Antonelli claims Belgian GP pole ahead of Verstappen

Formula One leader Kimi Antonelli seized pole position for Sunday's Belgian Grand Prix with Red Bull's Max Verstappen alongside him on the front row and Mercedes teammate and title rival George Russell right behind.

McLaren's reigning world champion Lando Norris finished third fastest but has a 10-place grid drop. Russell was promoted to the front row, while Ferrari's Charles Leclerc, who won the previous race at Silverstone, will start fourth.

Mercedes have swept to pole position for all 10 races so far this season and 19-year-old Antonelli has provided six of them.

"It's great to be on pole," said Antonelli, whose father Marco was also celebrating his 61st birthday. "It was not a very straightforward session, the track changed a lot.

"But tomorrow is another day and obviously I have Max starting next to me so it's going to be important to get a good start and then be ahead into Turn Five."

Antonelli is leading Russell by 25 points and has won five races so far in the championship. The Italian driver is hungry for another win to stretch that advantage after failing to add points in two of the last three races.

Norris had been on provisional pole after the first flying laps but then Verstappen and Antonelli passed him; the latter clocked a lap of one minute and 44.361-seconds effort around the longest and second-fastest lap on the calendar.

"It is nice to be standing here, it is not nice knowing I have to go 10 places back tomorrow," commented Norris.

"It is unfortunate that it is not where we will be starting tomorrow because it would be nice to have a little fight with these guys but we made the most of it."

Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton will start fifth with McLaren's Oscar Piastri sixth and Racing Bulls' British rookie Arvid Lindblad seventh in the team's only upgraded car.

Audi's Gabriel Bortoleto qualified eighth, with Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson finishing ninth, while Alpine's Pierre Gasly finished 10th.