Gabriel Bortoleto had a great qualifying session at the Formula 1 Belgian GP. This Saturday (18), the Brazilian managed to advance to Q3, finished in ninth position but with penalties to two drivers, starts eighth.
Read more F1: Check out the full qualifying results of the 2026 Belgian GP
For this weekend, it is good to remember that two drivers with chances to qualify ahead of Bortoleto were penalized: Lando Norris would lose ten positions and Isack Hadjar would start last.
For the timed session at Spa-Francorchamps, the weather was overcast with the thermometer reaching 22ºC and the asphalt at 38ºC and humidity at 55%.
Q1
When he first went out on track, Gabriel was using the soft tire and as usual, the first lap was an installation lap, nothing yet in attack time.
When he completed his first attempt, the Audi driver set a great time and placed himself seventh – soon pushed back to eighth by Lewis Hamilton. The driver did 1min46s609.
The competitor returned to the pits for adjustments and with four minutes to go, most drivers were back on track, but Gabriel remained stopped – at this moment, he was in 11th place and with some “breathing room”. Meanwhile, Nico Hülkenberg was 15th.
One minute to go and Bortoleto was on track in his last attempt at a fast lap. When he finished, he did not improve his position, stayed in Q1, managing to advance to Q2 without problems.
Q2
The second phase of qualifying in Belgium started and Bortoleto had the mission to place himself among the top ten fastest to advance to Q3.
Once again on soft tires, when he did his fast lap, he placed fifth, 0.940 seconds behind Kimi Antonelli, the leader. However, as drivers completed their laps, the competitor was dropping down the order.
With seven minutes to the checkered flag, Gabriel was now in tenth position with Lawson, Gasly, Hülkenberg, Colapinto, Sainz, and Bearman in the cut-off zone aiming to take the Brazilian out. The Audi driver’s time was 1min46s082.
Read more F1: Bortoleto talks about bet with Binotto and celebrates Q3 in Spa: «Everything fell into place»
The competitors were on their last attempt, including the driver of car #5. When the laps ended, Sainz, Gasly, Colapinto, and Bearman could not improve their times.
Next, Hulkenberg also did not advance to Q3, nor did Lawson. Therefore, Bortoleto managed to go to the final phase, the third time in the 2026 Formula 1 season.
Q3
The last part of the timed session at Spa-Francorchamps started. For this session start, Bortoleto wore used soft tires – Hadjar, Piastri, and Lindblad did as well.
On his first lap, he was sixth, but soon pushed back to ninth. The Brazilian was 1.678 seconds behind Norris, the leader, with a time of 1min46s479.
With six minutes to go, then a red flag. The reason was that Max Verstappen quickly went off track and, in doing so, brought a lot of gravel onto the asphalt, which needed to be cleaned.
After some time stopped, drivers were allowed back on track for a little over 4 minutes before the end of the session. Gabriel did not take long to leave the pits for the last attempts.
When he completed his lap, the Audi competitor placed eighth, 1.2 seconds behind the leader. It is worth remembering that Norris is still penalized – Lindblad pushed Bortoleto to ninth.
Checkered flag and Gabriel finished with the ninth time, but starts from eighth position at the Formula 1 Belgian GP. The race start this Sunday, 19, is at 10 am Brasília time.
Read more F1: Antonelli takes pole in Belgium; Bortoleto starts eighth
