2026 Belgian Grand Prix Qualifying Top 3 Press Conference full transcript

Featruing Pole winner: Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes), P2 Max Verstappen (Red Bull Racing) and P3 Lando Norris (McLaren). The World Champion will drop dowen the grid due to engine penalties. Parc Ferme interviews were conducted by Naomi Schiff.

Kimi Antonelli claimed his sixth pole of the 2026 season after mastering changing conditions at Spa-Francorchamps. The Mercedes driver improved throughout qualifying and delivered a final lap, beating Max Verstappen by three tenths despite Red Bull’s slipstream tactics. Antonelli stressed that Sunday’s start and the run to Turn Five will be crucial.

Verstappen secured second after teammate Isack Hadjar sacrificed his lap to provide a tow. The Dutchman admitted the assistance was vital and suggested he might otherwise have qualified sixth. Although Red Bull lacked Antonelli’s outright pace, Verstappen praised the team’s execution and welcomed a front-row start.

Lando Norris qualified third after holding provisional pole, but his final attempt ended after a mistake. The McLaren driver was pleased with his performance and pace, yet a ten-place grid penalty for an additional power electronics unit means he will start 13th. Norris remains determined to fight through the field on Sunday. 

Kimi Antonelli: Yeah, I mean, it’s great to be on pole. It was not a very straightforward session. The track changed a lot, but we were able to improve lap by lap and bring home pole, which was nice. But, of course, tomorrow is another day. Obviously, I have Max starting next to me, so it’s going to be important to get a good start and then try to be ahead into Turn 5.

KA: Yeah, I mean, the last lap was good. I improved a lot in Sector 2 especially, so it was a nice lap. Of course, there was still a little bit here and there, but it was very clean, so I’m very happy with that.

Max Verstappen: Oh, no. I mean, it was definitely helping me. Otherwise, I would not be standing here. I think otherwise you are, like, P6 or something. I think Isack, today, knowing that he has to start at the back of the grid, did a really good job giving me a tow in the final sector, and that’s why we’re standing right here. For sure, tomorrow I think I’ll be looking in my mirrors with the people around me, but at least today I think we had a really good result. I think the car, honestly, has been quite decent the whole weekend. Of course, not on the level of what Kimi was doing, but we’re happy to be on the front row with how we executed it as a team.

MV: Yeah, I mean, it’s always tough around here with the tyres in the long run, but I’ll just do my best and then see if we can hang in there or not.

Lando Norris: I mean, we’ve not really changed anything. We’re just a bit quicker on this track. But it’s nice to be standing here, just not nice knowing I have to go ten places back tomorrow. It’s unfortunate that this isn’t where we’re genuinely starting tomorrow, because it would be nice to have a little fight with these guys. But we made the most of it. It was still a very good qualifying, a very good lap for me. So, honestly, I’ve been pretty happy all weekend. It’s a little bit of a home race, like you said, for me, so it’s always a little boost here, and I’ve performed well all weekend so far. Hopefully, we can still have a good race tomorrow and have some fun.

LN: I mean, that’s certainly the plan. I don’t know how far up you’ll get, but the car is obviously performing well and good enough for P3 today. So, we’ll see. I think there’s plenty of opportunity. It’s a long race. Hopefully, it’s good for overtaking and we can put on a bit of a show for everyone.

KA: Yeah, a good start and try to have good pace. Of course, the degradation is going to be very big, but we’ll try our best in order to maximise the performance. It’s going to be fun tomorrow and, of course, thanks to everyone for coming this weekend. It’s been amazing seeing you all.

KA: Yeah, it was a weird qualifying because in Q1 I felt a bit lost, because the wind picked up a little bit and the balance was a bit more on the edge. But then, obviously, the session came to us, and Q3 was good because we did a decent first lap and then, on the second lap, found a lot of time. But, yeah, I feel like the track was cooling down and it was helping us a little bit. It was a good lap, and now we’ll focus on tomorrow.

KA: Front wing. Just changed a little bit of flap, and that’s it. Also, the lap was much tidier. Q1 was a bit all over the place.

KA: Well, we brought a little package that helped us a little bit more on the straights, but in Sector 2 the car still felt good. Especially in Q3, it was good that we were strong in all the sectors.

KA: Well, I don’t know. Hopefully not. Hopefully, it’s just off in the distance. But we’ll see tomorrow. We’ll see what the weather is going to be like. For sure, it’s a long run into Turn 5, and of course we’ll try to get a good start. But also, the degradation is going to be fairly big, so we’re just going to try to manage those tyres in the best way possible.

MV: I mean, I think overall, the whole weekend, the balance of the car has been quite decent. I think we’re just a bit slow on the straight, but the car has been in the window, just trying to fine-tune it a little bit. It was the same in qualifying. At one point, you’re a bit stuck in terms of how much more lap time you can extract out of it, to be honest, because every lap that I did was a little bit faster. But at one point, flat is flat, so there’s no more time to gain in corners. That’s something maybe we have to review. Maybe we’re too easily flat, I don’t know. But the car was good, and then, of course, Isack in Q3 helped me a lot with the tow in the final sector. That’s why, of course, I’m sitting here. Otherwise, it could have easily been P6 because the gaps behind were so close. So, yeah, thank you to him for that. I think, as a team, we did everything we could.

MV: No, it was flat out. I would have just pushed him! It was close, but he did amazing. I initially thought, “Oh my God, it’s too close,” but then actually it worked out well to the last corner. It was close, but I trusted him.

MV: Difficult at the start, I guess, as well. Plus, honestly, I just want to do my own race. I mean, the gap, even in qualifying with a massive tow, is still over three tenths, so I don’t really expect to race them tomorrow. I think it’s more for me looking in the mirrors and fighting them, or trying to fight them, but mainly just trying to do my own race and see where we end up.

Lando Norris: Which chicane is that?

LN: No, I don’t know. I don’t have a delta on my dash, so I don’t know if I was up or not. Honestly, I didn’t think I was going any better than my first lap. My first lap was pretty amazing. I was quite shocked to be at the top, so I was very pleased. I just don’t know if I was up or not. I don’t know if I was green, yellow, white or purple, so that was a shame. The thing is, I knew if Kimi was going quicker, he wasn’t going quicker by half a tenth. That’s never been the case all season. So, again, I guess it just hurts when you see a car go four tenths quicker. But he’s done a good job, and I’m so happy with P3. Honestly, I’m pretty pleased to be here. It’s just a shame I have a ten-place grid penalty, so I won’t be anywhere close to here tomorrow morning.

LN: No, there’s not really. I mean, we have a different rear wing, which is probably not even a tenth, more like half a tenth, which still makes a difference when you say how close it is. But really, over the last three or four weeks, we’ve not had anything that’s helped that much in performance or is really going to move us forward. I think there have always been little bits, and we always try to bring little bits every weekend, but there’s not been anything. It’s simply the car performing better on a different track. We performed well in Miami. We’ve had a couple of other races that were not so good, but we’re up and down simply because of how the track suits the car each time. I also feel like, honestly, I’ve been doing a very good job. I feel like all weekend I’ve been very confident with the car and getting everything out of it since FP1. My lap in Q3, honestly, was probably one of the best laps I’ve ever done in qualifying, so I’ve been very pleased with my performance all season. But, like I said on Thursday, it doesn’t matter if you do the best lap of your life. It doesn’t mean you’re on pole all of a sudden. We just need to add more performance to the car. It’s quite simple, and everyone in the factory is working on that.

LN: It’s tough to say. I’ll just do my best to come back through and get well into the points. I think we’re clearly much quicker than quite a few of the cars. Gabi has done a good job, as always. The AlphaTauri, or the upgraded one of Arvid, looks pretty racy at times, so I’m confident we can at least get past all of these guys. It’s more about how far into the top six or eight, from a Red Bull, Mercedes and Ferrari point of view, we can get back in the race with these guys. So that’s just the target.

KA: Every corner. I was just carrying a bit more speed. It was a bit hard to judge at times because superclipping was coming more and more, so it was changing the reference a little bit. That was the tricky bit in qualifying. But on the last lap, I just tried to carry a bit more speed everywhere, and the car stuck, so I’m happy with that.

MV: Yeah, I mean, we talked about it, and I think it was quite easily agreed, so we knew what to do. You always, of course, try to make it better from run one to run two. I think Isack did that really well. And why do it on that straight? I think you have a little bit less of an SM mode, so it’s a bit more draggy. That’s why, I guess, it helps maybe a little bit more. I think it’s very even. In FP3, for whatever reason, I had two times a tow in Sector 1 and 3, and they were quite equal.

KA: Yes, from the apex afterwards, we had no deployment, so it was easy. It was flat all the way. It was not like last year.

MV: I mean, it’s not Turn 24. It’s the whole track. It’s a different Spa, but I mentally readjust to it.

LN: It’s not a corner anymore. It was easy flat.

MV: Yeah, well, I mean, he’s been very easy to work with. Come on, we’re Formula 1 drivers. I think you should be able to do stuff like that, and I think he’s a smart kid, so he knows what to do in that circumstance.

MV: I guess whatever three tenths puts me back. P6 or something, P7. I have no idea. I have not seen the gaps, but it was very close behind me, from P2 all the way to P6, I think. So, three tenths.

MV: Well, I mean, for most of sector two, you run just on the engine, so what is that? Four hundred and fifty, five hundred horsepower, something like that, which is, I guess, more or less what a Formula 3 car has, but with F1 downforce. So, you can imagine, of course, that that is not very exciting to drive. But honestly, I don’t want to sit here and complain again because probably someone will shoot me outside the door. Like I said before, I’m mentally just adjusting to it, and I’m trying to make the best out of it, even though, of course, it’s not what I like or what I love to do in Formula 1. But I can also sit at home and drive nothing, and that also doesn’t do anything, so I’m just trying my best.

LN: Honestly, it’s not too different. You’re trying to do your best in every race. You put together as many good plans as you can. Clearly, the pace is pretty good. It’s close, so it’s not like we’re easily going to be able to get back in the fight with the top group. But, of course, a good start and a good first lap can easily get me back where I want to be quickly. From then on, it just depends on how easy overtaking is or how difficult it is. I don’t think it’s going to be crazy easy, but there are a lot of possibilities. Honestly, it’s not that different because you do your best in every race. You’re always attacking. For me, that’s always what works best. I guess we’ll probably come up with a few more scenarios. If overtaking is easy or hard, and we can’t get back into the top six, seven or eight that quickly, what else can we do to bring us back into the fight? But apart from that, I’m confident we’ll be able to get up there pretty quickly.

KA: I mean, I’ve been feeling good with the car overall during the whole year. So, yeah, I’ve had good confidence with the car overall in low-speed and medium-speed. Mainly, the high-speed in qualifying was not that challenging. It was more about after Pouhon, the chicane, and also Turns 5 and 6 as well. So, yeah, I’ve been feeling good with the car, and it’s good to be more and more confident whenever I jump in it. Now we’ll focus on tomorrow.