Antonelli takes Belgium pole from Verstappen

Kimi Antonelli leads his Mercedes team-mate George Russell by 25 points in the drivers' championship

>Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli took a scintillating pole position at the Belgian Grand Prix, leaving team-mate and title rival George Russell trailing in fourth, more than 0.5 seconds adrift.

>The Italian, who leads the championship from Russell by 25 points, beat Red Bull's Max Verstappen by 0.317secs, even though the four-time champion had the help of a tow from team-mate Isack Hadjar.

>McLaren's Lando Norris was an impressive third, 0.440secs back, despite bailing on his final lap, but the world champion has a 10-place grid penalty for exceeding his allowance of engine parts.

>Ferrari's Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton were fifth and sixth, ahead of McLaren's Oscar Piastri and the upgraded Racing Bull of British rookie Arvid Lindblad.

>Antonelli has looked the man to beat since topping Friday practice and he delivered on his potential with his sixth pole position in 10 races so far this year.

>On the slowing down lap, he sent his best wishes to his father Marco, who is celebrating his 61st birthday on Saturday.

>Antonelli said: "Q1, I felt a bit lost because the wind picked up and the balance was a bit more on the edge but the session came to us. I changed a little bit the front wing flap for Q2. Q3 was good because we did a decent first lap and second lap I found a lot of time. It was a good lap."

>Russell said: "The lap felt good. But we have just been dealing with an issue with the straight-line speed ever since Silverstone.

>"We thought we had found the problem, it wasn't the problem and then we thought it was a driving style and it wasn't the solution.

>"But I feel after looking at the data, I feel positive with the job I did. If you just take the corners, I did a very good job.

>"Battling against Kimi is very tough in a fair fight. When we are in this situation, it's impossible. The team are working so hard to try and pinpoint what it is. It can be a million things."

>Red Bull employed Hadjar to help Verstappen with a slipstream on the long flat-out section to the final chicane as the Frenchman has a 30-place grid penalty for taking a new engine, which puts him over the limit for the year.

>Verstappen said the tow gained him 0.3secs in lap time.

>He added: "It was definitely helping me otherwise I would not be standing here, it would be P6 or something.

>"Isack, knowing he had a penalty and would be starting at the back, he helped me. I will be looking in my mirrors tomorrow. But we are happy to be on the front row with how we executed it as a team."

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>Norris and McLaren had not been expecting much when they arrived at Spa, thinking they would continue as the fourth fastest team.

>But the car has worked well all weekend and Norris has been especially competitive - he was 0.215secs quicker than Piastri despite not doing a second lap.

>"We haven't changed anything, we are just a little quicker here," said Norris, who will start 13th. "It's a shame we are not starting here but there is plenty of opportunity, it is a long race and it's good for overtaking, hopefully we can put on a good show tomorrow."

>Leclerc was second fastest after the first runs, just 0.053secs slower than Antonelli, but Ferrari could not maintain that pace and neither he nor Hamilton improved on their second attempts.

>Leclerc, winner of the last race at Silverstone, ended up 0.532secs off pole, and just 0.002secs ahead of Hamilton.

>Lindblad's pace in the revised Racing Bull - which only he has because there were not enough parts for a second car - was impressive. He ended up just 0.127secs slower than Piastri's McLaren.

>Audi's Gabriel Bortoleto and Hadjar completed the top 10, although Hadjar will start 21st after his penalty for using too many engine parts, which is a nominal 30 places.

>He is ahead only of Fernando Alonso's Aston Martin - the Spaniard has his own 20-place engine-related penalty.

>Kimi Antonelli and his dad Marco, who was celebrating his 61st birthday, embrace after qualifying

>*Lando Norris and Isack Hadjar both have grid penalties