F1 Belgian GP live updates - sprint qualifying

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Sprint race at 11am UK/12pm local time

Tomorrow's sprint race will precede the lunchtime rush, at 12pm track time. Piastri will lead from Max Verstappen at the start. 

Belgium SQ3 results

Main Information Additional Data Driver Info Driver Info

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Main Information Additional Data 1  -  2
Cla	Driver	#		Chassis	Engine	Laps	Time	Interval	Tyres	km/h
1	O. Piastri McLaren	81		McLaren	Mercedes	3	1'40.510		S	250.864
2	M. Verstappen Red Bull Racing	1		Red Bull	Red Bull	3	+0.477 1'40.987	0.477	S	249.679
3	L. Norris McLaren	4		McLaren	Mercedes	3	+0.618 1'41.128	0.141	S	249.331
4	C. Leclerc Ferrari	16		Ferrari	Ferrari	3	+0.768 1'41.278	0.150	S	248.962
5	E. Ocon Haas F1 Team	31		Haas	Ferrari	3	+1.055 1'41.565	0.287	S	248.258
6	C. Sainz Williams	55		Williams	Mercedes	3	+1.251 1'41.761	0.196	S	247.780
7	O. Bearman Haas F1 Team	87		Haas	Ferrari	3	+1.347 1'41.857	0.096	S	247.547
8	P. Gasly Alpine	10		Alpine	Renault	3	+1.449 1'41.959	0.102	M	247.299
9	I. Hadjar RB	6		RB	Honda	3	+1.461 1'41.971	0.012	S	247.270
10	G. Bortoleto Sauber	5		Sauber	Ferrari	3	+1.666 1'42.176	0.205	M	246.774
View full results

Piastri: Car "in window" since first lap of the weekend

Piastri on securing sprint pole: "Yeah, that was a good lap. A little scary in SQ2 with the lap deletion, but the car's been mega all day. This is a circuit I love, and maybe that gave me a couple of extra tenths!"

"The car has been in a good window since lap one and it's a track I always enjoy coming to. It feels the last few races have been good from a pace perspective but not so much from a results perspective, it's nice to get a result today."

Oscar Piastri, McLaren

Photo by: Sam Bloxham / LAT Images via Getty Images

Verstappen moved Norris around the court nicely too, made the Briton take a little bit too much out of those soft tyres on the outlap by sitting in his wake out of the pitlane.

Charles Leclerc will start fourth, next to Norris on tomorrow's grid.

Hadjar moves past Bortoleto for ninth on the sprint grid, as SQ3 comes to a close.

Huge lap from Piastri, 0.618s clear of his team-mate.

Ocon goes fifth fastest ahead of Sainz; Bearman gets something of a slipstream off his team-mate, but it's only seventh.

Norris' first sector isn't up to much; Piastri and Verstappen are better in the opening split. How's his middle sector? About 0.15s better than Verstappen, but over a quarter of a second down on Piastri - who's flying.

Hadjar's the last to hit the track, but he'll have to get a move on in his outlap. 

Norris hustles a bit on his own outlap to ensure he's not going to give Verstappen a slipstream.

Norris breaks the pitlane deadlock and goes out with four minutes remaining. Piastri and Verstappen join the fun, as does Leclerc.

Top 10 in SQ2

Here's the 10 who'll fight for sprint pole:

Norris
Verstappen
Leclerc
Ocon
Bortoleto
Gasly
Bearman
Sainz
Hadjar
Piastri

Gabriel Bortoleto, Sauber

Photo by: Sam Bloxham / LAT Images via Getty Images

SQ3 will start at 17:18 local, so that's in four minutes' time.

Slight delay for SQ3 as well, possibly for some more clean-up. Proper jumble at the end of that, as the track evolution played a huge role at the close of the session there.

Neither Mercedes will participate in SQ3, as Russell fell out in SQ2, and Antonelli was eliminated at the opening stage.

Eliminated in SQ2

11. Lawson
12. Tsunoda
13. Russell
14. Alonso
15. Stroll

Squeaky bum time for Piastri, but he squeaks through by 0.041s as Lawson is turfed out. And, amid the fun, Russell and Alonso have fallen out at the SQ2 hurdle! 

Russell does a 1m42.330s to go fifth, but the Racing Bulls duo show good pace - Hadjar's up to third, Lawson's up to fifth as he splits the McLarens.

Ocon, Bearman, and Sainz then smash into the top 10! 

Verstappen joins the fight! It's a 1m41.583s for the Dutchman, and Leclerc does a 1m41.786s - that'll frighten McLaren.

Piastri goes again and does a 1m42.128s, which should be enough to keep him safe. 

Now, here's everyone else - Verstappen, Leclerc, and Tsunoda all hit the road. 

Russell now joins the fun, as does Stroll.

Piastri is 0.2s quicker in the opening sector. Sector two? 0.1s in it. 

Norris sets a 1m42.182s, but it's a big point for Piastri who sets a 1m41.736s. Set, Piastri.

Piastri and Norris hit the road first - McLaren not messing about here, they want to get on with it. 

Norris and Piastri start their laps, while everyone else is still in the pits. One run for everyone else, then.

Piastri, Verstappen, Norris, and Alonso did not feel the need to go again in SQ1 - and, since they all stayed at the top of the order after the second runs, that was well justified.

Mediums for SQ2, once again. Session coming up shortly...

And we have the sweeper - or rather, massive industrial gravel blower on the front of a tractor. This does delay things somewhat - start of SQ2 in three minutes.

Stavelot might need a bit of a sweep as there was plenty of gravel left on the road. 

Lots of incidents noted about minimum delta time as well - we'll see if anything comes of that.

Hamilton braked for the Bus Stop and his rear just went round on him.

Antonelli, meanwhile, reports "no grip" - engineer Pete Bonnington says the team will check for floor damage after the Stavelot spin.

Hamilton's lap was looking reasonable but a slide at Stavelot cost him time. He managed to keep it out of the gravel, but it also keeps him out of the top 15 for now.

Lots of gravel down at Stavelot, after the Antonelli off.

SQ1 elimination zone with three minutes remaining

16. Hamilton
17. Gasly
18. Colapinto
19. Antonelli (no time)
20. Bearman (no time)

Verstappen is up to second, splitting the two McLarens. Tsunoda goes 11th.

The Aston Martins come to do their times - Stroll bags sixth, before Alonso goes up to fourth, which puts Hamilton in the drop zone.

Last message slightly delayed - Verstappen is now indeed on-track. Stroll and Alonso yet to hit the road.

Hadjar kicks off with a 1m42.711s, Hulkenberg 0.5s behind. Bortoleto just 0.095s off the Frenchman.

Work going on with Max Verstappen's car in the garage, tinkering with the rear-right wheel hub. Quick set-up change? Trouble at mill? Let's see.

The Williamses try to nudge ahead of the McLarens as they exit the garage, as Lawson gets Hulkenberg careen across his path in the pitlane.

...and of course, everyone goes at the same time. Hadjar, Bortoleto, Hulkenberg, Lawson, Ocon, and Bearman are on the road to kick off the session.

Ready for sprint quali?

SQ1 is about to get under way here at Spa. Everyone's got 12 minutes to get their laps in on medium tyres to break into the second part.

Let's get going, then!

Sprint qualifying coming up soon!

Just over 20 minutes until the pitlane opens for sprint qualifying at Spa-Francorchamps.

Quick recap of the SQ differences: Sessions are shorter in duration versus full qualifying, with just one (mandatory) set for each one: mediums in SQ1 and SQ2, and softs in SQ3.