Belgian Grand Prix Qualifying F1 Highlights: Lando Norris Pips Oscar Piastri To Pole; Charles Leclerc In P3

Greetings and thank you for joining us this weekend, as we take you through the lead-up and race action from the Belgian Grand Prix sprint. An eventful qualifying has set the stage nicely for what should be an enthralling precursor to the main event in Stavelot. We will bring you up to speed with all of it.

The race will be flagged off at 3:30pm IST. The Belgian Grand Prix sprint will be live streamed on the FanCode app and website in India. It will not be telecast on any TV channel in the country.

We are set for the start. The formation lap is currently underway and the sprint race is coming up right after.

The lights go off and Max Verstappen overtakes Oscar Piastri in the opening lap! The Red Bull driver uses the slipstream to his advantage, and Piastri gives up the lead real soon. Ferrari's Charles Leclerc is in third ahead of Piastri's McLaren teammate Lando Norris, meanwhile.

Verstappen has consolidated his lead, as Piastri is six-tenths of a second behind him. Norris is back in third position after overtaking Leclerc. Meanwhile, Lewis Hamilton is in 16th and moans on radio that he's "got no rear already". Kimi Antonelli close behind him.

Max Verstappen holds off Oscar Piastri to win in Stavelot. The Red Bull driver brings up his 12th career sprint win, as his McLaren rival has to be content with P2. Piastri's teammate Lando Norris is in third.

1) Max Verstappen

2) Oscar Piastri

3) Lando Norris

4) Charles Leclerc

5) Esteban Ocon

6) Carlos Sainz

7) Oliver Bearman

8) Isack Hadjar

9) Gabriel Bortoleto

10) Liam Lawson

Here's what race-winner Max Verstappen had to say: "It worked out really well, that’s obviously the only opportunity you are going to get against them and we got it. I know it was going to be very tough to keep them behind, we were just playing like cat and mouse, DRS, battery usage and it was a good race within seven-tenths.

"I couldn’t afford to make big mistakes, I had one tiny lock up in the last corner but apart from that it was a great result to keep them behind and to have a win here in Spa. To have a win in Spa it still counts I’m very happy with what we did out there."

"(On the qualifying race later) Do I feel pole is possible, I’m not sure but we will try our best and we will have a few ideas of what we want to do and try to be as close as possible to them."

The qualifying race for tomorrow's main event starts at 7:30pm IST. The drivers will return for it after a well-deserved breather. Meanwhile, the build-up and live updates continue here.

Oscar Piastri had pole position, going into the sprint race. But Max Verstappen overtook him early and it stayed that way till the end. Here's Piastri's take on how it transpired: "I tried my best to snake my way through the straights and not give too much of a tow, but I didn't have enough straight-line speed. Still a good result, good points and it's only the sprint, main race tomorrow. But yeah, annoying I couldn't get past."

"(On the main event) The weather is looking pretty bad for tomorrow, we don't want to take off too much wing but at the same time I don't want to repeat the sprint we just had."

"(On qualifying later today) I'm looking forward to it, Spa is my favourite track of the year, especially in qualifying it's mega. I'm looking forward to some laps this afternoon."

Lando Norris, finishing behind his McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri in the sprint race, said: "Not a lot going on, obviously a bit of fun at the start with trying to overtake Charles (Leclerc). I maybe could have positioned myself a little better, but otherwise a bit too difficult to get past Max (Verstappen), he drove a good race."

"I wasn’t going to get past anyone unless Oscar got past Max, but they drove good races and not a lot we can do on a day like today, so I’m looking forward to tomorrow."

"(On tomorrow's race and a possible third consecutive win) That’s the plan, I’m not too fussed about sprint races but the main races I prefer to win so we will see. I wasn’t too bad yesterday I was still comfortable, but just a couple of things didn’t go my way."

"I’m still confident we can get a good result later and put in some good qualifying laps."

Before tomorrow's main event, let's check out some eye-catching statistics. It's the first race in Red Bull's 20-year history without Christian Horner as team principal, after he was fired earlier this month.

Meanwhile, Yuki Tsunoda enters his 100th race in F1 with an unwanted record. Nico Hulkenberg's surprise third place in Britain means Verstappen's Red Bull teammate becomes the driver with most F1 starts without a podium finish.

And Charles Leclerc will mark his 139th race for Ferrari in Belgium, ranking him joint-third all-time with Felipe Massa for most F1 races for the Italian team. Only Michael Schumacher and Kimi Raikkonen have more.

(Stats courtesy: Associated Press)

Q1 goes green in qualifying, but not before some drama. Oliver Bearman nearly barges into Fernando Alonso while trying to get into the queue outside the pit lane. The stewards take note of the incident and we are underway.

The first part of qualifying ends with Lando Norris coming up with the fastest time. On the other hand, Lewis Hamilton's lap time is deleted and he slips to 16th, that is in the bottom five and is hence knocked out!

Here are the five drivers knocked out after the first part:

16. Hamilton

17. Colapinto

18. Antonelli

19. Alonso

20. Stroll

Oscar Piastri ends up as fastest in the second section of qualifying. Here are the bottom five who are knocked out:

11. Ocon

12. Bearman

13. Gasly

14. Hulkenberg

15. Sainz

Lando Norris has edged out his McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri by a mere 0.085 seconds to take pole position in tomorrow's main event. Ferrari's Charles Leclerc is in P3, and the result means that Max Verstappen (P4) will not be in the front row.

Norris has secured a 13th career pole position, and is gunning for his third consecutive win. Let us check out the nine drivers behind him:

1. Lando Norris

2. Oscar Piastri

3. Charles Leclerc

4. Max Verstappen

5. Alexander Albon

6. George Russell

7. Yuki Tsunoda

8. Isack Hadjar

9. Liam Lawson

10. Gabriel Bortoleto