At 19, Mercedes driver Kimi Antonelli\u2019s push to become the youngest-ever Formula 1 champion had another boost by scoring the pole position for tomorrow\u2019s Belgian Grand Prix, the eleventh race on the F1 schedule.<\/p>\n
In today\u2019s qualifying, it was Antonelli holding off a push from Red Bull teammates Max Verstappen and Isack Hadjar, beating Verstappen by 0.317 of a second.<\/p>\n
Mercedes teammate George Russell will start third on the grid.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe gap in qualifying even with a massive tow is still three-tenths, so I don\u2019t really expect to race (Mercedes) tomorrow,\u201d said Verstappen, per the Associated Press.<\/p>\n
It was a disappointing day for Ferrari, with Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton finishing fifth and sixth. Leclerc is coming off the win at the British Grand Prix. Hamilton was coming off a crash in practice.<\/p>\n
In the F1 drivers\u2019 standings, Russell has closed the gap behind Antonelli for the No. 1 spot by just 25 points, going into tomorrow\u2019s race.<\/p>\n
The Belgian Grand Prix starts at 2 p.m. BST (9 a.m. EST). In Formula 1 betting at Betway, Antonelli is -250 to win the race, followed by Verstappen (+325), Russell (+850), Hamilton (+2200), Leclerc (+2500), and Lando Norris (+2500).<\/strong><\/p>\n Norris qualified third fastest but will line up from 13th as he serves a 10-place grid penalty for exceeding his allocated number of engine parts.<\/p>\n Weather is a factor affecting the race. Spa-Francorchamps is known for its changing climate, with many previous editions of the race affected by heavy rainfall.<\/p>\n Rainfall increases the chances of safety cars, strategy gambles and surprise podiums. It reduces the advantage that the fastest cars have.<\/p>\n There\u2019s some potential wet weather in store for tomorrow, as conditions drift away from the heatwaves of recent weeks. But it\u2019s more of a long shot.<\/p>\n The forecast is for seasonably cooler temperatures, with a high of 19 degrees C and a low of 8 degrees C. Any fog that develops should be gone by 9 a.m. BST. A front will move through in the morning and again in the afternoon; however, precipitation is unlikely. Overall, it looks favourable for racing.<\/p>\n Overtaking is easier at Spa, especially because of the long Kemmel Straight.<\/p>\n Knowing that, I\u2019ll take Antonelli to win the race (-225), since Spa-Francorchamps rewards a strong engine package and consistency on its long straights and higher-speed sections of the racetrack.<\/p>\n I was tempted to take Verstappen to win (+300), with Red Bull\u2019s low-drag set-up maximizing straight-line speed. Verstappen, who excels at Spa-Francorchamps (multiple wins), will want to shut down all this chatter that he\u2019s leaving for McLaren. So, I\u2019ll take him for a podium finish (-350).<\/p>\n Ferrari isn\u2019t the fastest car, but Hamilton has a lot of experience here and starts fifth tomorrow, recovering nicely from a crash in practice. Hamilton finishing in the Top 5 is -275 at Betway.<\/p>\n STARTING GRID FOR BELGIAN GRAND PRIX<\/strong><\/p>\n Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes)<\/p>\n Max Verstappen (Red Bull)<\/p>\n George Russell (Mercedes)<\/p>\n Charles Leclerc (Ferrari)<\/p>\n Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari)<\/p>\n Oscar Piastri (McLaren)<\/p>\n Arvid Lindblad (Racing Bulls)<\/p>\n Gabriel Bortoleto (Audi)<\/p>\n Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls)<\/p>\n Pierre Gasly (Alpine)<\/p>\n Franco Colapinto (Alpine)<\/p>\n Nico Hulkenberg (Audi)<\/p>\n Lando Norris (McLaren)<\/p>\n"}]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.betway.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119626","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.betway.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.betway.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.betway.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=119626"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.betway.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119626\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":119627,"href":"https:\/\/blog.betway.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119626\/revisions\/119627"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.betway.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/116630"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.betway.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=119626"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.betway.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=119626"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.betway.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=119626"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}