F1 Belgian Grand Prix 2026 Qualifying: Antonelli’s Record Margin, Norris’s Penalty and Hadjar’s Costly Tow

Kimi Antonelli claimed pole position for the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps, his sixth of the season and the largest margin of any qualifying session in 2026. Max Verstappen lines up second, with Lando Norris fastest of the rest on the road before a ten place grid penalty drops him back. Isack Hadjar’s own thirty place penalty sends him to the back regardless of tenth on the timesheet, reshaping the grid before a wheel has turned in the race. George Russell qualified fourth, another session where the gap to his teammate grew rather than closed.

Key Points: F1 Belgian Grand Prix 2026 Qualifying

• Antonelli takes pole by 0.317s from Verstappen, his sixth pole of the season. Mercedes have now taken pole at all ten Grands Prix in 2026.
• Norris quickest of the rest on the road in P3, but a ten-place grid penalty drops him back to P13. Meanwhile, Hadjar’s own thirty-place penalty sends the second Red Bull to the back of the grid.
• Hadjar’s thirty place engine penalty sends him to the back of the grid despite tenth fastest on the timesheet.
• Russell qualifies fourth, 0.508s off Antonelli in Q3, the gap between the two Mercedes drivers widening again after trailing him through Q2 as well.
• Hulkenberg’s Q2 ends early with a hydraulic leak, parked at the side of the track and needing marshals to move the car.
• Albon eliminated in Q1 by just 0.007s to Bearman, Williams left needing barely anything more.

Q1

Dry and cloudy at Spa, track temperature up around 38 degrees after Hamilton’s late FP3 crash was patched up in time for the session. Norris set the early pace with a 1:45.865, Verstappen just 0.065s back and Hadjar close enough in third to suggest Red Bull had something on used tyres nobody else could match. Hamilton, still shaking off the crash, went fourth.

The story further down was tighter. Sainz scraped through in 15th, just 0.033s ahead of Bearman, while Albon missed the cut by another 0.007s. Three cars covered by four hundredths of a second, and Williams were the ones left with nothing.

Aston Martin’s gap told its own story. Alonso and Stroll finished over four seconds off the pace, both well outside a genuine fight for Q2, with the team still holding station on updates. The new car lands in Hungary, the new engine in Zandvoort. Spa was always a weekend to get through rather than fight through.

Eliminated in Q1: 17th Alexander Albon, 18th Esteban Ocon, 19th Valtteri Bottas, 20th Sergio Perez, 21st Fernando Alonso, 22nd Lance Stroll.

Q2

Antonelli went top with a 1:45.142, Leclerc 0.255s back and closer to his teammate than at any point so far this weekend. Norris slotted into third, Hamilton fourth, Verstappen fifth, still hunting the pace that had looked so strong in Q1.

Hulkenberg set a 1:46.671 before a hydraulic leak brought his session to an early end. The team radioed him to park the car, and he was out helping marshals push it clear of the circuit, the delay pushing the start of Q3 back to 16:50.

The cut for Q3 came down to fractions again. Bortoleto squeezed through in tenth with a 1:46.082, Lawson missed out by just 0.038s in 11th.

Eliminated in Q2: 11th Liam Lawson, 12th Pierre Gasly, 13th Franco Colapinto, 14th Nico Hulkenberg, 15th Carlos Sainz, 16th Oliver Bearman.

Q3

Norris was fastest through the first runs, a 1:44.801 that put him 0.039s clear of Antonelli, Leclerc third ahead of Verstappen and Hamilton fifth. Four cars covered by two tenths and the top ten still there for the taking. Piastri’s gravel moment at Stavelot then brought out the red flag, leaving the field with one final attempt after the restart.

On the restart, Verstappen benefited from a tow off Hadjar and improved to 1:44.678, a lap that briefly looked untouchable. Antonelli answered with the lap that mattered, a 1:44.361 that nobody could get near, 0.317s clear of Verstappen and the largest winning margin of any qualifying session in 2026. Leclerc improved to fifth, two thousandths ahead of Hamilton. Norris did not improve, his final effort falling short of the 1:44.801 already banked from the first run, and that’s the time that stands in the classification.

Norris ended up third on the road, Russell fourth, still searching for the tenths that keep separating him from his teammate.

Provisional Qualifying Classification

The classification below reflects the qualifying order before grid penalties are applied.

Antonelli’s pole lap broke down to 30.160 in the first sector, 46.059 in the second and 28.142 in the third, with a 309 km/h speed trap reading. Verstappen’s 1:44.678 was built from 30.443, 46.050 and 28.185, his middle sector quicker by nine thousandths, the fastest of the entire session. Norris’s 1:44.801 followed at 30.314, 46.100 and 28.387, with the fastest speed trap reading of the front three at 310 km/h. Lindblad had the outright quickest first sector of the session at 30.130, and Antonelli’s own best third sector, a 28.100, actually came on an earlier lap rather than the pole lap itself. Nobody swept it. Least of all Antonelli. He just added the sectors together better than anyone else. Russell’s 1:44.869 carried the second fastest first sector of the entire session, a 30.136 behind only Lindblad, but a 28.509 final sector left too much on the table. Lindblad had the strongest speed trap reading among the Q3 runners at 315 km/h.

Lindblad’s eighth deserves its own line too. It’s the best qualifying result of his rookie season, and it comes in the first weekend running Racing Bulls’ upgraded VCARB package. Lawson stays on the older specification until the upgrade reaches his side of the garage next weekend.

Race Ahead

The timesheet says Antonelli, Verstappen, Norris. The grid says something else entirely. Norris carries a ten-place penalty for a fresh engine component and drops to P13. Hadjar goes from tenth on the clock to last on the grid with his own thirty-place penalty.

Alonso and Stroll both have engine penalties of their own, but starting 21st and 22nd on merit already, it changes nothing.

Antonelli starts on pole with Verstappen alongside, but the long run through Eau Rouge and along the Kemmel Straight could hand Verstappen the tow into Les Combes. Russell’s fourth continues a pattern that has followed him through the last two sessions, and it is one worth watching well beyond tomorrow.

Coffee Corner Take

Mercedes have now taken pole at all ten Grands Prix in 2026. Antonelli didn’t even set a single purple sector on his way to securing Pole in Spa, Lindblad had the first, Verstappen had the second, and his own fastest third sector came from three laps earlier. Pole still came out of it by three tenths, the biggest margin of the year, from a driver who doesn’t need the ideal lap to be the fastest one on the grid.

The story of the weekend is Russell. Fourth again, 0.508 seconds off his own teammate in Q3, having trailed him through Q2 as well as most of the weekend. Same car, same tools. He found the second-fastest opening sector of the session, but the final part of the lap cost him heavily, and that split is not something Mercedes can explain away as a one-lap fluke. That gap to Antonelli is becoming the shape of this Mercedes season rather than a one-off, and it will be asking serious questions in that garage well before it asks any of the rest of us.

Norris fastest of the rest on merit, a lap that means nothing for tomorrow’s grid but plenty for confidence going into a race where he starts P13 instead of fighting at the front. The pace was never the problem at Spa.

Hadjar’s tenth on the timesheet deserved better than a trip to the back of the grid. His contribution to Verstappen’s lap mattered also. Verstappen admitted the tow may have made the difference between the front row and qualifying around sixth.

And then heartbreak as Lawson missed Q3 by 0.038 seconds, Albon missing Q2 by 0.007. Margins that thin do not leave room for what-ifs. Not at Spa. Not on a track this long.