Qualifying Highlights | 2026 Belgian Grand Prix

Bottas gets to 18th, Perez gets to 19th. Signs Personal Best Sector 1 and Sector 2 here, currently in 12th position. And he remains there. Improves his time, but not his position. As we go over the line now with Linblad, he's in 5th. And we'll see Lawson cross the line. Can anyone find an improvement? Ocon does, but only to 18th. Behrmann is in P13. Colopinto's put in a very tidy first sector of the lap as well. So he's going to be one of the last across the line and he is looking like he's going to improve. Let's see what we see from Alex Albon. He could be the driver at risk. He takes a big step forward when he needs to. To 14th position, Hulkenberg is now the driver looking over his shoulder. He's improving Sector 1 and 2, but Hulkenberg has that Mercedes power. And we'll put big pressure on. This needs to be an improvement for Hulkenberg. And he leaps up just behind his teammate. Gasly is the driver now facing the exit if Colopinto can improve. 4th position for Lewis Hamilton. This is Pierre Gasly. And he finds the fastest final sector of anyone so far. Can Colopinto get past Albon? He can. Gasly goes to 12th. Colopinto is in 13th. Here's Hulkenberg signs and Behrmann gets through. Look at the margin between Behrmann and Albon. Albon out along with Ocon, Bottas, Perez, Alonso and Stroll. Gasly's not doing enough. That's a time compared to Bortoletto. So half a second down as is Colopinto. So the two Alpinos are going to have to find something almighty if they're going to make their way through into the top 10. And that's before Bortoletto has a right to reply as well. He's out there pushing. So is Lawson. That's more likely our battle for 10th. Let's see. They've been strong in this final sector, but it would have to be something astonishing. Gasly is two tenths of a second away from what he needed and remains in 12th place. Franco Colopinto from Argentina across the line and improves up to 13th position. This is Carlos Sainz. He has not got the equipment to fight anyone other than Oli Behrmann. He's in 15th with a time improvement. We're going to see George Russell over the line now. He's out there continuing to learn. Personal best in the final sector. He remains in eighth though. Behrmann could not get Sainz. And Lawson is a question mark. It's Lawson versus Bortoletto. They're having a straight shootout and Bortoletto is coming down towards the bus stop right now with Lawson slipstreaming behind him. So Lawson will have a slight advantage, you'd have thought, right at the end of the lap. Hülkenberg's out as well in 14th. Okay, Hülkenberg can't make it. That's consistent. It was Lawson against Bortoletto. Here's Gabriel Bortoletto to the line. No improvement of time. Does he open the door for Liam Lawson? Lawson can't walk through it. Oh, hold on a minute. Nico Hülkenberg's had to pull to the side of the road trying to come back to the pit lane. Already out and he's had to pull up. Sorry, Nico. We need to stop the car. We have a hydraulic leak. Lawson, Gasly, Colopinto, Hülkenberg, Sainz and Behrmann. We pick up Max Verstappen. He's going to have his teammate going slowly. Here he goes. He's going to catch Hajar and surely just take the slipstream all the way. And this is all about straight line speed. Red Bull coordinating that. That's why they kept Hajar in the session. And he's timed it really nicely. Verstappen will look to slip by. And there he goes. So that will help the straight line speed of Max Verstappen. And it will be dependent. He's quick through the middle sector as well. Verstappen's going to come across the line and he's going to put a time on the board of 44.9. Can Antonelli respond to it? He was out of shape, wasn't he? Out of shape through the bus stop. Antonelli gets back ahead. It's by a tenth of a second. What can George Russell do? Second in the points. George Russell is three tenths of a second away. Crucially, Verstappen splitting the pair of Mercedes. Now, Lindblad is in fourth place. What can the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc do? Across the line he goes into second. And mega competitive with the Mercedes. Norris has the fastest middle sector of anyone as well. So this is Piastri coming over the line first. First of all, Oscar Piastri. He slots into fifth. Norris has been superb in the middle part of the lap. Fourth for Lewis Hamilton. Two tenths of a second away. Norris does have the tenth place penalty. But Norris does have the fastest time on run one. New spec of power unit in the back of the McLaren. And the man who was on pole here last year is ahead of Antonelli and Leclerc. This is where Verstappen really needs to go to work. Through Malmedy corner. He's going to go down the hill to the long hairpin at Ravage. And then it's the no-name corner at turn number nine. Can Verstappen find the fastest middle sector of anyone so far? It was a personal best through sector one. So Antonelli's three tenths quicker than Verstappen. But Russell is quicker than Antonelli in the first sector. It's a 30.1 for George Russell to give himself a chance. And he needs a big improvement. He's currently three tenths of a second behind provisional pole. But that is a great first sector when it matters. It's been beaten unbelievably by Arvid Lindblad. It's wide open here. Now are we going to see the same thing again? That is a sector that gives him a chance. Verstappen in the hunt. And he's even closer to Hajar this time. Now he's got to absolutely gun it, Isaac Hajar. And now stay to the left, get out of the way. Oh, runs him all the way through. That is tighter than they would have wanted it to be. Verstappen looking for the improvement. Russell is up on Lando Norris' time. The battle for pole position is wide open. Will it be provisional pole for Max Verstappen? The answer is yes. Can Antonelli take it back immediately? He will by three tenths of a second. Great lap when it matters. Bortoletto is up to eighth. Back to provisional pole. Currently belongs to the championship leader. Russell looking for his best lap at the end. It's good enough for fourth. Charles Leclerc was nine hundredths of a second away. Will it be a fourth spot pole for him? No, it falls away. Lindblad had a mighty first sector. Hamilton can't get past his teammate. Arvid Lindblad looking for a great result. Arvid Lindblad up to seventh place is a great result. There's no improvement in the middle sector for Lando Norris. Oscar Piastri has new tyres on that car, but can only get to seventh place. And Norris will finish things off. He appears to have bailed out of it. He has bailed out of it. But by the finish, it's Kimi Antonelli on pole position for the Belgian Grand Prix. SP1 mate. Let's go, man. Let's go. Nice birthday present for your old man. Yeah, happy birthday, dad. Well done, mate. Yeah, really tidy lap there. This is Lando Norris through the Fania chicane. Exit's been causing trouble all the way through the weekend. Add a third car to that. Yeah, two have hit the barriers. Norris there getting out of it with an almost identical moment to the one that Hamilton had in practice earlier on. But he just backs out of it. Kimi Antonelli at the front. Made to work for it. Very close after run number one. Told where he could improve. And he did improve by three tenths of a second. Max Verstappen will share the front row with him. And Lando Norris in third. At the end of the qualifying hour will take a tenth place drop.