Overview
- Kimi Antonelli secured pole position at Spa with a 1:44.361 in qualifying, beating Max Verstappen by 0.317 seconds on the timing sheets.
- Red Bull used team tactics for Verstappen’s final lap, with Isack Hadjar providing a tow while sacrificing his own run and accepting a back‑of‑the‑grid start after power‑unit changes.
- Several teams will not start where they qualified because component changes triggered grid penalties, including Lando Norris who qualified third on the road but will drop ten places.
- Lewis Hamilton crashed heavily in final practice and damaged the rear of his Ferrari, but the team repaired the car in time for qualifying while Nico Hülkenberg stopped after Q2 with a suspected hydraulic leak.
- Race dynamics at Spa are now shaped by Antonelli’s dominant weekend, the short run to La Source followed by long slipstreaming straights that can turn pole into a liability, and an open stewards’ inquiry into Carlos Sainz’s FP1 pit‑entry manoeuvre.