Formula One championship leader Kimi Antonelli claimed pole position for Sunday's Belgian Grand Prix, with Max Verstappen set to start alongside the Mercedes man at the front of the grid at Spa-Francorchamps.
Italian teenager Antonelli has now won pole in six out of the 10 races so far while his team have been quickest in every qualifying round yet. He leads teammate George Russell by 25 points in the drivers' championship.
Defending champion Lando Norris was third fastest but his 10-place grid penalty after McLaren changed his car's power electronics unit means that George Russell will be on the second row with Ferrari's Charles Leclerc, who triumphed last time out at Silverstone.
“It's great to be on pole,” said Antonelli, who last GP win came four races ago in Monaco. “It was not a very straightforward session, the track changed a lot.
“We are able to improve lap by lap and to bring home pole which was nice but of course tomorrow is another day, I have Max starting next to me so it is going to be important to get a good start and then try to be ahead into Turn 5.”
Verstappen had been given an aerodynamic tow by teammate Isack Hadjar, who has a 30-place grid drop for an engine and multiple component changes, but the four-time world champion's time was still 0.317 slower than Antonelli's best.
“It was definitely helping me, otherwise I would not be standing here,” the Belgian-born Dutch driver said of the tow. “Otherwise I think I would be like P6, or something.
“Isack today, knowing that he had to star at the back of the grid, he did a really good job giving me a tow in the final sector and that's why we're standing here.
“For sure tomorrow, I'll be looking in my mirrors for the people around me but at least today we had a really good result. I think the car has been decent all weekend, of course not on the level of Kimi, but we're happy of course to be on the front row with how we executed this as a team.”
Norris had been on provisional pole after the first flying laps but then Verstappen and Antonelli went faster, the latter producing a one minute and 44.361 second effort around the longest and second-fastest lap on the calendar.
"We've not really changed anything, we are just a bit quicker on this track. It is nice to be standing here, it is not nice knowing I have to go 10 places back tomorrow," said the Briton.
“It is unfortunate that it is not where we will be starting tomorrow because it would be nice to have a little fight with these guys but we made the most of it.
“It was a very good qualifying, a very good lap for me. Honestly I have been pretty happy all weekend, it is a little bit of a home race for me so it is a little boost here. I've performed well all weekend so far. So hopefully we can still have a good race tomorrow and have some fun.”
Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton, chasing a record sixth Belgian GP win, will start fifth with McLaren's Oscar Piastri sixth and Racing Bulls' British rookie Arvid Lindblad seventh in the team's only upgraded car.
Hamilton, meanwhile, crashed his Ferrari in the dying seconds of the final practice session. The Briton left his mechanics with a race against time to repair the car after he went off into the gravel at Fagnes and clouted the tyre wall, smashing the rear wing and suspension and sending debris across the track as the car bounced in the air.
“I've destroyed the car, mate. I'm sorry,” the seven-time world champion told his race engineer over the team radio, before getting out and inspecting the damage. “No problem,” replied his race engineer Carlo Santi.
