Alexander Albon	Williams	1:47.120
18	31	Esteban Ocon	Haas F1 Team	1:47.801
19	77	Valtteri Bottas	Cadillac	1:47.823
20	11	Sergio Perez	Cadillac	1:47.971
21	14	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin	1:50.002
22	18	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin	1:50.177