SPA FRANC­ORCHAMPS: Champ­ionship leader Kimi Antonelli outpaced his rivals Saturday when he took pole position for the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps.

Theteenage Mercedes driver blazed to a best time of 1 minute 44.361 seconds, 0.317sec ahead of Red Bull’s four-time Formula One Champion Max Verstappen, while defending champion Lando Norris of Britain was third fastest in his McLaren but will start with a 10-place grid penalty.

As he crossed the line after crushing his rivals with a ferocious last lap, the pit reminded Antonelli that it was his father’s birthday.

“Happy birthday, Dad!” he responded.

In his on-track interview, the Italian said he was happy with his display.

“It was not a very straightforward session. The track changed a lot,” said Antonelli.

“The last lap was good. It was a nice lap. It was very clean, so very happy.

“Tomorrow is another day, with Max starting next to me it will be important to get a good start and be ahead into Turn 5.”

In a session briefly red-flagged because of gravel on the track, Antonelli’s team-mate George Russell was fourth fastest and will share the second row with Charles Leclerc of Ferrari.

Th second Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton was next, followed by Oscar Piastri in a McLaren.

Verstappen was able to grab Isack Hadjar’s slipstream for his final lap.

“It was definitely helping me, otherwise I would not be standing here, I would be P6 or something,” the Dutchman said. “Isack did a really good job.

“Tomorrow I will be looking in my mirrors but today was a decent result.”

Like Norris, Hadjar, Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll all start tomorrow with grid penalties for power unit changes.

Published in Dawn, July 19th, 2026