(Motorsport-Total.com) – Red Bull orchestrated a slipstream game for Max Verstappen, but in the end, Kimi Antonelli still found enough time to secure pole position for the Formula 1 race in Belgium.
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Already in the first Q3 run, Isack Hadjar provided a slipstream to his Red Bull teammate on the long full-throttle section towards Blanchimont and the Bus Stop chicane. This basically meant that Hadjar sacrificed his own lap. Since he was facing a start from the back of the field anyway due to the engine component change, this hardly mattered.
After a short interruption caused by the red flag – necessary to sweep gravel off the track that Oscar Piastri had deposited on the asphalt during an excursion at Stavelot – they tried again.
This time, the two cars seemed much better coordinated; they met neither too early nor too late. Verstappen closed perfectly and passed without having to lift off the throttle even once.
This lap was enough for a provisional pole position for a few seconds until Kimi Antonelli set a time that was 0.317 seconds faster. Nevertheless, Max praised Hadjar’s “one and a half times slipstream” and emphasized that without it, he wouldn’t even have been in the front row.
“He did a fantastic job,” says Verstappen. “At first, I thought: ‘Oh my God, that’s too close,’ but in the end, it worked perfectly until the last corner. It was tight, but I trusted him.”
A big compliment, which, however, is not fully supported by the raw numbers: Verstappen gained just a tenth of a second in this sector compared to his previous flying lap (28.185 versus 28.279).
At the time of the red flag, Lando Norris was the fastest with a lap of 1:44.801 minutes, followed by Antonelli (1:44.840), Charles Leclerc (1:44.893), and Verstappen in fourth place (1:44.984). At that point, the gap between first and fourth place was just 0.183 seconds.
Whatever happened afterward: Norris was out of the fight for pole anyway due to his engine penalty. So everything was to be decided in the second runs in Q3.
It is known that Mercedes found a clever (and for now legal) way to bypass the mandatory reduction of hybrid power (“ramp-down”) that is supposed to kick in when the battery status drops.
This is especially effective on tracks with a short section between the last corner and the finish line. Drivers have to lift off the throttle just before the line at a point they practice precisely in the simulator.
The engine control unit (ECU) is programmed so that the electric motor continues to deliver maximum power at this point instead of ramping down linearly. However, this was not decisive for Antonelli’s final advantage; the gap was already there before.
Antonelli faster, but not the fastest in the first sector
In their first Q3 runs, Antonelli completed the first sector in 30.206 seconds, Verstappen in 30.520. On the second attempt, the Italian improved to 30.160, the Dutchman to 30.443.
Small but, as it turned out, crucial steps, as both drivers would gain even more in the second sector.
The picture from the data aligns with the fact that Mercedes has the better overall package in the power unit – although Red Bull’s combustion engine is considered the strongest unit according to the FIA’s ADUO guidelines. Antonelli had a top-speed advantage on the start-finish straight, then again on the downhill to Eau Rouge as well as up and through Raidillon.
On the Kemmel straight, their top speeds evened out. But because Antonelli carried noticeably more momentum out of Raidillon (although both drivers were flat out), he built a lead he would not give up.
And that, despite them reaching largely similar top speeds – before Verstappen first entered the super-clipping phase on the approach to Les Combes.
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An interpretation of this data suggests that Red Bull and Mercedes were pretty much equal in pure straight-line speed, which is not always reflected elsewhere. Maybe Red Bull could get a few tips from Racing Bulls? Arvid Lindblad ultimately drove faster through the first sector than Verstappen and Antonelli …
Half a second gain keeps Antonelli ahead
In his first Q3 run, Verstappen completed the second sector in 46.185 seconds – a time only beaten by Norris. Antonelli’s first attempt was significantly more modest at 46.534.
If this pattern had repeated in the second runs, the fight for pole position would probably have played out quite differently. But Antonelli found about half a second and drove a 46.059s. Verstappen’s improvement was smaller, although he was still fractionally faster: 46.050s.
Antonelli thus entered this section, which is actually considered Red Bull’s absolute strength, with a three-tenths lead but risked losing all that and more. Instead, he came out having lost only thousandths of a second.
Here too, disappointingly, this is largely a factor of electric energy deployment. Verstappen chipped away at the Mercedes lead in Les Combes, but as soon as it went downhill, Antonelli was able to find more speed again – although he had to lift slightly in Malmedy.
Perhaps the most outrageous effect of the 2026 technical regulations was to completely neuter Pouhon – one of the greatest corners on the Formula 1 calendar. Onboard cameras showed that Antonelli’s car started energy recovery in the middle of this corner, which the data confirms.
Halfway through the corner, there is a speed crossover as the Mercedes throttles more aggressively. This allowed Verstappen to make up two tenths again on the way towards Fagnes. The speeds then evened out as Verstappen lifted earlier.
The slipstream does not bring Verstappen enough in the third sector
After finding half a second in the middle sector, Antonelli maintained the lead he had built in the first sector. In the final phase of the track, it was just a matter of holding on for him, while Verstappen again relied on the slipstream of his teammate.
While Verstappen improved to 28.185 compared to 28.279 from his first run (which used the obviously less well-executed slipstream variant), Antonelli was slightly slower than on his first attempt – 28.142 versus 28.100.
Here too, the data shows a remarkable equality of top speed in this particular straight-line zone. And Verstappen was fastest after – and not before – leaving Hadjar’s slipstream at Blanchimont.
The speed difference was in the range of 5 to 8 km/h until the final approach to the Bus Stop chicane, where the lines in the data trace converge again and reach an identical peak value exactly at the moment they lifted off the throttle and braked at the same point.
Here, the deficit had shrunk to just under three tenths, so the slightly better acceleration curve of the Mercedes – again probably a result of more electric deployment – no longer made a massive difference in the final sprint.
In 2026, one often feels that a penalty should be due whenever the dreaded word “deployment” is used as an explanation. But at least Antonelli felt that his gained half a second in the second sector was based on driving skill, effort, and initiative, not on the constraints of battery power.
Asked where exactly he pushed more there, Antonelli answered unequivocally: “In every corner,” he said.
“I just carried a bit more speed everywhere. It was sometimes a bit hard to judge because the super-clipping kicked in more and more, which shifted the reference points a bit.”
“That was the tricky part in qualifying. But on the last lap, I just tried to carry a bit more speed everywhere, and the car stuck to the road, so I’m happy with that,” said the Italian.
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