Antonelli wins pole at Spa, sixth of the season. Verstappen second with the help of Hadjar, Ferrari fourth with Leclerc
Kimi Antonelli starts ahead of everyone in Belgium too. The Mercedes driver took pole position on the Spa-Francorchamps circuit, his sixth of 2026, confirming in the qualifying session what he had already shown in free practice on Friday and Saturday morning.
No big surprises in qualifying
Qualifying followed the pattern of the third free practice sessionwith some important variables to consider. An extraordinary (as almost always happens) Verstappen placed second, three tenths behind Antonelli, but with an asterisk: the decisive slipstream offered to him by teammate Isaac Hadjar, who dragged him into the last sector, was decisive, as he himself confirmed. His teammate will instead start from the back, due to the penalties linked to the replacement of elements of the Power Unit. The same goes for Lando Norris, very competitive in qualifying but penalized by ten positions at the start.
He will sprint from the second row George Russellwith a gap of more than half a second from Antonelli who, at the moment, says everything about the balance of power within the team and the form of the drivers. Fourth was Charles Leclerc, capable of a sudden improvement that put him ahead of Lewis Hamilton by a few thousandths, despite a yellow flag at the last corner on the last lap slowing him down. Hamilton, for his part, paid the price for the accident in free practice, which forced the mechanics to work overtime and may have altered a setup that had been effective until then. Sixth was Oscar Piastri with the other McLaren, then two young protagonists of an excellent qualifying session: Arvid Limblad on the Racing Bulls and Gabriel Bortoleto on the Audi.
What to expect in the race
Antonelli has so far shown a pace that is difficult for his opponents to imitate. Furthermore, Spa is a circuit that, more than others, rewards dominant cars such as Mercedes. The main variable will be tire management over the long termwith Verstappen (always dangerous) who will start alongside Kimi and will try to exploit every opportunity. The penalized grid of Norris and Hadjar suggests spectacular comebacks. For the Ferraris, Leclerc’s fourth place is a positive sign in a complicated weekend so far (especially for Charles who had always remained behind Hamilton).
The words of the protagonists
«Well, it’s great to be on pole. It wasn’t a very linear session. The track has changed a lot, but we managed to improve from lap to lap and bring home pole which is clearly a good result. Tomorrow, however, is another day and I will have Max starting next to me, so it will be important to get a good start to try to be in front in turn 5. The lap was good, clean, I improved a lot especially in the second sector. Clearly there is still room for improvement, but I’m happy,” he said Antonelli.
Verstappenalthough satisfied, showed himself to be realistic, and bluntly admitted the precious contribution of his teammate Hadjar: «The trail helped me, otherwise I wouldn’t have been here, I would have been more or less sixth. Isaac did a great job, leaving me in his wake in the last sector. Tomorrow I will certainly have to look a lot in the mirrors with those behind me, but today we had an excellent result. I think the car was pretty decent all weekend. Not at the level of what Kimi is doing, but we are happy to be on the front row. For the race, long-term tire management will be important. I will do my best and we will try to hold on.”
