Formula 1. Australian Oscar Piastri takes pole position in the sprint race of the Belgian Grand Prix

Australian Oscar Piastri (McLaren) will start the Formula 1 Belgian Grand Prix sprint race from pole position on Saturday after dominating qualifying on Friday at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit. The world championship leader comfortably edged out four-time Dutch title holder Max Verstappen (Red Bull) and his British teammate Lando Norris (McLaren), who were 477 and 618 thousandths of a second behind respectively.

Already fastest in the weekend's only free practice session on Friday afternoon, Piastri confirmed he would be hard to beat on the spectacular track nestled in the Belgian Ardennes. The Melbourne native had, however, suffered a scare in Q2, the second part of qualifying, taking the ^10th and final qualifying spot for Q3 after his fastest time was deleted for going outside the track limits.

"It was a very good lap. I had a scare in Q2 after one of my times was cancelled, but in the end it ended well. It's one of my favorite tracks and the team did a great job, so it's good for my confidence," said the Australian.

Monaco's Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) took fourth place, ahead of the surprising Frenchman Esteban Ocon (Haas, ^5th ), the Spaniard Carlos Sainz (Williams, ^6th ) and the other Haas driver, Briton Oliver Bearman ( ^7th ). The Top 10 is completed by the Frenchmen Pierre Gasly (Alpine, ^8th ) and Isack Hadjar (Racing Bulls, ^9th ) then the Brazilian Gabriel Bortoleto (Sauber, ^10th ).

The big surprise of qualifying was the elimination of seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) in Q1 with the ^18th fastest time. The Briton seemed well on his way to securing his place in Q2, but he spun at the entrance to the final chicane.