Piastri snatches pole for Spa F1 Sprint as Hamilton, Russell and Antonelli suffer early exits

Championship leader Oscar Piastri put in a dominant performance to top the qualifying session for the Spa F1 Sprint, whilst Lewis Hamilton, Andrea Kimi Antonelli and George Russell suffered early exits. F1Technical's senior writer Balazs Szabo reports on the short qualifying session.

Following an impressive performance in the sole practice session, championship leader Oscar Piastri set the benchmark in sprint qualifying, posting a time of 1m40.510s to secure pole position for the Spa F1 Sprint.

Reigning champion Max Verstappen put in a stellar lap to take second, but he was over four tenths slower than Piastri. Norris looked quick on Pirelli's medium in SQ1 and SQ2, but he struggled to match his team-mate on the softs when it really mattered, and ended up third.

Best of the rest was Ferrari's Charles Leclerc, nearly eight tenths in arrears. Although Haas usually struggle for one-lap pace, the American team achieved great results today, with Esteban Ocon and Oliver Bearman grabbing fifth and seventh place respectively.

Alpine's Pierre Gasly was the next driver to deliver a surprise result by finishing eighth, whilst Isack Hadjar's Racing Bulls and the Kick Sauber of Gabriel Bortoleto completed the top 10 ahead of Saturday's Sprint.

The Faenza-based outfit's Liam Lawson was the first driver to suffer elimination in Q2, but he can still aim for some points in the sprint race from P11 on the grid.

Red Bull driver Yuki Tsunoda looked quick through the first and third sector, but he failed to put together a lap in the middle part of the short qualifying session, ending up only P12 on the grid.

Despite his impressive pace in practice, Mercedes driver George Russell failed to make the cut in Q2, and will only start from P13, ahead of the Aston Martin's duo of Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll.

Lewis Hamilton was the shock exit from SQ1. The seven-time champion looked fairly competitive on his first flying lap, but he made a mistake at Stavelot which resulted in a time loss of around seven tenths.

His mistake meant that he needed a second flying lap which looked enough to make it out in Q1, but when he braked for the Bus Stop chicane, he lost the rear end of his Ferrari.

The replays showed that Hamilton's rear tyres instantly locked under braking, which ultimately resulted in the seven-time world champion being knocked out in 18th.

Williams' Thai driver Alexander Albon also missed the cut, while Silverstone's hero Nico Hulkenberg only secured P18 for Kick Sauber ahead of Alpine's Franco Colapinto.

Kimi Antonelli completed the order after the young Italian suffered a high-speed spin through the gravel at Stavelot on his opening flying lap, the damage and requirement to continue using his flat-spotted medium Pirelli tyres meant the Mercedes driver finished in last position.