Kimi Antonelli took pole position for the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa with a 1:44.361 on his final Q3 lap, edging Max Verstappen by three-tenths of a second. Verstappen had used the slipstream of Isack Hadjar in a late attempt but could not better Antonelli, leaving Lando Norris third on the timesheets. Verstappen faces a grid penalty that will promote George Russell into the top three for the race start. Charles Leclerc qualified fifth, just 0.002s ahead of Lewis Hamilton in sixth, while Oscar Piastri was seventh and Arvid Lindblad eighth after a purple first sector. Gabriel Bortoleto and Isack Hadjar completed the on-track top 10, with Hadjar focused on aiding Verstappen and set to take a large engine-component penalty. Nico Hülkenberg stopped with a hydraulic leak after qualifying 14th; Carlos Sainz out-qualified Oliver Bearman by 0.002s for 15th and 16th respectively. Cadillac cars ran 19th and 20th, unexpectedly ahead of Aston Martin, which remained around two seconds off the pace in Q1.
