Written by Owen Bradley
Charles Leclerc secured pole position for the Belgian Grand Prix on Sunday in a soaking wet qualifying session. Max Verstappen will start from 11th after taking a 10-place grid penalty for changing his power unit.
Qualifying 1
The drivers started qualifying on the intermediate compound tyres, with rain expected to fall even heavier just a couple of laps into the first session.
Max Verstappen and Oscar Piastri would trade fastest laps in the opening qualifying session, with drivers finding grip throughout the session. The track would begin to form a dry line, with drivers eventually finding themselves setting lap times in the 1:54.000 range.
Late in the session, all the drivers would come out in the attempt to not be caught out by the drying conditions, with Sergio Perez, Carlos Sainz and Lando Norris at a huge risk of not making it into Q2.
However, the drivers would solidify their positions and make it into the next qualifying session, as Piastri topped the timesheets.
Eliminated drivers in Q1: 16th Nico Hulkenberg, 17th Kevin Magnussen, 18th Yuki Tsunoda, 19th Logan Sargeant, 20th Guanyu Zhou.
Qualifying 2
McLaren would report that more rain was scheduled to fall around the circuit early into the second qualifying session, as many drivers struggled with rear tyre grip.
The dry line became clearer periodically, before the rain would indeed fall heavier in certain parts of the track. Towards the end of the session, both Mercedes would be at risk of an early qualifying exit, before Sergio Perez was nearly eliminated by Alex Albon.
Perez would narrowly make it into Q3, with both Ferrari's coming through to Q3 as well. Fernando Alonso also brought his Aston Martin through to Q3 after a tough last few races, with tyre compounds not a particular issue, as the race was predicted to run under dry conditions. Therefore, drivers were able to bolt on multiple intermediate compound tyres without having to stress over tyre availability for the race on Sunday.
Eliminated Drivers: 11th Alex Albon, 12th Pierre Gasly, 13th Daniel Ricciardo, 14th Valtteri Bottas, 15th Lance Stroll.
Qualifying 3
Max Verstappen would set the provisional fastest lap on his first run, with Sergio Perez lining up alongside the Dutchman and Lewis Hamilton taking the third spot on their first runs.
Oscar Piastri went fourth fastest on the first run, making a couple of mistakes, running wide at Beau Rivage and at Jacky Ickx corner. Verstappen would be over half a second clear of the field after the first run.
Sainz's Ferrari looked unstable on his final run, with both Ferrari's sitting towards the bottom of the Top 10 going into the final flying laps. Charles Leclerc would find some late pace, taking second place and inheriting pole position for the Grand Prix after Verstappen will start from 11th, given a 10-place penalty for taking a new power unit.
Belgian GP Qualifying Results
1st Max Verstappen, Red Bull
2nd Charles Leclerc, Ferrari
3rd Sergio Perez, Red Bull
4th Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes
5th Lando Norris, McLaren
6th Oscar Piastri, McLaren
7th George Russell, Mercedes
8th Carlos Sainz, Ferrari
9th Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin
10th Esteban Ocon, Alpine
11th Alex Albon, Williams
12th Pierre Gasly, Alpine
13th Daniel Ricciardo, RB
14th Valtteri Bottas, Sauber
15th Lance Stroll, Aston Martin
16th Nico Hulkenberg, Haas
17th Kevin Magnussen, Haas
18th Yuki Tsunoda, RB
19th Logan Sargeant, Williams
20th Guanyu Zhou, Sauber
Note: Max Verstappen will start from 11th, with each driver in the Top 10 moving up one place.
Comments