Lando Norris resisted mounting pressure from his McLaren teammate and series leader Oscar Piastri on Saturday to take pole position for the Belgian Grand Prix.
The 25-year-old Briton, whose mother Cisca is Belgian, shrugged aside concerns over his struggles on Friday to clock a best lap in one minute and 40.562 seconds, beating Australian Piastri by 0.085 seconds as McLaren reeled off a convincing front row lockout.
It was his fourth pole this year and the 13th of his career. Charles Leclerc qualified third with a late improved lap enabling him to overhaul defending world champion Max Verstappen’s best effort for Red Bull.
Fox Sports, available on Kayo Sports, is the only place to watch every practice, qualifying session and race in the 2025 FIA Formula One World Championship™ LIVE in 4K. New to Kayo? Join now and get your first month for just $1.
Alex Albon was fifth for Williams ahead of Mercedes’ George Russell, Yuki Tsunoda in the second Red Bull, Racing Bulls’ rookies Isack Hadjar and Liam Lawson and Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto.
Seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton failed to make it out of the Q1 session for Ferrari and will start Sunday’s 44-lap race from 16th on the grid in the company of Mercedes’ mercurial rookie Kimi Antonelli, who was 18th and two-time champion Fernando Alonso 19th for Aston Martin.
After victories in Austria and Britain, Norris will be seeking a third consecutive win to overhaul Piastri’s nine-point lead in the title race.
“It was a decent lap and I’m happy,” said Norris. “Everyone was a bit worried after yesterday, but I wasn’t that far off.
“There were just a few little issues we had. I was confident that I could get back to the top.”
Piastri, who had been faster than Norris in Friday’s action, said: “It’s a bit disappointing. The second lap was coming together well and then I made a mistake into turn 14 and I lost a lot of time. The car was very good again, but it’s about fine margins.” Leclerc said he was surprised by his time.
“I didn’t expect it. We thought we were a lot more behind. We thought we had something more in the car with the upgrade, but it was a good lap. It takes time to maximise those upgrades.”
After a masterclass from Verstappen in the sprint race earlier, Red Bull chose to change his ‘skinny’ rear wing to a bigger high-downforce version in anticipation of Sunday bringing heavy rain to the sweeping Ardennes circuit.
Norris found his pace to clock 1:41.010, six-tenths better than the Ferrari, followed by Piastri two-tenths down in second, the pair showing McLaren’s intent under grey skies before a frantic finale during which Hamilton found a late survival lap which was promptly deleted for exceeding track limits.
That left Gabriel Bortoleto 15th for Sauber and eliminated the Ferrari driver along with Alpine’s Franco Colapinto, Mercedes’ rookie Antonelli, who replaced Hamilton, and the two Aston Martins of Alonso and Lance Stroll.
Q2 began with everyone on softs and Verstappen fastest, trimming Norris’s time, before Piastri and Norris took over for the opening runs.
The Dutchman chose not to run again, leaving the usual suspects a clear run to the top-ten shootout while the Haas pair Esteban Ocon and Oliver Bearman exited along with Alpine’s Pierre Gasly, Hulkenberg and Sainz.
Russell, who was stripped of victory last year because of an underweight car, was first out for Q3, but it was Verstappen again on top before the McLarens flexed their muscle, Norris beating Piastri by 0.189 on their first runs.
Verstappen’s final run on fresh softs was not enough to resist an improved lap from Leclerc as Piastri also failed to improve, leaving Norris to claim pole position.
“Oh my god, that was really, really bad” said Verstappen, as a rise in track temperature beyond 40 degrees subdued his performance.
HEAT RISING AT MCLAREN
Lando Norris said he had not lost any confidence in his ability to outpace McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri after he bounced back on Saturday to claim pole position for the Belgian Grand Prix.
The 25-year-old Briton, who was beaten by series leader Piastri in Friday’s sprint qualifying, said it was tough for both McLaren drivers as they battle for supremacy in their intra-team rivalry — and slug it out for the drivers’ world championship.
After 12 of this year’s 24 races, Piastri leads with 241 points and five wins ahead of Norris on 232 and four wins. Defending four-time champion Max Verstappen of Red Bull is third on 173 after two Grand Prix wins.
Norris, who is chasing a third consecutive Grand Prix win on Sunday to overhaul the 24-year-old Australian, admitted he was aware that “everyone was worried” after Friday when he was three-tenths slower.
“I wasn’t that far off, but there were a couple of little issues and everyone was pretty worried,” he said. “But I was confident after yesterday and I was confident coming into today so it’s nice to see that I could get back to the top.”
Asked where his improvement came from, he said: “Three-tenths is just slipstream and not being the first out of the pit-lane.
“It was nothing to worry about, but people like to make a lot of things up.
“I felt good and the car has been flying all weekend.”
Norris has been accused of mental fragility and being oversensitive to his own high expectations and media criticism.
He said that it was intense and challenging for both McLaren drivers to maintain a strong relationship as teammates while fighting for the drivers’ title.
“Oscar has been doing a good job all weekend and we’ve been pushing each other a lot,” said Norris.
“It’s tough because you see where your strengths and weaknesses are clearly — and then you learn from each other quickly. It’s good, but it’s a tough battle that we have at the minute.”
Piastri agreed that maintaining a balanced approach was difficult. “We’re a good teammate pairing and we learn a lot from each other each weekend. That’s what makes us a good team, but it also makes it difficult to fight each other.”
Norris said he wanted Sunday’s race to be run in dry conditions, despite forecast heavy rain for the Ardennes.
“I prefer it to stay dry honestly. For the fans! I think it’s rained here for the last 10 years or something so it would be nice to have a dry Sunday.”
BELGIAN GP QUALIFYING RESULTS
1) Lando Norris, McLaren 1:40.562
2) Oscar Piastri, McLaren +0.085
3) Charles Leclerc, Ferrari +0.338
4) Max Verstappen, Red Bull +0.341
5) Alex Albon, Williams +0.639
6) George Russell, Mercedes +0.698
7) Yuki Tsunoda, Red Bull +0.722
8) Isack Hadjar, Racing Bulls +0.748
9) Liam Lawson, Racing Bulls +0.766
10) Gabriel Bortoleto, Sauber +1.825
Knocked out in Q2
11) Esteban Ocon, Haas 1:41.525
12) Oliver Bearman, Haas 1:41.617
13) Pierre Gasly, Alpine 1:41.633
14) Nico Hulkenberg, Sauber 1:41.707
15) Carlos Sainz, Williams 1:41.758
Knocked out in Q1
16) Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari 1:41.939
17) Franco Colapinto, Williams 1:42.022
18) Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes 1:42.139
19) Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin 1:42.385
20) Lance Stroll, Aston Martin 1:42.502
Discussion about this post