Belgian GP: Lando Norris leads McLaren 1-2 in Spa qualifying - ESPN

SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS, Belgium — Lando Norris beat title rival and teammate Oscar Piastri to pole at the Belgian Grand Prix in a comfortable front-row lockout for McLaren.

Norris' first lap time, a 1:40.562, was enough for pole position, with Piastri's best time at the end of Q3 0.085 seconds slower.

It sets up another duel between the dueling McLaren teammates who have exchanged all but two of the race wins this season.

«It was a decent lap, so happy,» Norris said after the session. «Everyone was pretty worried after yesterday. I wasn't even that far off, it was just a couple of little issues that we had.

»The car has been flying all weekend, Oscar has been doing a good job all weekend, so we are pushing each other a lot."

Norris is looking to record his third straight victory on Sunday, having come to Belgium following wins in Austria and his home race, the British Grand Prix.

Earlier in the day Piastri had extended his lead over Norris by a single point, to nine, by finishing ahead of him in the sprint race.

Piastri had finished that sprint event behind Max Verstappen, who had won the sprint in a brilliant cat-and-mouse battle, but the reigning world champion was unable to replicate his earlier heroics in the final qualifying session.

But Piastri said he was «disappointed» with finishing second to his teammate in qualifying.

«A bit disappointing,» he said. «The second lap was coming together really well, and I just made a little mistake into [Turn] 14 and lost a lot of time.

»I felt like the car was very good again, but it's fine margins out there. It's obviously not a bad place to be starting but there was more in it, which is always disappointing."

Verstappen had been sitting third but got wheelspin coming through the