Formula1 News: Norris beats Piastri for 2025 Belgian GP pole

Lando Norris turned a lap of 1m40.562s in his superior McLaren designed by Rob Marshall to win the pole position for the 2025 Belgian GP at Spa Francorchamps.

–by Mark Cipolloni–

It was a McLaren 1-2 with Oscar Piastri qualifying 2nd, 0.085s behind his teammate

It was the 4th pole of the year for Norris who is chasing Piastri for the world driving title.

“It was a decent lap so happy,” said Norris. “Everyone was pretty worried after yesterday, I wasn’t even that far off. I was confident coming into today, so I was happy to be back at the top.

“The car has been flying all weekend, Oscar has been doing a good job so we have been pushing each other which is good. It is a good but tough battle we are having at the moment.

“I’d prefer it to stay dry to be honest – it would be nice to have a dry Sunday to be honest.”

“A bit disappointing, the second lap was coming together really well, and I just made a little mistake in [Turn] 14,” said Piastri. “It is fine margins out there. Not a bad place to be starting, but there was more in it so that is disappointing.

“I felt I did an okay job today, but did not execute when it matters. Bit of a shame. I don’t know what the weather will hold tomorrow, we’ll wait and see what we get!”

Charles Leclerc turned a sensational lap in his #16 Ferrari to finish 3rd, 0.338s behind Norris. Meanwhile, his Ferrari teammate Lewis Hamilton could do no better than 16th and was out in Q1.

“I’m very happy today. It is strange to say that as it is still three tenths [off] and third place but we thought we were quite far back, but that was a really, fantastic lap and I loved how the car felt.

“It took some time to maximize those upgrades on the car, but I have felt comfortable with the car since FP1. It is good to have a Qualifying where you look back and know you left nothing on the table.”

Max Verstappen was running a slightly higher downforce setup that he ran in winning the Sprint race earlier today because there is a high chance of rain tomorrow and he got burned at Silverstone when it rained and he struggled with a low downforce setup.

Verstappen will lineup 4th after going 0.341s behind Norris.

Alex Albon was a sensational 5th for Williams, 0.639s behind Norris.

Albon and George Russell share the third row, ahead of Yuki Tsunoda and Isack Hadjar. Hats off to Yuki for his best Qualifying in a while.

Liam Lawson and Gabriel Bortoleto rounded out the top 10.

Norris and Piastri sharing the front row Piastri trying to do to his team mate what Verstappen did to him earlier in the Sprint.

The two Championship contenders are next to each other, but will the rain arrive, and who will that favour?

Plenty of variables heading into the 13th Grand Prix of the season, and Spa does often throw up some pretty special races.

2025 Belgian GP Qualifying Results