Spa Repays Piastri's Love

Championship leader takes sprint pole for McLaren at his favourite track

- 

SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS – Formula One leader Oscar Piastri took pole position for the July 26 sprint by nearly half a second at the Belgian Grand Prix, while McLaren teammate and title rival Lando Norris qualified third.

Red Bull's reigning champion Max Verstappen will join Piastri on the front row for the first race since Christian Horner was dismissed as team boss and replaced with Laurent Mekies.

Piastri lapped the Spa-Francorchamps circuit with a best time of 1min 40.510sec, 0.477 seconds quicker than Verstappen and 0.618 clear of Norris.

The Australian is eight points clear at the top after 12 of 24 rounds.

"It was a good lap. The car has been mega all day. I feel like I was able to put in a lot of good laps. Thanks to the team, the car has been great," said Piastri.

"This is a track I love. It's my favourite one of the year. Maybe that gave me an extra couple of tenths. When the car is handling as well as it was today, it's a pleasure.

"The car has been in a good window since Lap 1. I don't know why. I had good confidence. I feel like the last few weekends have been good from a pace perspective. It's nice to get a result today."