The World Drivers Championship points leader, Kimi Antonelli, grabbed his sixth pole of the season to start on the front row next to Max Verstappen at the Belgian Grand Prix. Antonelli returns to pole position in Round 10 of the F1 2026 season at Spa Francorchamps Circuit for the Belgian Grand Prix, Saturday morning.
Antonelli nipped the position from Max Verstappen on his final flying lap, besting the Red Bull driver by 0.317 seconds. The Championship leader and the four-time WDC champion will start alongside each other on the front row; this is Verstappen’s third front row start of the season.
View Price on AmazonLando Norris, who had the fastest time in Q1, qualified third but will start 13th thanks to a 10-place grid penalty. McLaren replaced the power electric unit in Norris’ MCL40.
Mercedes’ George Russell gets elevated to third with Norris’ penalty after qualifying fourth. The contending Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton, each with one win on the season, qualified fifth and sixth and will start fourth and fifth.
Oscar Piastri, the defending winner at Spa, will start sixth after struggling through qualifying. Arvid Lindbald was the lone Racing Bulls in Q3 this GP weekend and will start seventh after qualifying eighth.
Gabriel Bortoleto had his best qualifying result with Audi, qualifying ninth and starting 8th. Norris is joined by three other drivers with massive grid place penalties; the only one to make it into Q3 was Red Bull’s Isack Hadjar.
Hadjar will start at the back on the 22nd with his 30-place grid penalty for exceeding his power unit component allocation. Red Bull placed a fifth internal combustion engine, turbocharger, and exhaust in its RB22. Hadjar didn’t put down a Q3 time, knowing his destiny of being sent to the back of the field. Instead, he went out to give Verstappen a pull, to help elevate Verstappen to the front row.
With Norris and Hadjar’s bump, Racing Bulls’ Liam Lawson and Alpine’s Pierre Gasly will start ninth and tenth. The other two drivers to be sent to the back, already qualified there with the Aston Martins of Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll, are also making excess changes for 15-place grid penalties. Hadjar will start behind the Astons, and they’ll be elevated one spot each.
Source: roadandtrack.com
