Antonelli turns up the heat with brilliant Spa pole ahead of Verstappen

Michelle Foster 18 Jul 2026 4:17 PM

Kimi Antonelli with his finger raised in celebration

Kimi Antonelli stormed to pole position at the Belgian Grand Prix but needed a second run to clinch the coveted grid slot by three-tenths ahead of Max Verstappen.

The Red Bull driver used a slipstream from his teammate Isack Hadjar, who will start the race from the back of the grid due to engine penalties, to knock provisional pole-sitter Lando Norris off the front row.

Oliver Bearman sneaks through by 0.007s ahead of Alex Albon

Want more PlanetF1.com coverage? Add us as a preferred source on Google to your favourites list for news you can trust.

Q1 began slowly, with only the two Cadillacs and Lance Stroll initially taking to the track before the rest of the field gradually joined them.

Sergio Perez laid down the opening gambit, a 1:49.3 for the Cadillac driver. But he quickly began to lose places and was down in 17th as the entire field, bar Stroll, had set a lap time. Lando Norris was quickest with a 1:45.8, ahead of Verstappen and Isack Hadjar.

Ferrari completed repairs to Lewis Hamilton’s SF-26 after he crashed late in FP3, the team changing the car’s rear suspension components, floor, and gearbox. He was only 10th as the field completed their first runs, seven-tenths off the pace, and complained that his tyres weren’t up to temperature.

The drivers headed out for a second run, bar the top three – Norris, Verstappen and Hadjar. Alex Albon broke into Q2 but began to drop as Pierre Gasly and Franco Colapinto improved. Oliver Bearman snuck through by 0.007s.

Eliminated: Alex Albon, Esteban Ocon, Valtteri Bottas, Sergio Perez, Fernando Alonso, Lance Stroll

F1 2026: The season’s winners and losers

The results of the F1 2026 championship

The F1 2026 Drivers’ and Constructors’ Championship standings

Liam Lawson falls shorts in Q2

Unlike in Q1, the drivers were quickly into the action in the second segment as they ventured out in a long line. Franco Colapinto led the queue and got the timesheet rolling with a 1:47.0.

Kimi Antonelli beat that just moments later with a 1:45.1, half a second faster than his teammate Russell. Verstappen split the Mercedes drivers.

Russell dropped to eighth, falling behind Charles Leclerc, Lando Norris, Lewis Hamilton, Max Verstappen, Arvid Lindblad and Oscar Piastri.

Back in the garage, Hamilton climbed out of his Ferrari with three of his mechanics heads deep in the cockpit. He was fourth, just over a second out of the drop zone.

Antonelli, Norris, Hamilton and Verstappen remained in the pits as the rest of the top 16 ventured out. Leclerc, despite being two-tenths up on Hamilton in second place, joined the list of those out for a second run.

Nothing notably changed, with Liam Lawson the first driver eliminated by 0.038s by Gabriel Bortoleto.

Nico Hulkenberg didn’t progress, nor did he make it back to the pit lane as his Audi came to a halt on the side of the track. “Sorry Nico, we need to stop the car, we need to stop the car, we have a hydraulic leak,” was Audi’s message to the driver.

Eliminated: Liam Lawson, Pierre Gasly, Franco Colapinto, Nico Hulkenberg, Carlos Sainz, Oliver Bearman

Kimi Antonelli secures pole position for the Belgian Grand Prix

Q3, the pole position shoot-out, began with an unsafe release, at least according to Oscar Piastri, with Bortoleto a bit too close for the McLaren driver’s liking.

Hadjar was out despite his 30-place grid penalty and gave Verstappen a tow that put the Red Bull driver up into P1 with a 1:44.9.

But he was down in fourth moments later as Norris went quickest ahead of Antonelli and Leclerc. The benchmark time was Norris’ 1:44.801. Russell was only sixth, and was told he was losing his time on the run to turn 14.

Red flag! Piastri kicked up gravel at Stavelot and for safety’s sake the session was red flagged for the marshals to clear the stones.

The session resumed at 17:04 local time with Hadjar the first out, followed by Verstappen, with the aim of giving the Dutchman the slipstream. The rest of the field lined up behind the Red Bull teammates.

Hadjar pitted with Verstappen improving to a 1:44.6, but he was beaten to provisional pole by Antonelli by three-tenths. Norris dropped to third place with Russell improving to fourth.

Leclerc and Hamilton were fifth and sixth ahead of Piastri, Lindblad, Bortoleto and Hadjar.

Belgian Grand Prix: Qualifying times

1 Kimi Antonelli 1:44.361
2 Max Verstappen 1:44.678
3 Lando Norris 1:44.801
4 George Russell 1:44.869
5 Charles Leclerc 1:44.893
6 Lewis Hamilton 1:44.895
7 Oscar Piastri 1:45.016
8 Arvid Lindblad 1:45.143
9 Gabriel Bortoleto 1:45.628
10 Isack Hadjar no time

Want to be the first to know exclusive information from the F1 paddock? Join our broadcast channel on WhatsApp to get the scoop on the latest developments from our team of accredited journalists.

You can also subscribe to the PlanetF1 YouTube channel for exclusive features, hear from our paddock journalists with stories from the heart of Formula 1 and much more!