F1 championship leader Oscar Piastri stormed to a dominant pole position for Saturday’s Sprint race at the Belgian Grand Prix, with chief title rival Lando Norris behind Max Verstappen in third.

After the frustration of his race-losing penalty to Norris at the British GP three weeks ago, Piastri has hit the ground running at the legendary Spa-Francorchamps circuit and had already set the pace in Friday’s sole practice session before claiming the weekend’s first of two poles by almost half a second.

Verstappen, whose Red Bull team are at a race weekend without former team boss Christian Horner for the first time after 20 years, beat Norris to second in the effective single-lap shootout of SQ3.

Charles Leclerc was fourth in the lead Ferrari but team-mate Lewis Hamilton was 18th after making one of several shock early exits in qualifying.

A spin at the end of his final lap of SQ1 consigned Hamilton to the grid’s penultimate row, while 2024 Spa victors Mercedes qualified 13th and 20th with George Russell and Kimi Antonelli respectively.

With Hamilton and both Silver Arrows out early, the perennial midfield runners made hay – with Haas particularly cashing in to take a season-best fifth with Esteban Ocon and seventh with Oliver Bearman.

Carlos Sainz was sixth for Williams – who surprisingly lost Alex Albon in SQ1 – while Alpine’s Pierre Gasly, Racing Bulls’ Isack Hadjar and Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto rounded out an unusual-looking bottom of the top 10.

Points are awarded to the top-eight finishers – with eight for the winner – in Saturday’s 15-lap Sprint, live at 11am on Sky Sports F1.

What went wrong for Hamilton and the Mercedes drivers?

Piastri is the third different driver in as many Sprint weekends this season to claim pole for the short-form Saturday race. The contrast with the year’s first two polesitters on Friday would not have been starker, however.

Hamilton – who qualified first for the season’s opening Sprint in China at 2025’s second round in March – admitted he was “massively frustrated” to spin out on his final lap of SQ1.

The seven-time champion, whose Ferrari team were debuting a new rear suspension, was already in the drop zone at the start of his final lap of the opening phase after an error on his first attempt but appeared to be heading for safety until the SF-25 suddenly snapped away from him under braking for the final corner, the Bus Stop chicane.

“Nobody will be more surprised than Lewis,” said Sky Sports F1’s Martin Brundle in commentary. “It looks like a technical issue.

“It’s almost like the engine sort of stalled out, and every time he pulled another shift it’s just locked the rear axle.”

Although not blaming the car, Hamilton confirmed the car’s rear wheels had locked, adding: “First time I think in my career.” He otherwise said little in his post-session interview.

Hamilton’s former team, Mercedes, also had a qualifying session to forget.

Antonelli – who claimed a brilliant maiden pole at the previous Sprint in Miami – qualified last after his SQ1 was sent into a tailspin by a spin into the gravel at Stavelot on his first flying lap.

Team-mate Russell, who was following closely behind his team-mate at the time, comfortably progressed through to SQ2 in fifth place – but then struggled for pace in the second stage, missing the cut for the top 10 as the track dramatically ramped up by two tenths of a second and a host of drivers jumped ahead.

“We’ve had the pace all day,” said Russell. “In Q1 I ran over all of that gravel when Kimi went off. For the rest of that lap, it felt terrible, the lap after it felt terrible, and then my SQ2 lap felt terrible.

“We saw some damage on the car. We need to see if that’s the reason because obviously it’s a big shock to be out in Q2.”

Piastri back on top but wary of Verstappen threat

Piastri’s only scare during the session came in SQ2 when the Australian only just squeezed through to the final shootout in 10th place having lost his original lap time for exceeding track limits.

He was then imperious in SQ3, uncorking a 1:40.510 time that was 0.477s quicker than Verstappen and 0.618s quicker than Norris.

“It was a good lap. A little scare in SQ2 with the lap deletion but the car has been mega all day,” said the Australian, who leads Norris by eight points in the standings.

“I feel like I was able to put in a lot of good laps. Thanks to the team, the car has been great.

“This is a track I love. It’s my favourite one of the year. Maybe that gave me an extra couple of tenths.”

Norris, who has won the previous two grands prix in Austria and Britain to close down his team-mate’s points lead at the season’s halfway mark, said: “It’s only Friday, so I’m not too fussed. Not the happiest of course but I just need to do some more work tonight, that’s all.”

Piastri did, however, warn that “Spa is probably the worst track to have pole at” given that the long run flat-out run from the opening La Source hairpin to Eau Rouge all the way down the Kemmel Straight to the Les Combes chicane is slip-streaming friendly for a following car.

Verstappen, who starts as his nearest challenger, has also adopted a lower-downforce set-up to the McLarens to aid his car’s straight-line speed.

Although, given Friday’s gap over the whole 4.4-mile lap to the lead McLaren, Verstappen conceded: “When you’re almost five tenths off, I don’t think going faster or slower on the straight is going to matter a lot.

“We just have to do our own race and see what we can do.”

Saturday July 26
8.10am: F3 Sprint
10am: Belgian GP Sprint (lights out at 11am)
12.20pm: Ted’s Sprint Notebook
12.40pm: F2 Sprint
2pm: Belgian GP Qualifying (session starts at 3pm)
5pm: Ted’s Qualifying Notebook

Sunday July 27
7.25am: F3 Feature Race
8.55am: F2 Feature Race
10.40am: Porsche Supercup Race
12.30pm: Grand Prix Sunday: Belgian GP build-up*
2pm: THE BELGIAN GRAND PRIX*
4pm: Chequered flag: Belgian GP reaction*
5pm: Ted’s Notebook

*also live on Sky Sports Main Event

The 2025 Formula 1 season resumes this weekend with the Belgian Grand Prix as the Sprint format returns, live on Sky Sports F1. Stream Sky Sports with NOW – no contract, cancel anytime.