Oscar Piastri smashes F1 rivals at Spa as Lewis Hamilton suffers shock Ferrari issue

Oscar Piastri delivered a thunderous lap to land pole position for the Belgian sprint at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit.

Piastri, who has finished second in the previous two sprints this season in China and Miami, smashed his F1 rivals, finishing almost half a second clear of Red Bull's Max Verstappen, in an RB21 sporting upgrades, notably a new front wing, with a lap record of 1:40.510s.

As for McLaren team-mate Lando Norris, who had topped SQ2, the Briton was a chasm away of six tenths of a second, leaving him third on the grid ahead of Ferrari's Charles Leclerc.

Given the length of the circuit, and on soft tyres, it led to the eight-minute SQ3 being a one-lap showdown, with a surprising gaggle of qualifiers behind the big four.

Esteban Ocon will start fifth for Haas, with team-mate Oliver Bearman seventh, the duo sandwiching Williams' Carlos Sainz.

Alpine's Pierre Gasly starts eighth ahead of Isack Hadjar for Racing Bulls, and Stake's Gabriel Bortoleto.

There were major shocks in the first session, with Lewis Hamilton suffering issues on both his runs, notably the second with the rear brakes locking on his Ferrari, sending him spinning out into a run-off area, leaving him to start 18th.

Kimi Antonelli, meanwhile, will line up last after a spin into the gravel at Stavelot on his first run, from which he never recovered.

On a bad day for Mercedes, George Russell exited SQ2, and will start 13th behind Red Bull's Yuki Tsunoda.

Lewis Hamilton and Kimi Antonelli suffer major blows

In SQ2, on the mandatory medium tyres, Piastri immediately set the pace with a lap marginally quicker than his SQ1-leading 1:41.769s, only for it to be exceeded with a marginal track limits call at the top of the hill through Raidillon.

The Australian, however, did enough on his second attempt, but only just as he scraped through into the top-10 shootout with the 10th quickest time of a session in which track evolution ramped up considerably in the closing stages.

It allowed Norris, facing elimination, to set the pace with a 1:41.412s, to finish 0.171s ahead of Verstappen, whilst the likes of Gasly, Bearman and Bortoleto reached SQ3 with their only runs.

As Piastri's second run had come much earlier, it was why he was on the bubble, pipping Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson by 0.041s.

The New Zealander will start ahead of Red Bull's Yuki Tsunoda, who finished six-tenths of a second slower than second-quickest team-mate Verstappen, with Russell suffering a surprise exit, leaving him 13th on the grid.

Aston Martin duo Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll will start 14th and 15th.

The first session, when again mediums are the only rubber that can be used, also delivered major surprises.

Antonelli blotted his copybook with a spin off the track and into the gravel out of Stavelot. With dust flying in the air, Russell, following behind, was forced to ease off the throttle a touch, although he did enough to escape.

Antonelli, however, failed to redeem himself with his second attempt, finishing slowest, leading to engineer Pete Bonnington stating the team would 'check the car out to see what had been done to the floor'.

Moments after Antonelli's incident, and also on the approach to Stavelot, Hamilton suffered a major snap on the approach that compromised his first run.

On the second, and with Hamilton chasing time as he was down in both the first and second sectors, on the high-speed run into the Bus Stop Chicane, Hamilton's SF-25 sustained a shock rear lock under braking, sending the Briton spinning onto the run-off area.

Hamilton lines up 18th, ahead of Alpine's Franco Colapinto and Antonelli, with Williams' Alex Albon and Nico Hulkenberg ahead of him in 16th and 17th, the latter just three weeks on from his heroics in the British Grand Prix when he clinched his first podium at the 239th time of asking.