Kimi Antonelli says both he and Mercedes team-mate George Russell have suffered bad luck this season, after being asked whether their 25-point gap is a fair reflection of the year so far. Antonelli said: "I have to say both of us had bad luck. One of us had it in more critical moments at times, but as I said, it's the way it is. This is how motorsport goes, and we all know that. We could see ourselves how this can shift very quickly."

Kimi Antonelli laid down a huge marker in final practice ahead of qualifying at F1's Belgian Grand Prix while Lewis Hamilton crashed at the end of the session






P1) Kimi Antonelli - 1:45.990 P2) Lando Norris: +0.139 P3) Max Verstappen: +0.148 P4) George Russell: +0.367 P5) Lewis Hamilton: +0.392 P6) Charles Leclerc: +0.760 P7) Oscar Piastri: +0.795 P8) Nico Hulkenberg: +0.934 P9) Gabriel Bortoleto: +1.059 P10) Isack Hadjar: +1.106 P11) Arvid Lindblad: +1.186 P12) Liam Lawson: +1.700 P13) Franco Colapinto: +1.924 P14) Oliver Bearman: +1.930 P15) Pierre Gasly: +1.959 P16) Alexander Albon: +2.000 P17) Valtteri Bottas: +2.654 P18) Carlos Sainz Jnr: +2.702 P19) Esteban Ocon: +2.740 P20) Sergio Perez: +3.000 P21) Fernando Alonso: +4.165 P22) Lance Stroll: +4.641

Fernando Alonso has been given a grid penalty for this weekend’s Belgian Grand Prix after Aston Martin fitted a new energy store and control electronics to his car at Spa-Francorchamps. Both are Alonso’s fourth units of the season, exceeding the three-per-component limit. Alonso is the fourth driver to be penalised for using extra power unit elements, with Lando Norris set for a 10-place drop and Isack Hadjar due to start at the back of the grid alongside Alonso and team-mate Lance Stroll.


Lando Norris says McLaren will have to “wait and see” how overtaking plays out at the Belgian Grand Prix as he looks to limit the damage from a 10-place grid penalty after the team changed the power electronic unit. Norris said: "We will have to wait and see how the overtaking is. Most people would deploy basically the whole battery to Turn 5, and you would go from pretty much 100 percent battery to zero, so there is not much use for the battery, so we have to wait and see. We probably have a small straight-line speed advantage compared to the people a little further back, so we should have a good chance. But just to overtake in general, I think it could be pretty difficult here."

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