Norris: Nice to see I could get back to the top

Earlier in the day, Piastri had beaten Norris to second in the Sprint, finishing behind Red Bull’s Max Verstappen. That result allowed the Australian to extend his lead in the 2026 Formula 1 World Championship by one point to nine. But Norris hit back in the decisive Qualifying session to take P1 on the grid for Sunday’s main race.

“It was a decent lap, so happy,” said Norris after securing his fourth pole of the season. “Everyone was pretty worried after yesterday. I wasn’t even that far off, it was just a couple of little issues that we had. So I was confident after yesterday and confident coming into today, so it was nice to see I could get back to the top.”

Norris dismissed speculation over his Friday pace, citing setup issues and traffic: “Three tenths is just slipstream and not being first out of the pit lane, so it was nothing to worry about. But people like to make a lot of things up. I felt good.”

He praised his McLaren teammate for keeping the pressure high throughout the weekend. “The car has been flying all weekend. Oscar has been doing a good job all weekend, so we are pushing each other a lot.”

With rain in the forecast for Sunday’s 44-lap race, Norris admitted he would prefer a dry Grand Prix but is prepared for Spa’s notorious unpredictability.

“I prefer it to stay dry, honestly,” he said. “Even for the fans—I think it’s rained here for the last 10 years or something—so it would be nice to have a dry Sunday. But I don’t mind whether it’s dry or rain or somewhere in the middle. It’s normal here and I look forward to a fun race.”

Piastri admitted afterwards: “A bit disappointing. The second lap was coming together really well, and I just made a little mistake into (turn) 14 and lost a lot of time. Disappointed. 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."

As for where Norris found the extra pace in the McLaren, Piastri said: “I don’t know. We’re a good team-mate pairing and we learn a lot from each other, every weekend. That’s what makes us such a good team, but it also makes it difficult when you’re trying to fight each other. I felt like I did an ok job today but just didn’t quite execute when it mattered.

"A bit of a shame. Does the forecast of rain make qualifying second easier to take? After the Sprint, I was aiming for P2. I don’t know what the weather’s going to hold tomorrow, I think it’s going to be quite different. We’ll wait and see what we get, but we’ll try to have a good race," added the Australian.