Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli takes pole position at the Belgian Grand Prix, leaving team-mate George Russell trailing in fourth.

Kimi Antonelli leads his Mercedes team-mate George Russell by 25 points in the drivers' championship Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli took a scintillating pole position at the Belgian Grand Prix, leaving team-mate and title rival George Russell trailing in fourth, more than 0.5 seconds adrift. The Italian, who leads the championship from Russell by 25 points, beat Red Bull's Max Verstappen by 0.317secs, even though the four-time champion had the help of a tow from team-mate Isack Hadjar. McLaren's Lando Norris was an impressive third, 0.440secs back, despite bailing on his final lap, but the world champion has a 10-place grid penalty for exceeding his allowance of engine parts. Ferrari's Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton were fifth and sixth, ahead of McLaren's Oscar Piastri and the upgraded Racing Bull of British rookie Arvid Lindblad. Antonelli has looked the man to beat since topping Friday practice and he delivered on his potential with his sixth pole position in 10 races so far this year. On the slowing down lap, he sent his best wishes to his father Marco, who is celebrating his 61st birthday on Saturday. Antonelli said: "Q1, I felt a bit lost because the wind picked up and the balance was a bit more on the edge but the session came to us. I changed a little bit the front wing flap for Q2. Q3 was good because we did a decent first lap and second lap I found a lot of time. It was a good lap."