From McLaren's front row lockout to Sauber's pit lane crash: Unpacking F1 Spa 2025 Qualifying

McLaren secured a strong front row lockout, with Norris P1 and Piastri P2, indicating strong pace for the team. Despite being outpaced by Piastri in the Sprint Qualifying and Sprint race, Norris expressed confidence going into the main qualifying, stating he felt good and the car was "flying all weekend." This pole position provides a crucial opportunity to reduce his nine-point deficit to championship leader Oscar Piastri and potentially win the championship at the end of the season but as his teammate pointed out, P1 at Spa can prove to be a disadvantage! We saw making flying to the front at Sprint, will the same fate takeover Lando's winning hopes or will he know how to defend his position? Today's race shall tell!

May the rain gods be with the drivers this weekend as rain was forecasted for the Sunday main race, which could make conditions challenging and unpredictable. This could potentially lead to a 'Silverstone-esque' race (referencing Lando's wet-weather victory at Silverstone). The goal here isn't just closing the gap but Norris aiming for his third consecutive Grand Prix win in the main race.

In a surprising turn of events, we see a red car, Charles Leclerc's Ferrari came out on top to snatch P3 with a time of 1:40.900 while Max Verstappen qualified 4th with a time of 1:40.903. What changed between the Sprint and Qualifying, wondered the crowd? The answer: Red Bull made a downforce change to his car after the Sprint in anticipation of a wet main race. Max admitted that this change negatively impacted the car's balance. On his final flying lap in Q3, he experienced significant wheelspin off the line and out of Turn 1. This alone cost him about two-tenths of a second. Helmut Marko also mentioned a slip-up at Turn 5.

Down the midfield

While that is incredibly sad, elsewhere Lewis Hamilton who qualified 16th (lap deleted for track limits, eliminated in Q1), was definitely having a worse day! But maybe not so much for Yuki Tsunoda who qualified 7th with a time of 1:41.284, the highest position since he joined RedBull!

RedBull's Junior Team Racing Bulls definitely has a funtime qualifing 8th (Isack Hadjar and 9 (Liam Lawson). In a turn of events for both Williams Drivers Alexander Albon secured P5 while Carlos Sainz Jr. had a disappointing Main Race Qualifying at 15th after he scored points in the Spa-Francorchamps 2025 Sprint race.

Collison cause

Well while it's common to see drivers crash during the race or out on the track, this weekend we witnessed them drive into each other as cars were forming a queue in the fast lane of the pit lane before the qualifying session began!

Hülkenberg attempted to position his car to get out quickly when Stroll, who was already in the fast lane, continued forward and made contact with the Sauber. The incident resulted in damage to Hülkenberg's front wing and required a nose change for his Sauber. Stroll's Aston Martin also sustained front wing damage. The FIA ruled that Hülkenberg was at fault for the collision, as his car did not fully comply with the rule regarding being in the fast lane.

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