Liam Lawson narrowly missed out on a spot in SQ3 at the Belgian Grand Prix, qualifying 11th for Saturday’s sprint after falling short by just 0.041 seconds.
The Racing Bulls driver was the final competitor eliminated in the second segment of sprint qualifying, edged out by McLaren’s Lando Norris, who slotted into third on the grid.
Despite this being his strongest F1 sprint qualifying result so far this season, Lawson couldn’t hide his disappointment after missing the top 10 cut-off. His teammate Isack Hadjar will start ninth.
“[I’m] a little bit frustrated,” said Lawson.
“It’s just small margins, which is crazy around here, because it’s such a long lap. The car’s been fast, I was on a lap that was probably plenty good enough, but had a small issue in the last chicane. It’s just [about] extracting every little bit out of the car.”
Lawson, who will line up one place ahead of Red Bull’s Yuki Tsunoda, said his goal is to move up into the points-paying positions during the sprint, which begins at 10pm NZT.
“We’ll take the learnings from today and try to fix it for Quali tomorrow as well.”
At the front of the field, McLaren’s Oscar Piastri stormed to pole position for the sprint race, setting a blistering lap time and beating Red Bull’s Max Verstappen by 0.477 seconds.
The session marked the first competitive outing for Red Bull since the dramatic departure of Christian Horner as team principal earlier this month.
Piastri, who had risked elimination after exceeding track limits in SQ2, rebounded in style to seize the top spot ahead of Verstappen and Norris, who completed a McLaren-Red Bull-McLaren top three. Norris ended up 0.618 seconds off his teammate’s pace.
“The car’s been mega all day,” Piastri said.
“This is a track I love, it’s my favourite one of the year, and maybe that gave me a couple of extra tenths.”
The result comes off the back of an emotionally charged British Grand Prix, where Norris claimed victory in the rain and trimmed Piastri’s lead in the championship to just eight points.
Piastri, still aggrieved over what he considered an unfair penalty at Silverstone, had vowed to channel that frustration into performance and made good on that promise in Belgium.
Weather could again play a crucial role this weekend, with rain expected to impact both Saturday’s sprint and Monday’s Grand Prix.
Behind the top three, Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc will start fourth, followed by a strong showing from Haas duo Esteban Ocon and rookie Oliver Bearman in fifth and seventh, respectively.
Williams’ Carlos Sainz separates the pair in sixth. Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto, who narrowly knocked Lawson out of SQ3, starts 10th.
It was a tough session for Red Bull’s second car, with Tsunoda managing only 12th, and an even more disappointing outing for Mercedes. George Russell qualified 13th, while rookie Kimi Antonelli was last in 20th.
Lewis Hamilton also struggled. The seven-time world champion spun at the final chicane during his flying lap and wound up 18th. Hamilton, who earlier in the week declared it “crunch time” in his Ferrari transition, has yet to score a Grand Prix podium since switching teams.
He’s reportedly begun meetings with both technical staff and senior leadership at Ferrari in hopes of securing more influence over their 2026 development direction.
Sprint Qualifying Starting Grid – Belgian GP
- Oscar Piastri (McLaren)
- Max Verstappen (Red Bull)
- Lando Norris (McLaren)
- Charles Leclerc (Ferrari)
- Esteban Ocon (Haas)
- Carlos Sainz (Williams)
- Oliver Bearman (Haas)
- Pierre Gasly (Alpine)
- Isack Hadjar (Racing Bulls)
- Gabriel Bortoleto (Sauber)
- Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls)
- Yuki Tsunoda (Red Bull)
- George Russell (Mercedes)
- Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin)
- Lance Stroll (Aston Martin)
- Alex Albon (Williams)
- Nico Hulkenberg (Sauber)
- Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari)
- Franco Colapinto (Alpine)
- Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes)
Header Image: Steven Tee/LAT Images via Red Bull Content Pool
