Oscar Piastri takes pole position for Belgian Grand Prix sprint race

SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS – Formula One leader Oscar Piastri took pole position for the July 26 sprint by nearly half a second at the Belgian Grand Prix, while McLaren teammate and title rival Lando Norris qualified third.

Red Bull’s reigning champion Max Verstappen will join Piastri on the front row for the first race since Christian Horner was dismissed as team boss and replaced with Laurent Mekies.

Piastri lapped the Spa-Francorchamps circuit with a best time of 1min 40.510sec, 0.477 seconds quicker than Verstappen and 0.618 clear of Norris.

The Australian is eight points clear at the top after 12 of 24 rounds.

“It was a good lap... the car has been mega all day. I feel like I was able to put in a lot of good laps. Thanks to the team, the car has been great,” said Piastri.

“This is a track I love. It’s my favourite one of the year. Maybe that gave me an extra couple of tenths. When the car is handling as well as it was today, it’s a pleasure.

“The car has been in a good window since Lap 1. I don’t know why. I had good confidence. I feel like the last few weekends have been good from a pace perspective... It’s nice to get a result today.”

McLaren team principal Andrea Stella added on Sky Sports: “Certainly that was a pretty amazing lap by Oscar. He capitalised on everything that was available in the car.”

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc starts fourth but teammate Lewis Hamilton will line up 18th after a difficult afternoon for the seven-time world champion, whose most recent win came at the same circuit in 2024 with Mercedes.

The Briton spun on his last flying lap while on course to go through, with the suspicion falling on a failure of the car’s rear axle.

George Russell, who finished first in 2024 for Mercedes but was then disqualified for an underweight car, also struggled and qualified 13th.

Off the track, Verstappen insisted on July 24 that Horner’s shock departure as team boss of Red Bull will have no impact on his future plans.

The four-time world champion, who has been linked with a move to Mercedes next season, suggested that he expects to stay with Red Bull until the conclusion of his current contract in 2028.

Speaking to reporters in the paddock ahead of this weekend’s action, one of his “home” races as he was born in Belgium and his mother is Belgian, the 27-year-old Dutchman said he was concerned only with improving the speed and performance of his car.

The rest, he said, was not of great interest to him, adding that past tensions between Horner and his father Jos Verstappen had no bearing on decisions about his future.

Asked if Horner’s exit after 20 years as team boss made it more probable that he would stay at Red Bull in 2026, Verstappen said: “No, it doesn’t. Not really.”

He added that the well-publicised discord between his father and Horner was never a problem.

“People can have a difference of opinion and I expect that to happen because if everyone agrees, there is a problem,” Verstappen said.

“You need to have differences in opinion. Now, we will work in a different direction and I am excited about it and I don’t think it will matter at all for the decision over my future.

“The only thing that matters is that we work on the car and make it as fast as we can and try and be more competitive this year, a little bit, but for sure with the new regulations next year.”

In other news, Formula E will remain until at least 2048 as the only all-electric single-seater series sanctioned by motor sport’s world governing body after announcing a contract extension with the International Automobile Federation on July 25.

The Liberty Global-controlled series said the 10-year extension, with sources indicating an option for a further five years, provided a solid platform for growth and investment opportunities.

Formula E expects its cars to be on the same level as, or exceeding the performance of, other top-tier series, including Formula One, by the middle of the century.

AFP, REUTERS