Formula 1 News: Piastri blitzes field to win pole for Belgian Sprint
Driving the superior #81 McLaren designed by Rob Marshall, Oscar Piastri turned a lap of 1m40.510s to win pole for the Belgian GP at Spa Francorchamps.
–by Mark Cipolloni–
“That was a good lap,” said Piastri. “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 favorite 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.”
Piastri’s McLaren was so fast he finished a massive 0.477s ahead of Max Verstappen in the Red Bull Rb21 dog in 2nd. Both Piastri and Verstappen destroyed Lewis Hamilton’s Spa lap record.
Lando Norris was third in the second superior McLaren, 0.618s behind his McLaren teammate.
Charles Leclerc was 4th in the upgraded Ferrari, a massive 0.768s behind Piastri.
Esteban Ocon put up a fast lap in his Haas to round out the top-5, 1.055s behind Piastri.]
Carlos Sainz Jr., Oliver Bearman, Pierre Gasly., Isack Hadjar and Gabriel Bortoleto round out the top 10.
As Piastri alluded to there, with the slipstream up through Eau Rouge, starting second can be a big advantage at this track. Especially with Verstappen’s straight line speed advantage – thanks to a lower downforce set-up.
But that McLaren looks rapid, so do not discount the Australian just yet. Especially considering there is still a threat of rain for tomorrow.
“That was a pretty amazing lap by Oscar, he capitalized on everything available in the car,” said McLaren boss Adrea Stella.
“An almost perfect session from Oscar, except for the lap deletion in SQ2 which gave us a bit of a moment on the pit wall!”
Lewis Hamilton was out in SQ1 when he spun on his last qualifying lap of the session in his upgraded Ferrari that he told the engineers what to change. It appeared his gearbox broke under braking.
2025 Belgian GP Sprint Qualifying Results
| POS. | NO. | DRIVER | TEAM | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | LAPS |
| 1 | 81 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren | 1:41.769 | 1:42.128 | 1:40.510 | 11 |
| 2 | 1 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull Racing | 1:42.043 | 1:41.583 | 1:40.987 | 9 |
| 3 | 4 | Lando Norris | McLaren | 1:42.068 | 1:41.412 | 1:41.128 | 12 |
| 4 | 16 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 1:42.763 | 1:41.786 | 1:41.278 | 12 |
| 5 | 31 | Esteban Ocon | Haas | 1:42.822 | 1:41.801 | 1:41.565 | 12 |
| 6 | 55 | Carlos Sainz | Williams | 1:42.776 | 1:42.051 | 1:41.761 | 11 |
| 7 | 87 | Oliver Bearman | Haas | 1:43.024 | 1:42.019 | 1:41.857 | 12 |
| 8 | 10 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine | 1:43.171 | 1:41.949 | 1:41.959 | 12 |
| 9 | 6 | Isack Hadjar | Racing Bulls | 1:42.711 | 1:42.088 | 1:41.971 | 11 |
| 10 | 5 | Gabriel Bortoleto | Kick Sauber | 1:42.806 | 1:41.901 | 1:42.176 | 12 |
| 11 | 30 | Liam Lawson | Racing Bulls | 1:42.897 | 1:42.169 | – | 9 |
| 12 | 22 | Yuki Tsunoda | Red Bull Racing | 1:42.912 | 1:42.184 | – | 9 |
| 13 | 63 | George Russell | Mercedes | 1:42.650 | 1:42.330 | – | 8 |
| 14 | 14 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin | 1:42.427 | 1:42.453 | – | 7 |
| 15 | 18 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | 1:42.736 | 1:42.832 | – | 8 |
| 16 | 23 | Alexander Albon | Williams | 1:43.212 | – | – | 6 |
| 17 | 27 | Nico Hulkenberg | Kick Sauber | 1:43.217 | – | – | 6 |
| 18 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | Ferrari | 1:43.408 | – | – | 6 |
| 19 | 43 | Franco Colapinto | Alpine | 1:43.587 | – | – | 6 |
| 20 | 12 | Kimi Antonelli | Mercedes | 1:45.394 | – | – | 6 |