Belgian Grand Prix: Kimi Antonelli takes Spa pole from Max Verstappen
Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli claimed a dazzling pole position at the Belgian Grand Prix, edging out teammate and championship rival George Russell for fourth place by more than 0.5 seconds.
The Italian driver, who is 25 points ahead of Russell in the championship, beat Red Bull’s Max Verstappen by 0.317 seconds, but the four-time champion benefited from the support of his teammate Isack Hadjar.
McLaren driver Lando Norris finished an impressive third, 0.440 seconds back, despite being let loose on his final lap, but the world champion received a 10-place grid penalty for exceeding his engine parts allowance.
Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton finished fifth and sixth, ahead of McLaren’s Oscar Piastri and the upgraded Racing Bull of British rookie Arvid Lindblad.
Antonelli has been searching for the man to beat since coming out on top in Friday practice and has demonstrated his potential by taking his sixth pole position in 10 races so far this year.
He extended his best wishes to his father, Marco, who celebrates his 61st birthday on Saturday during the slowing tour.
Antonelli said: “I felt a little lost in Q1 because the wind picked up and the balance was a little more on the edge, but the session came to us. I changed the front wing flap a little bit for Q2. Q3 was good because we had a good first lap and I had a lot of time in the second lap. It was a good lap.”
Russell said: “The lap felt good. But since Silverstone we’ve been dealing with an issue with straightline speed.”
“We thought we found the problem, it wasn’t the problem, then we thought it was the driving style but it wasn’t the solution.”
“But after looking at the data I felt positively satisfied with what I did. If you just take the corners, I did a very good job.”
“It’s very difficult to fight against Kimi in a fair fight. It’s impossible when we’re in this situation. The team is working hard to determine what it is. It could be a million things.”
Red Bull enlisted Hadjar to assist Verstappen with an airflow on the long straight section leading up to the final chicane, as the Frenchman was handed a 30-place grid penalty for buying a new engine, which puts him over the limit for this year.
Verstappen said pulling saved him 0.3 seconds on his lap time.
He added: “It definitely helped me, otherwise I wouldn’t be here, I’d be 6th or something.
“Isack helped me by knowing he had a penalty and he was going to start from the back. I’ll be looking in my mirrors tomorrow. But as a team we’re happy to be at the front row in terms of how we executed it.”
