Kimi Antonelli raced to an emphatic pole position for Sunday’s Belgian Grand Prix, leaving his world championship rivals trailing in his wake. The 19-year-old Mercedes driver headed into qualifying as the man to beat after topping two of the three practice sessions at Spa-Francorchamps and delivered on his status with a brilliant lap.
Antonelli's Dominant Lap
Antonelli saved his very best to last to see off Red Bull driver Max Verstappen by 0.317 seconds. According to reports, this is the biggest pole margin of the season so far. Lando Norris qualified third, four tenths down on Antonelli, but the world champion will line up from 13th as he serves a 10-place grid penalty for exceeding his allocated number of engine parts.
Antonelli is without a win since the Monaco Grand Prix on June 7, a streak of three races, but he will begin Sunday’s 44-lap race as the favourite to build on his 25-point championship lead over George Russell.
Russell Struggles Again
Russell will start only third on another sobering afternoon for the British driver, who has spent much of a season he began as the bookmakers’ title tip in his team-mate’s shadow. Russell qualified fourth, half-a-second behind Antonelli in the same machinery, but he is upgraded one place because of Norris’ grid sanction. Charles Leclerc is bumped up to fourth, a place clear of Ferrari team-mate Lewis Hamilton.
Qualifying Drama
Norris finished the opening Q3 laps with an advantage of 0.039 seconds over Antonelli. The climax to qualifying was then put on pause from seven minutes after Oscar Piastri kicked up gravel at the 14th corner. But when the running re-started, Antonelli could not be caught.
Hamilton's Recovery
Hamilton’s participation had been in major doubt after he crashed out of final practice and sustained significant damage to the rear of his Ferrari. Hamilton’s mechanics had two hours to fix a machine described as “destroyed” by the seven-time world champion. And they succeeded to allow him a shot at disturbing Antonelli. However, he was unable to lay a glove on the Italian teenager, who romped to his sixth pole of the season. Hamilton finished 0.534 seconds behind the man he trails by 32 points in the championship standings.
Early Eliminations
The opening phase of qualifying had an all-too-predictable feel about it, with Williams’ Alex Albon, Haas’ Esteban Ocon, Cadillac’s Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Perez and the hapless Aston Martin duo of Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll all eliminated. Aston Martin are due to deliver a much-needed upgrade at the next weekend’s race in Hungary to salvage an utterly demoralising season. Double world champion Alonso, who is without a win in 13 years and 11 days shy of his 45th birthday, finished two seconds slower than Perez in 20th and five seconds off Antonelli’s Q1 pace.
