Dominant Kimi Antonelli storms to pole position at Belgian Grand Prix

Kimi Antonelli raced to an emphatic pole position for Sunday’s Belgian Grand Prix to leave his world championship rivals trailing in his wake.

The 19-year-old Mercedes driver headed into qualifying as the man to beat after topping two of the three practice sessions in Spa-Francorchamps and he delivered on his status with a brilliant lap.

Antonelli saved his very best to last to see off Red Bull driver Max Verstappen by 0.317 seconds.

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Lando Norris qualified third, four tenths down on Antonelli, but the world champion will line up from 13th as he serves a 10-place grid penalty for exceeding his allocated number of engine parts.

“It is great to be on pole,” said Antonelli. “It was not a straightforward session, but we were able to improve lap by lap. Tomorrow is another day, but I have Max starting behind me so it is imperative to get a good start and lead into turn five. It is going to be fun tomorrow.”

Norris said: “It is not nice knowing I have to go back 10 places on the grid and that is unfortunate, but we made the most of it and I have been happy with my performance all weekend. Hopefully we can have a good race tomorrow and make up some positions. That’s the plan.”

Antonelli is without a win since the Monaco Grand Prix on June 7, a streak of three races, but he will begin Sunday’s 44-lap race as the favourite to build on his 25-point championship lead over George Russell.

Russell will start only third on another sobering afternoon for the British driver, who has spent much of a season he began as the bookmakers’ title tip in his team-mate’s shadow.

Russell qualified fourth, half-a-second behind Antonelli in the same machinery, but he is upgraded one