McLaren’s Lando Norris scored his fourth pole position of the season in Qualifying for the 2025 FIA Formula 1 Belgian Grand Prix, beating championship-leading team-mate Oscar Piastri by less than a tenth of a second. Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc was one of a handful of drivers to improve on his final run of Q3 and the Monegasque took third place ahead of Belgium Sprint winner Max Verstappen. 

Norris and Piastri set the pace early in Q1 with Piastri taking top spot on 1:41.998, eight hundredths ahead of his team-mate. Verstappen, driving a Red Bull RB21 a higher downforce set-up than he used to win the Sprint, then posted a lap of 1:42.066 to split the McLarens. 

The times were rapidly improving, however, and Leclerc soon rose to the top of the order with a time of 1:41.635, while Williams’ Carlos Sainz took second four hundredths of a second off the Monegasque driver. Norris then went for a second attempt and the Briton went six tenths clear of Leclerc thanks to a lap of 1:41.010. Piastri also put in another lap and he moved back to P2, 0.191s off his team-mate. Verstappen also stayed on track for a second attempt and the Dutchman jumped back to third place with a time of 1:41.334. 

At the other end of the timesheet, there was no escape for Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton. The seven-time champion’s final lap handed him P7 but almost immediately his lap time was deleted for going over the track limits at Raidillon and he slumped to 16th and out of the session. Also eliminated after Q1 were by Alpine’s Franco Colapinto in P17, Mercedes’ surprise faller Kimi Antonelli, and the twin Aston Martin cars of Fernado Alonso and Lance Stroll. 

At the start of Q2, Verstappen was first on track and he took P1 with a lap of 1:40.951. The McLaren pair were finding more pace, however, and Piastri soon took top spot, three tenths clear of Verstappen with a lap of 1:40.626. Norris then made his way to second, nine hundredths off his team-mate. 

Both Piastri and Norris abandoned precautionary final laps, while Verstappen elected to stay in the garage for his final run. All three held their positions from the first run. Leclerc again took P4 and fifth place went to Yuki Tsunoda in the other Red Bull, with the Japanese driver making it into his first Q3 session since the Miami Grand Prix in May. 

Eliminated at the end of Q2 in P11 and P12 were Esteban Ocon and Ollie Bearman and the Haas pair were followed by Alpine’s Pierre Gasly, Sauber’s Nico Hülkenberg and Williams’ Carlos Sainz who dropped out in P15. 

In the opening runs of the final session Norris posted a time of 1:40.562 to take provisional pole just under two tenths clear of Piastri. Verstappen slotted into third with a lap of 1:41.078, but the Dutchman complained that he had struggled for grip throughout. 

It was a lament repeated elsewhere among the final 10 drivers and when the final run times began to come in it became clear that rapidly changing track conditions were making improvements hard to come by.

Verstappen’s final flyer went wrong when he suffered a slide at the exit of La Source at the beginning of the lap and that allowed Leclerc, one of the run’s few improvers to sneak ahead of the Red Bull and onto the front of row two. 

Behind them the biggest gains were made by Williams’ Alex Albin who claimed an excellent P5 behind Verstappen. Russell edged his way into sixth just over two hundredths clear of Tsunoda, who will start the race ahead of the Racing Bull​s​ cars of Isack Hadjar and Liam Lawson and the Sauber of Gabriel Bortoleto. 

It was Norris who took pole, however, with his strong opening run proving good enough to keep Piastri at bay. 

2025 FIA Formula 1 Belgian Grand Perix – Qualifying 
1 Lando Norris McLaren/Mercedes 1:40.562 - -
2 Oscar Piastri McLaren/Mercedes 1:40.647 0.085 
3 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:40.900 0.338 
4 Max Verstappen Red Bull/Honda RBPT 1:40.903 0.341 
5 Alexander Albon Williams/Mercedes 1:41.201 0.639 
6 George Russell Mercedes 1:41.260 0.698 
7 Yuki Tsunoda Red Bull/Honda RBPT 1:41.284 0.722 
8 Isack Hadjar Racing Bulls/Honda RBPT 1:41.310 0.748 
9 Liam Lawson Racing Bulls/Honda RBPT 1:41.328 0.766 
10 Gabriel Bortoleto Sauber/Ferrari 1:42.387 1.825 
11 Esteban Ocon Haas/Ferrari 1:41.525 0.963 
12 Oliver Bearman Haas/Ferrari 1:41.617 1.055 
13 Pierre Gasly Alpine/Renault 1:41.633 1.071 
14 Nico Hülkenberg Sauber/Ferrari 1:41.707 1.145 
15 Carlos Sainz Williams/Mercedes 1:41.758 1.196 
16 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari 1:41.939 1.377 
17 Franco Colapinto Alpine/Renault 1:42.022 1.460 
18 Kimi Antonelli Mercedes 1:42.139 1.577 
19 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin/Mercedes 1:42.385 1.823 
20 Lance Stroll Aston Martin/Mercedes 1:42.502 1.940