Norris takes Belgian GP pole position

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2 days ago

Belgian Grand Prix
Venue: Spa Dates: 25-27 July Race start: 14:00 BST on Sunday
Coverage: Live commentary of practice and qualifying on BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra 2 with race on BBC Radio 5 Live; live text updates on BBC Sport website and app
Lando Norris pipped McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri to pole position at the Belgian Grand Prix.
Norris beat Piastri, the championship leader, by just 0.085 seconds as Red Bull's Max Verstappen slipped down to fourth, beaten by Ferrari's Charles Leclerc, after errors on his final lap.
Leclerc's team-mate Lewis Hamilton was knocked out of the first session after having his final lap time deleted for exceeding track limits and will start 16th.
Williams driver Alex Albon slipped ahead of his friend George Russell's Mercedes by 0.059secs to take fifth.
Yuki Tsunoda had his best performance since joining Red Bull at the third race of the season by taking sixth, 0.381secs off Verstappen.
Norris happy with 'decent' lap
Norris secured his pole with his first lap in the final session, on which he was 0.189secs quicker than Piastri.
The Briton was not able to improve on his second run, which Piastri was, but a mistake at Stavelot for the Australian cost him the chance to take pole for the second day running after his sprint pole on Friday.
Norris had been nearly 0.5secs slower than Piastri in Friday's session but he said the margin was not reflective of his true pace.
Norris said: "I was confident after yesterday - 0.3secs is just slipstream and not being first out of the pit lane. It was a decent lap, so I'm happy."
Piastri said: "A bit disappointing. The second lap was coming together really well but just made a little mistake into 14 and lost a lot of time. The car was really good but it's fine margins out there.
"We're a good team-mate pairing, we learn a lot from each other. Felt like I did OK but didn't quite execute when it matters."
Norris now faces the same problem Piastri had in the sprint - giving the driver behind him the slipstream on the run up to the Les Combes chicane on the first lap.
Losing out to Verstappen in that way in the sprint race cost Piastri that win. Now Norris will have to defend from his championship rival.
But rain is expected for Sunday, which changes the picture because of the visibility issues of following another car in the wet.
"Most likely some rain and drizzle," Norris said. "Could be in for a chaotic race. Going off the front and hopefully can take advantage of that and go from there."
Verstappen had been third fastest after the first runs, but a wheelspin moment out of the La Source hairpin cost him time all the way along the straight through Eau Rouge and up to Les Combes.
The four-time champion was able to claw some of the time lost back over the rest of the lap and did improve his time slightly.
But he said the lap was "so bad" and it was enough to allow Leclerc, who felt he was able to maximise the Ferrari, to slip ahead.
A disappointed Hamilton said to go out in Q1 was "not acceptable" but he would try to "have fun" in the race.
Behind Tsunoda, the top 10 was completed by the Racing Bulls drivers Isack Hadjar and Liam Lawson, and Sauber's Gabriel Bortoleto, who made it into the top 10 for a grand prix qualifying session for the first time in his career, repeating the feat he managed in sprint qualifying the day before.
Verstappen wins Belgian GP sprint race
Full results
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