Carlos Sainz took his second victory in Formula 1 by holding off Lando Norris and Mercedes in an exciting Singapore Grand Prix as George Russell crashed on the final lap.

The Ferrari driver led every lap of a slow-burning race from pole position, and delivered a tactical masterclass to fend off a rapidly approaching Mercedes duo in the race’s second half by employing Norris as a bodyguard.

Mercedes had forecasted a potential strategic advantage after qualifying on Saturday, with Russell stating that he had saved an extra set of medium tyres available for the race should there be an opportunity to two-stop.

Esteban Ocon’s stopped Alpine presented that opportunity, and the following virtual safety car ensured that both Mercedes drivers could pull in for a free pitstop on lap 44 and claim their fresh sets of tyres.

This gave the Mercedes duo a distinct advantage and, although they gave up track position to drop into fourth and fifth, Russell and Lewis Hamilton were around two seconds per lap quicker than the cars ahead.

Charles Leclerc, who had dropped positions due to the round of pitstops under the earlier safety car having got up to second at the start, was first up for the two Mercedes, who picked him off swiftly and rapidly began to reel in Norris ahead.

Recognising that his best chance of victory was to ensure Norris had the tools to defend, Sainz backed off to ensure Norris had DRS for the closing stages, which protected the McLaren against the threat from behind.

Russell put Norris under heavy pressure on lap 59, but the McLaren driver did just enough to hold firm and keep Russell in his place, buying Sainz some more time.

The leader backed off again to give Norris with DRS for the final few laps, and it proved to be enough; Russell put the result beyond doubt after crashing at Turn 10 having hit the wall on the outside to ensure Sainz could clinch victory

Norris was able to defend from Hamilton in the final lap to secure second, in the first non-Red Bull podium – or indeed, victory – of the season.

Russell had been unable to challenge Sainz off the line and was upstaged by a soft-shod Leclerc at the start as Ferrari began to manage its race early to ensure it could work through the tyre degradation phase.

The field was largely in formation, although Leclerc was told to give Sainz more space – first being told to create a three-second gap, before the demand for a five-second gap grew – to create a margin for a pitstop.

But Logan Sargeant’s clip of the wall on lap 19 put debris over the circuit and, although the Williams driver got the car back to the pits with a broken front wing, a safety car emerged regardless.

This gave the field license to stop, and Leclerc had to check up in his pitbox for Mercedes traffic – which cost him positions to Russell and Norris once he exited the pitlane.

Sainz was then ordered to keep the field bunched up to ensure that Mercedes could not find a gap to pit and bolt on their second set of fresh mediums – but the Ocon-enforced VSC effectively ended that strategy as the Alpine driver retired with a suspected clutch issue.

Leclerc ultimately finished fourth having come to the end of his life, having been effectively ‘sacrificed’ in Ferrari’s hunt for the win – per the Mercedes team radio.

The Ferrari driver held off a fast-charging Max Verstappen, whose alternate strategy paid off for fifth having carved through the order on the medium compound of tyre. Neither Red Bull pitted during the safety car period, and their out-of-position nature at the front on the hards made them easy meat.

Regardless, Verstappen managed to dig out an effective drive to claim a top five result, having passed Pierre Gasly for sixth and then moving up a place when Russell retired.

Gasly finished three seconds clear of Oscar Piastri, who did not have the new McLaren upgrades for this weekend, while Sergio Perez managed to grab eighth position having gone to the back after his sole pitstop.

Perez clashed with Yuki Tsunoda on the first lap which put the AlphaTauri driver out with damage, and is also part of an investigation with Alex Albon as the two made contact at Turn 13.

Liam Lawson claimed his first Formula 1 points with ninth place to cap off a stunning weekend in Singapore, as Kevin Magnussen completed the top ten to add an extra point to Haas’s 2023 points tally.

Albon and Zhou Guanyu finished P11 and P12, with the latter starting from the pitlane having taken a new power unit, and Nico Hulkenberg could only manage P13 having factored in the battle for the points early on.

Sargeant recovered from his error to claim P14, as Fernando Alonso had a miserable race in which he sustained a five-second penalty for passing over the pit entry line and later had an off while suffering with an “undriveable” car. The Aston Martin driver was the last of the drivers to finish.

So the Red Bull winning run of success is over with Carlos Sainz taking victory for Ferrari. This was a refreshing result for the sport after so many wins for Max Verstappen. This Singapore Grand Prix was exciting in the end and such a nice reward for Sainz to take his second career win.

Singapore Grand Prix, race results:
1 Carlos Sainz Ferrari 1:46:37.418
2 Lando Norris McLaren +0.812s
3 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes +1.269s
4 Charles Leclerc Ferrari +21.177s
5 Max Verstappen Red Bull +21.441s
6 Pierre Gasly Alpine +38.441s
7 Oscar Piastri McLaren +41.479s
8 Sergio Perez Red Bull +54.534s
9 Liam Lawson AlphaTauri +65.918s
10 Kevin Magnussen Haas +72.116s
11 Alexander Albon Williams +73.417s
12 Zhou Guanyu Alfa Romeo +83.649s
13 Nico Hulkenberg Haas +86.201s
14 Logan Sargeant Williams +86.889s
15 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin +87.603s
16 George Russell Mercedes DNF
Valtteri Bottas Alfa Romeo DNF
Esteban Ocon Alpine DNF
Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri DNF

Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz achieved his second consecutive Formula 1 pole position in a dramatic and thrilling Singapore Grand Prix qualifying as championship leader Max Verstappen and the Red Bull getting eliminated in Q2.

Sainz and teammate Charles Leclerc had locked out the front row following the opening series of laps, with the two having saved a set of soft tyres each from Q2 to use at the start of the final shootout.

The Ferrari driver set an earlier benchmark with a time of one minute, 31.170 seconds to sit a quarter of a second clear of Leclerc, managed to better his lap time with one minute, 30.984 seconds to take his claim for a second P1 on the bounce after securing Saturday’s spoils at Monza.

Lando Norris split the Ferraris to claim second in a quickfire final round of laps, but Leclerc put the McLaren driver back in his place to reclaim a provisional front-row lockout – just 0.079 seconds off Sainz’s lap.

But George Russell, who had been a step ahead of Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton throughout the weekend, set the best middle sector to threaten Sainz’s advantage, but lost some time in the final sector to claim second on Sunday’s grid.

Leclerc had to be content with third, and will start on the second row alongside Norris, who was the remaining McLaren to make Q3 as teammate Oscar Piastri dropped out in Q1.

Hamilton was fifth fastest alongside an impressive Kevin Magnussen, who carried his Haas to sixth on the Singapore Grand Prix grid. Fernando Alonso improved on his final lap to collect seventh, beating Esteban Ocon, Nico Hulkenberg, and AlphaTauri’s Liam Lawson.

Verstappen had a nightmare in Q2 and was knocked out from the top ten shootout by Lawson, as Sergio Perez’s spin ensured neither Red Bull made it through to the final part of qualifying.

The defending champion was first to set a lap in the intermediate phase of qualifying, but his time was quickly rendered uncompetitive as he was quickly outpaced by the Haas of Kevin Magnussen and the other traditional front-runners.

Perez was shuffled into the bottom five as Verstappen treaded water just inside the top ten, but the final series of laps cost Red Bull greatly. Verstappen made a mistake in Turn 3 and could never recover – although he improved his time – he was vulnerable.

His teammate did not factor as a Turn 2 spin ended his chances of progression immediately, and Verstappen’s time did not stand up as Lawson pipped him by 0.007 seconds to break into Q3 for the first time.

Verstappen will be subject to two investigations after the session for apparently impeding in the pitlane during Q1, and then potentially holding up Yuki Tsunoda during the second part of qualifying to ensure the AlphaTarui driver could not set a competitive time.

Pierre Gasly split the Red Bulls having eclipsed Perez with his lap, while Alex Albon topped out in P14 while Tsunoda was at the bottom of the Q2 timing board.

Lance Stroll produced the Q1-ending red flag with a heavy crash at the final corner while attempting to prise himself out of the drop zone amid significant track improvement in the dying stages of the session.

A series of final efforts began with Tsunoda vaulting to the top of the timesheets with one minute, 31.991 seconds, underlining the potential time gain for the rest of the field as the Haas duo also found their way clear of trouble.

Albon was able to pull himself out of the drop zone in those final runs but sat precariously on the brink of falling back into the drop zone as Piastri was improving.

But Stroll’s massive shunt, produced after dipping a wheel off the circuit ahead of the final corner, ended with the stricken Aston Martin sitting in the middle of the track – in front of Piastri, who had to back out of his lap to avoid the wreck which saved Albon’s bacon.

Piastri was knocked out in P17, behind Valtteri Bottas in the bottom five, as Logan Sargeant and Zhou Guanyu’s earlier efforts had not been enough improvement to climb out of the drop zone. Stroll ended up at the bottom of the timesheets.

So a dramatic and exciting qualifying with the non Red Bulls unable to take part in the top ten shootout following a shocking Q2 exit. This gave the opportunity for the other teams to challenge for pole and in the end, it was Carlos Sainz who takes P1.

As overtaking is tricky around the Marina Bay street circuit, it will be fascinating to see if Red Bull can fight back but the winning run for the team this season looks over as Ferrari is looking good for another win.

Singapore Grand Prix, qualifiying results:
1 Carlos Sainz Ferrari 1:30.984
2 George Russell Mercedes 1:31.056
3 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:31.063
4 Lando Norris McLaren 1:31.270
5 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:31.485
6 Kevin Magnussen Haas 1:31.575
7 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin 1:31.615
8 Esteban Ocon Alpine 1:31.673
9 Nico Hulkenberg Haas 1:31.808
10 Liam Lawson AlphaTauri 1:32.268
11 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1:32.173
12 Pierre Gasly Alpine 1:32.274
13 Sergio Perez Red Bull 1:32.310
14 Alex Albon Williams 1:33.719
15 Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri 1:31.991
16 Valtteri Bottas Alfa Romeo 1:32.809
17 Oscar Piastri McLaren 1:32.902
18 Logan Sargeant Williams 1:33.252
19 Guanyu Zhou Alfa Romeo 1:33.258
20 Lance Stroll Aston Martin 1:33.397

Defending champion Max Verstappen continued his winning run by taking his tenth successive victory in this season’s Formula 1 world championship at Monza. The Red Bull finished first and second with Sergio Perez taking a solid runners-up after making some overtakes.

Early race leader Carlos Sainz won a tight late intra-Ferrari battle ahead of Charles Leclerc to hold onto third position.

Verstappen’s achievement gives him the outright record of consecutive Formula 1 wins ahead of Sebastian Vettel and Alberto Ascari.

The start was delayed by nearly 20 minutes due to Yuki Tsunoda stopping with a suspected MGU-H issue, his AlphaTauri cockpit smoking and the race reduced to 51 laps as the rest had to be regroup on the grid.

When they did finally get away, Sainz covered off Verstappen’s look to immediately seize the lead by covering the run to the first chicane, where rather than attack the lead Red Bull as Ferrari had hoped Leclerc had to defend from George Russell’s Mercedes behind.

But as he was able to hold on, the top three shot clear and Russell turned to defending against Sergio Perez in the other Red Bull.

For 14 laps Sainz was able to hold on in front of Verstappen – regularly defending the inside run to the first chicane, where on lap six the leaders nearly made contact as Verstappen stayed on the outside line and Sainz forcefully shut the door.

But on lap 15, Verstappen again got a run towards to Turn 1 and there Sainz locked up his right front, which meant his rival could got alongside on the exit and was alongside through the Curva Grande.

Verstappen sealed the lead at the second chicane and quickly blasted to a 2.5 seconds lead, as Sainz, his rear tyres crying enough, struggled to hang on in front of Leclerc, who had lost DRS to Verstappen a few laps before the defending champ fought his way into the lead.

Ferrari pitted Sainz to switch from the mediums all the leaders had started on for hards on lap 19, by which point Perez had finally battled by Russell – following a botched pass on lap 14 where they both cut the first chicane and Perez handed the position back – and was closing in on the red cars.

Leclerc and Verstappen came in a lap later, with the former rejoining barely behind Sainz and Verstappen over five seconds clear in the net lead.

When Perez stopped on lap 21, he made it a tight three-way battle for second, with the trio initially lapping quicker than Verstappen ahead and reducing his lead under five seconds.

At this stage Lewis Hamilton led as he had started on the contra-strategy hard tyres, before Verstappen blasted by with his fresher set of the white wall rubber on lap 24 and the Mercedes then fell back towards the second-place scrap.

Sainz passed through at the Ascari chicane on lap 27, before Hamilton pitted and returned to running midway down the pack.

Here Verstappen upped his pace again and pulled his lead back towards six seconds, as Leclerc and Perez continued to chase Sainz.

Perez having a speculative move towards the inside of Turn 1 on lap 30 cost Leclerc enough momentum and, as he moved to defend that, he fell far enough back from Sainz to lose DRS the next time by the main straight.

At Turn 1, Leclerc was able to hang on defending the inside, but when Perez got alongside running towards the second chicane, Leclerc swung across as they moved to brake and Perez’s right-side wheels went onto the grass but it did not lead to a bigger incident.

With Sainz shooting clear by a few seconds, Perez easily took third on lap 32 – using DRS to get Leclerc well before the Turn 1 braking zone.

Up front, Verstappen held a near eight -econd lead entering the final 20 laps, as Perez did not immediately shoot up to Sainz’s rear and Leclerc in turn was able to stay with the Mexican driver using DRS just behind.

But Perez did eventually find enough pace in the low 1m25s where Verstappen had long been running and the Ferraris had been putting in early in stint two to drag himself and Leclerc back to Sainz with 12 laps remaining.

Like his team-mate much earlier, Perez mounted several attacks at the first chicane – twice more cutting Turn 2 as Sainz again firmly shut the door there.

With Perez getting frustrated, eventually his pressure came good as Sainz’s tyres wore and his pace dropped into the high one minute, 26 seconds – so much so that the lapped Kevin Magnussen was able to keep up with the podium battle behind.

On lap 47, Perez was barely behind Sainz starting the tour and he used DRS to shoot ahead on the run to Turn 1 and then sweep across to the inside of the right-hander and final seal second.

But Sainz’s action was not over yet as Leclerc still lurked and the Ferrari pair then engaged in a thrilling intra-team fight.

They both cut the second chicane on lap 47 as Sainz locked up ahead in third, with the pair all over the road as they desperately fought to stand on the podium in front of their home fans.

Just after Sainz had asked Ferrari to call off the fight, which it denied, Leclerc locked up both his front wheels at the first corner and so nearly hit his teammate, the pair crossing the line with Sainz ahead by just 0.2 seconds.

Well ahead, Verstappen had backed off to the flag, a lead that had at one stage been north of 12 seconds down to half that over Perez at the finish.

Russell was a distant fourth, but was in turn enough in front of the rest to negate a five-second time addition he was handed for cutting the first chicane while passing Esteban Ocon’s artificially high Alpine shortly after Russell had stopped.

Hamilton likewise negated a five-second penalty at the finish – as he had battled by Alex Albon and Lando Norris late-on then pulled clear of that pair, who had engaged in a battle throughout the second stint.

Norris undercut his teammate Oscar Piastri having been complaining about the other McLaren’s pace in stint one after starting behind, but when Oscar emerged from his stop he clipped his teammate’s left-rear and nearly dropped his MCL60.

Piastri was then caught by Hamilton’s medium-shod Mercedes in the second stint and they had two incidents at the second chicane – the second one breaking Piastri’s front wing as Hamilton, attacking on the inside, moved over and caused the contact in the view of the race stewards.

He nevertheless raced up too and by the pair ahead, as Albon and Norris were followed home by Fernando Alonso, who Hamilton had quickly caught and passed at Turn 1 just after his pitstop.

Valtteri Bottas rounded out the top ten – the Alfa Romeo driver involved in clash with Logan Sargaent, for which the second Williams driver was penalised and he fell to P13 from eleventh in the final standings.

Piastri came home P12 just ahead, with Liam Lawson P11 in the remaining AlphaTauri following Tsunoda’s pre-race exit.

So an exciting Italian Grand Prix with full of battles and yet nothing can stop Max Verstappen in achieving a new record in this sport by taking his tenth consecutive victory. The Ferraris gave the tifosi some entertainment with some close wheel-to-wheel fight and in the end Carlos Sainz just managed to fend off Charles Leclerc to take P3.

Italian Grand Prix, race results:
1 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1:12:13.618
2 Sergio Pérez Red Bull +6.064s
3 Carlos Sainz Jr. Ferrari +11.193s
4 Charles Leclerc Ferrari +11.377s
5 George Russell Mercedes +23.028s
6 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes +42.679s
7 Alexander Albon Williams +45.106s
8 Lando Norris McLaren +45.449s
9 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin +46.294s
10 Valtteri Bottas Alfa Romeo +65.950s
11 Logan Sargeant Williams +71.398s
12 Oscar Piastri McLaren +72.240s
13 Liam Lawson AlphaTauri +73.268s
14 Lance Stroll Aston Martin +81.658s
15 Zhou Guanyu Alfa Romeo +81.913s
16 Pierre Gasly Alpine +82.236s
17 Nico Hulkenberg Haas +1 lap
18 Kevin Magnussen Haa +1 lap
Esteban Ocon Alpine DNF
Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri DNS

Carlos Sainz earned a popular pole position in front of the passionate tifosi at Monza. The Ferrari driver beat both world champion Max Verstappn and his Scuderia teammate Charles Leclerc to be the fastest and take P1 at the Italian Grand Prix.

The session at Monza also formed the second 2023 qualifying session run to the alternative tyre allocation rules that required the drivers to run the hards throughout Q1, mediums in Q2 and softs in Q3.

Both Ferrari drivers had faced a post-qualifying investigation for failing to follow the race director’s instructions in terms of maximum lap time that had been set ahead of Saturday’s action to avoid traffic chaos in this session, based on the duration of their respective outlaps at the end of Q1. But just as qualifying concluded, it was announced that there would be no further action required.

In Q3, Sainz led Leclerc after the first runs – with Sainz recording one minute, 20.532 seconds giving him the edge by 0.032 seconds over his teammate, who had led the way and provided a handy tow. Verstappen, running ahead of the pack and followed by Perez, ended up running slightly wide out of the Della Roggia chicane, as he trailed Sainz by 0.099 seconds.

On the second runs, Verstappen ran between the Ferrari pair – suggesting the tow factor at both Ferrari and Red Bull was not a critical consideration. Here, Leclerc led the way of the frontrunners and he went to provisional pole with one minute, 20.361 seconds before Verstappen went faster.

But Sainz would not be denied – having been the lead Ferrari driver throughout practice and until Leclerc’s final flying lap just seconds earlier – as he flashed through with an incredible late gain to claim pole with one minute, 20.294 seconds and send the home crowd into fever.

George Russell finished fourth, with Perez only fifth for Red Bull, while Alex Albon took sixth for Williams. Oscar Piastri ended up seventh for McLaren ahead of Lewis Hamilton, Lando Norris and Fernando Alonso.

Earlier, Verstappen led Q2, where Yuki Tsunoda, Liam Lawson, Nico Hulkenberg, Valtteri Bottas and Logan Sargeant were knocked out.

The middle segment featured Lawson reaching that stage for the first time in his short Formula 1 career as Daniel Ricciardo’s injury substitute, while Hamilton needed a big final lap to jump from the drop zone after the first runs to progressing in Q2 sixth.

In Q1, which Verstappen topped despite losing his first lap to a track limits violation at the second Lesmo corner, Zhou Guanyu, Alpine pair Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon, Kevin Magnussen and Lance Stroll were eliminated.

Ocon had two dramatic moments in that session – nearly colliding with Norris when on a preparation lap and the McLaren was flying towards the Parabolica and then running into the gravel exiting the Ascari chicane mid-way through the opening segment.

So an incredible qualifying result for Scuderia Ferrari with Carlos Sainz taking pole position. The tifosi loved this moment and fingers crossed, Ferrari have the speed to beat Red Bull come race day.

Italian Grand Prix, qualifying results:
1 Carlos Sainz Ferrari 1:20.204
2 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1:20.307
3 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:20.361
4 George Russell Mercedes 1:20.671
5 Sergio Perez Red Bull 1:20.688
6 Alexander Albon Williams 1:20.760
7 Oscar Piastri McLaren 1:20.785
8 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:20.820
9 Lando Norris McLaren 1:20.979
10 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin 1:21.417
11 Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri 1:21.594
12 Liam Lawson AlphaTauri 1:21.758
13 Nico Hulkenberg Haas 1:21.776
14 Valtteri Bottas Alfa Romeo 1:21.940
15 Logan Sargeant Williams 1:21.944
16 Zhou Guanyu Alfa Romeo 1:22.390
17 Pierre Gasly Alpine 1:22.545
18 Esteban Ocon Alpine 1:22.548
19 Kevin Magnussen Haas 1:22.592
20 Lance Stroll Aston Martin 1:22.860

Defending world champion Max Verstappen achieves his ninth consecutive victories this season, matching Sebastian Vettel’s record. The Red Bull driver was unaffected by the two rain showers and a red flag in an action-packed Dutch Grand Prix.

The championship leader kept calm during a six-lap shootout at the end of the race following a red flag for heavy rain, and managed a restart over Fernando Alonso perfectly to extend his streak of Formula 1 victories in a dominant 2023 season.

Heavy rainfall on lap 61 produced a stoppage as the race stewards waited for some of the rain to clear, which offered Verstappen a challenge to the lead that he’d held since lap 12.

Although Alonso got close at the restart and was on Verstappen’s tail at the first corner, the reigning champion held his nerve to build a 3.7-second lead by the end of the race to extend his championship lead.

Rain began to fall with the drivers’ visors at the start of the race, and the ensuing downpour left the circuit visibly wet towards the end of the lap and prompted a series of opportunistic drivers to pit immediately.

Sergio Perez was among them and collected the intermediate compound of tyre, which ensured he had the right tyre for the worsening conditions.

Verstappen elected to pit on the following lap, but his falling speeds on the soft tyre ensured that Perez could emerge ahead of his teammate. Checo picked his way past the yet-to-stop George Russell and Lando Norris, who were left behind on a damp circuit as efforts to brave the rain did not pay off.

Despite stopping a lap later, Verstappen’s laps on the intermediate tyre proved rapid and he was imbued with the confidence to carve his way through the order. He swiftly made his way up to second after clearing first-lap stoppers Zhou Guanyu and Pierre Gasly, and began to chase after Perez.

The circuit then began to dry, and indications from the drivers who did not stop suggested that the crossover point had emerged to prompt the intermediate runners to pit again.

Verstappen was granted the chance to pit ahead of Perez at the end of lap 11 to fit a fresh set of soft tyres, and the widening tyre delta between the two ensured Max was able to perform an undercut when Perez stopped a lap later.

After reclaiming the lead, Verstappen and Perez settled into a pattern before a lap 16 interruption for a safety car as Logan Sargeant put his Williams into the wall on the exit of Turn 8. The lap 22 restart was well managed by Verstappen, however, as Perez could not stay sealed to his team-mate’s gearbox and instead had to fend off Alonso into Turn 1.

The two made a further dry-weather pitstop each for new softs, but Perez calling in four laps earlier made little difference to Verstappen’s lead.

Verstappen was told of heavy rain impending as the weather radars showed a cell of heavy showers drawing nearer. It hit the Dutch coastal resort of Zandvoort on lap 60, and Perez was first in as Verstappen felt that it was dry enough to continue for one more lap. Even as conditions quickly intensified, Verstappen was able to return to the pits on lap 61 and collect the intermediates without losing too much time.

Then, Perez hurt his own chances considerably when he slipped off at Turn 1 on lap 63, giving second position to Alonso as he narrowly avoided the gravel.

Zhou Guanyu’s crash under the continuing rain at the first corner was enough for the FIA to upgrade an initial virtual safety car to a red flag, which saved Perez as his call for wet tyres was halted as the pitlane exit was closed but, as the order reverted to the previous lap, Checo’s long period of time sat stationary at the traffic lights did not hurt him.

After a 43-minute delay, the race resumed for the final eight laps remaining; two behind the safety car, before a six-lap shootout to decide the end of the race. Alonso attempted to pull close to Verstappen and tried varying lines to prise open an advantage, but had no answer to the speed of the Red Bull driver.

From there, Verstappen kept building his advantage and ultimately matched Sebastian Vettel’s streak of nine Formula 1 wins that the four-time champion achieved at the end of 2013.

Pierre Gasly joined Verstappen and Alonso on the podium, as Perez picked up a five-second penalty for speeding in the pitlane while getting himself into the correct order for the restart.

So congratulations to Max Verstappen in winning the Dutch Grand Prix in front of his passionate orange army. Despite the wet weather, the world champion remained calm and control to score another victory. The next race is Ferrari’s home event at Monza and it will be fascinating if Max can continue his winning form.

Dutch Grand Prix, race results:
1 Max Verstappen Red Bull 2:24:04.411
2 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin +3.744s
3 Pierre Gasly Alpine +7.058s
4 Sergio Perez Red Bull +10.068s
5 Carlos Sainz Ferrari +12.541s
6 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes +13.209s
7 Lando Norris McLaren +13.232s
8 Alex Albon Williams +15.155s
9 Oscar Piastri McLaren +16.580s
10 Esteban Ocon Alpine +18.346s
11 Lance Stroll Aston Martin +20.087s
12 Nico Hulkenberg Haas +20.840s
13 Liam Lawson AlphaTauri +26.147s
14 Kevin Magnussen Haas +26.410s
15 Valtteri Bottas Alfa Romeo +27.388s
16 Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri +29.893s
17 George Russell Mercedes +55.754s
Zhou Guanyu Alfa Romeo DNF
Charles Leclerc Ferrari DNF
Logan Sargeant Williams DNF

Max Verstappen achieved a popular pole position in front his home orange army fans. It was a frantic qualifying session featuring two red flag moments and yet the defending champion beat Lando Norris by half a second.

The Red Bull driver set a time of one minute, 10.567 seconds lap, which remained untouchable in the final moments of Q3 to ensure a third consecutive pole at his local race to the delight of his fans.

Although the McLarens had headed the order prior to the Charles Leclerc-enforced red flag towards the end of qualifying, Verstappen set himself up for an all-or-nothing flyer at the end and set a difficult benchmark to beat.

Norris came close and had been up on Verstappen at the close of the first sector, but lost time in the middle part of the lap to cast aside his pole chances.

An already wild qualifying session assisted by a drying circuit came to a head in Q3, where the brace of red flags compressed the final hot laps into a final four-minute window.

Logan Sargeant produced the first red flag in Q3 having just crossed the line to slot in behind team-mate Alex Albon at the top of the charts, after sustaining a heavy crash at Turn 2 after losing the rear to bring out a red flag.

The restart came with eight minutes on the board and, although Albon looked set to better his time, he instead elected to retreat to the pits and handed George Russell the chance to move to the top of the times.

But the McLarens then went to the top, Norris setting a lap with one minute, 12.049 seconds to claim a time just 0.2 seconds clear of teammate Piastri – Verstappen only able to slot into third.

Leclerc then washed out on the exit of Turn 9 and clouted the barrier, prompting a further red flag with just four minutes left on the clock.

Verstappen’s lap proved unbeatable for Norris, while Russell snatched a provisional third position from Albon’s grasp at the very end of the session as the Williams driver had been on excellent form throughout Saturday’s sessions.

Albon had earlier headed Q1, and broke into Q3 with apparent ease despite Williams’ cool expectations for the Zandvoort weekend.

Fernando Alonso bagged fifth over Carlos Sainz, while Sergio Perez could only manage seventh, 1.3 seconds behind Verstappen’s benchmark.

Oscar Piastri was eighth fastest, ahead of Q3 crashers Leclerc and Sargeant, who nonetheless made his first Q3 appearance.

Lewis Hamilton was knocked out in Q2 by improvements from Norris and Sainz at the death of the second part of qualifying, having been unable to improve during his final attempts at a quick lap.

Hamilton was hovering on the precipice of the elimination zone and, his position became more precarious when Sainz employed a fresh set of intermediates to get through to Q3.

Norris then found more time to overturn, as Hamilton appeared to be baulked by Yuki Tsunoda when attempting to complete a lap.

Lance Stroll looked to have made his way into Q2, but Sargeant’s late flyer pushed the Aston Martin driver into P11 and out of qualifying. Pierre Gasly moved ahead of Hamilton but only set a time good enough for P12 as a solid first sector faded out over the rest of his last lap.

Tsunoda was P14, just 0.02 seconds clear of Nico Hulkenberg who had briefly made a play for a Q3 appearance before sliding down the order in a frenetic end to the session.

Leclerc narrowly avoided becoming the biggest scalp in Q1, but his final lap in the opening part of qualifying lifted him out of the drop zone by just 0.05 seconds over Zhou Guanyu.

The Ferrari driver was in the bottom five with seconds left in a frantic opening part of qualifying, where improving track conditions ensured that the timing board resembled a slot machine with frequent changes of position.

Despite mistakes on his final lap, having missed the apex at Turn 11 and put him off-line for Turn 12, a subsequent slide on the exit of Turn 13 could not stop the Ferrari driver from progressing at Zhou’s expense.

Zhou, who sustained a Turn 13 drift on his own best lap, headed Esteban Ocon in Q1 while Kevin Magnussen, Valtteri Bottas, and rookie Liam Lawson were also eliminated in the opening phase.

This was a tricky qualifying for Liam Lawson as he was drafting into the AlphaTauri seat after one practice session following Daniel Ricciardo suffering a hand injury in FP2. So with limited running, the best Lawson can do is get some racing experience.

Dutch Grand Prix, qualifying positions:
1 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1:10.567
2 Lando Norris McLaren 1:11.104
3 George Russell Mercedes 1:11.294
4 Alexander Albon Williams 1:11.419
5 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin 1:11.506
6 Carlos Sainz Ferrari 1:11.754
7 Sergio Perez Red Bull 1:11.880
8 Oscar Piastri McLaren 1:11.938
9 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:12.665
10 Logan Sargeant Williams 1:16.748
11 Lance Stroll Aston Martin 1:20.121
12 Pierre Gasly Alpine 1:20.128
13 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:20.151
14 Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTaur 1:20.230
15 Nico Hulkenberg Haas 1:20.250
16 Zhou Guanyu Alfa Romeo 1:22.067
17 Esteban Ocon Alpine 1:22.110
18 Kevin Magnussen Haas 1:22.192
19 Valtteri Bottas Alfa Romeo 1:22.260
20 Liam Lawson AlphaTauri 1:23.420

World champion Max Verstappen came from sixth on the grid to take first at the Belgian Grand Prix, winning ahead of his Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc.

When the five red lights went out, polesitter Leclerc went across Perez’s bows to maintain the lead at the La Source hairpin, where Carlos Sainz, starting fourth, locked up and then collided with Oscar Piastri running just behind from fifth on the grid on the inside.

The McLaren was pinched against the inside wall, damaging its suspension and ripping the side of the Ferrari’s right-side sidepod, with Piastri slowing on the run downhill to Eau Rouge and later stopping on the first lap of 44.

Up ahead, Perez used his RB19’s straight-line speed to fly by Leclerc into the lead the first time they ran up the Kemmel straight and he quickly built a DRS-breaking lead.

Verstappen was by the end of lap one up to fourth from his abnormally low grid spot, earned for taking a fifth gearbox of the season this Belgian Grand Prix weekend, where he remained behind Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton, who had started third, and Leclerc over the first phase of the race as Perez continued to pull clear ahead.

But when Hamilton lost DRS to Leclerc on lap six, Verstappen pounced going up the Kemmel straight and, with DRS himself, had enough to make a move to the inside and seal third position.

He then pursued Leclerc, whose gap to the lead had stabilised somewhat at just over two seconds, but as the end of the opening ten laps approached it had eked out again to three seconds.

On lap nine, Verstappen shot to Leclerc’s outside as the pair traversed the Kemmel straight, with the Ferrari defending the inside, but it was an unsuccessful defence as Verstappen braked later and swept ahead at the first part of Les Combes.

Perez’s gap to his team-mate was still the same he had over Leclerc at the start of lap 10, but over the next stage of the race Verstappen gradually ate into that advantage.

On lap 13, with Perez’s lead down to 2.4 seconds, he came into the pits – just after Verstappen and his engineer Gianpiero Lambiase had another team radio spat, this time apparently about the times the Red Bull drivers were being asked to do, with the defending champion concerned both cars would do the same.

On that same lap, Perez pitted, his stop nearly a second longer with a lot of sparks coming off his left-rear wheel and with Leclerc coming by as he pitted from third at the same time, as they switched the softs they had started on for mediums.

Verstappen was brought in at the end of the following tour having been asked if he could make it staying out on his softs until predicted rain arrived around half-distance, which he dismissed.

The second Red Bull stop was a second quicker than the first and that all added up to Perez’s lead being down to 1.5 seconds on Verstappen’s out-lap and that was down to 1.1 seconds on lap later, with the chaser soon getting DRS on the Kemmel straight for the first time.

Inevitably, the next time by at the same spot, Verstappen powered into the lead with an outside line DRS-run heading on the straight – easily went ahead of Perez, who tucked in behind his teammate.

Verstappen stayed on it to snap Perez’s DRS threat on the same lap, then shot to a near four-second lead by the time the rain arrived on lap 20.

It stayed light initially, but times went up by nearly three seconds for the leaders and Verstappen nearly dropped his car running through Eau Rouge one lap later.

That did not reduce his momentum, however, as he was soon over five-seconds clear of Perez, as the rain remained light compared to the deluges that delayed the sprint qualifying and race.

It eased off completely around half-distance, with Verstappen then ploughing on to extend his lead to near ten seconds by the time the leaders prepared for a second round of pit stops.

As the leaders had made a longer stint on the softs work better than many in the pack behind on full fuel tanks, the red-walled rubber was the compound of choice for the final run to the flag.

Hamilton, who started to close in on Leclerc in fourth during their stint on the mediums before dropping back again as it wore on, was the first to come in on lap 27.

Leclerc was brought in the next time by to cover the Mercedes, which had to fight by Fernando Alonso’s Aston Martin as the Ferrari rejoined.

This phase cut Leclerc’s advantage, such as the undercut’s power, that Hamilton was the closest he had been Charles since Verstappen came by in the early laps, but again the Ferrari was able to pull away.

Red Bull made the same strategy call with Perez coming in on lap 29 and Verstappen on lap 30, after which the leader set a fastest lap nearly two seconds quicker than the personal best Perez had just achieved.

This earned a rebuke from Lambiase, who asked Verstappen to “use your head a bit more” as his pace immediately on his out-lap and then on the flier being deemed “not very sensible” with the soft still showing “reasonable deg”.

Verstappen suggested pushing on and stopping again just like Austria, but this was given short no as the lead rose to 12.4 seconds by lap 34.

From there, Verstappen continued pulling away and eventually won with a crushing victory of 22.3 seconds over Perez, who was 9.9 seconds ahead of Leclerc.

Hamilton had been running a few seconds adrift of the final podium spot when he was pitted with two laps to go to switch back to the mediums for a final stint, which he used to deprive Verstappen of the fastest lap as the Mercedes driver set that on the final lap, with a one minute, 47.305 seconds against the Red Bull driver’s one minute, 48.922 seconds set during that initial period after his second stop.

So a brilliant weekend for Max Verstappen. Winning the sprint and the main Grand Prix. The five-pace grid penalty wasn’t a problem for the world champion and his race pace is just unreal. Eight consecutive wins this season is mighty impressive and it will be fascinating if the other teams/drivers can challenge as the sport head into the summer break.

Belgian Grand Prix, race results:
1 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1:22:30.450
2 Sergio Perez Red Bull +22.305s
3 Charles Leclerc Ferrari +32.259s
4 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes +49.671s
5 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin +56.184s
6 George Russell Mercedes +63.101s
7 Lando Norris McLaren +73.719s
8 Esteban Ocon Alpine +74.719s
9 Lance Stroll Aston Martin +79.340s
10 Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri +80.221s
11 Pierre Gasly Alpine +83.084s
12 Valtteri Bottas Alfa Romeo +85.191s
13 Zhou Guanyu Alfa Romeo +95.441s
14 Alexander Albon Williams +96.184s
15 Kevin Magnussen Haas +101.754s
16 Daniel Ricciardo AlphaTauri +103.071s
17 Logan Sargeant Williams +104.476s
18 Nicolas Hulkenberg Haas +110.450s
Carlos Sainz Ferrari DNF
Oscar Piastri McLaren DNF

The Red Bull driver is unstoppable! Max Verstappen takes victory in the sprint race at Spa, beating early leader Oscar Piastri.

After spots of rain had fallen as the cars initially lined up on the starting grid 20 minutes ahead of the scheduled start time, it began coming down heavily ten minutes later.

The race started at 17:35 local time behind the safety car, which mandated all the cars to start the race on full wet tyres.

They were sent around for five formation laps, which was originally announced as four before one more was added in a bid to clear more water by the cars running at reduced speed.

This meant when the action did get going the distance was reduced from 15 to 11 laps, with several drivers including polesitter Verstappen reporting conditions were already good enough for intermediate tyres early in the initial formation lap procession.

When the safety car finally came in, plenty of drivers chose to pit and switch to inters.

This included Piastri from just behind Verstappen and the McLaren driver was joined in making the final formation lap call by Carlos Sainz, Pierre Gasly and Lewis Hamilton – with the Alpine racer emerging behind Piastri as several teams had to hold their cars as others pitted around them.

Verstappen did not complete lap one on the track as he too came in for inters, joined by Charles Leclerc and Lando Norris behind – two drivers that could not stop on the final formation lap as they were running behind their team-mates and facing a potentially very long double-stack stop.

Leclerc got a long hold anyway as Ferrari had to wait for several cars to come by in the pitlane, with Verstappen slightly delayed waiting for Norris to come past.

When he re-emerged from the pits, Piastri had already swept away from La Source and was in the lead with a 1.5 seconds advantage early in lap two.

Verstappen had halved that one lap later, but then the race was suspended by a safety car period after Fernando Alonso spun off while running behind Nico Hulkenberg in an incident that will be investigated after the race as it was labelled a possible “impeding” infraction on the FIA timing screens.

The race resumed at the start of lap six, with Verstappen sticking right with Piastri as they powered back up to speed and then immediately blasting ahead on the first time they ran back onto the Kemmel Straight having shot through the Eau Rouge/Raidillon sequence with the McLaren fractionally ahead.

Verstappen then ran clear to an easy win, ending up with a 6.6s final margin of victory over Piastri.

So more championship points for Max Verstappen following this sprint race win and yet the highlight was Oscar Piastri leading and then taking a solid P2 for McLaren.

Belgian Grand Prix, sprint race results:
1 Max Verstappen Red Bull 24:58.433
2 Oscar Piastri McLaren +6.677s
3 Pierre Gasly Alpine +10.733s
4 Carlos Sainz Ferrari +12.648s
5 Charles Leclerc Ferrari +15.016s
6 Lando Norris McLaren +16.052s
7 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes +16.757s*
8 George Russell Mercedes +16.822s
9 Esteban Ocon Alpine +22.410s
10 Daniel Ricciardo AlphaTauri +22.806s
11 Lance Stroll Aston Martin +25.007s
12 Alexander Albon Williams +26.303s
13 Valtteri Bottas Alfa Romeo +27.006s
14 Kevin Magnussen Haas +32.986s
15 Zhou Guanyu Alfa Romeo +36.342s
16 Logan Sargeant Williams +37.571s
17 Nicolas Hülkenberg Haas +37.827s
18 Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri +39.267s
Sergio Perez Red Bull DNF
Fernando Alonso Aston Martin DNF
*Five-second time penalty for causing a collision with Sergio Perez

Max Verstappen was in a different league in the sprint shootout qualifying by setting the quickest lap time in each segment. The defending world champion ended up with pole for the sprint race just beating Oscar Piastri in the McLaren.

The two Ferrari drivers ended up in third and fourth with Carlos Sainz ahead, while Charles Leclerc made a small error on his final Q3 lap that proved costly in the fight for pole.

The shootout session was delayed by 35 minutes due to rain yet again this weekend, with the precipitation falling particularly hardly in the hour ahead of the sprint qualifying.

In Q3, Lewis Hamilton led after the first runs, where some drivers, including Sergio Perez, took an alternative approach of putting in an extra preparation lap.

The Red Bull driver, therefore, headed the times before being shuffled back to eighth, while Hamilton ended up improving only enough for seventh on his second flier after an apparent miscommunication with his teammate George Russell meant the Mercedes appeared to get in each other’s way going up the Eau Rouge/Raidillon sequence up to the Les Combes chicane.

Leclerc was well in the hunt for pole as he set the quickest times in sectors one and three on his second Q3 softs flier, but a slip that nearly had him off the road at Turn 9 cost him so much time he ended up unable to beat Sainz’s one minute, 49.081 seconds that was good enough for third.

Both were then beaten by a late stunner from Piastri that featured the best time in the middle sector, before the McLaren driver was beaten by Verstappen completing the final flying lap of all in the session that sets the grid for Saturday’s sprint race.

Although the world champion registered no purple sectors on his final lap, he still had enough consistency to post the best time of all at one minute, 49.056 seconds.

Lando Norris took sixth ahead of Alpine’s Pierre Gasly, who also deployed the double warm-up tour approach in Q3.

Esteban Ocon was ninth ahead of Russell, who had also scraped through Q1 and Q2 on the edge of elimination in P15 and P10 in the opening segment.

George’s mistake at La Source on his final Q3 run – he locked up and ran deep – left him running ahead of Hamilton and the rest of the incident that appeared to cost the seven-time world champion a better shot on his own last effort.

Before this, Q2 was building towards its conclusion when attention turned to Stroll being the first driver to attempt to slicks – the Canadian pitting to change his inters for mediums.

He was 0.8 seconds down on Verstappen’s segment-topping time by the end of the first sector, where most of the track did have a dry line, but when he arrived at the still-wet Turns 8 and 9 – the long, slow right hander at the bottom of the first plunge off the track’s main hill and the 90-degree left that heads towards Pouhon – it all went wrong.

Despite being very cautious on his approach to Turn 9, Stroll lost the rear of his Aston and slid across the gravel into the barriers, knocking off his right-front wheel.

The red flags then flew and prevented any improvement, which eliminated early Q2 leader Daniel Ricciardo and the Williams pair Alex Albon and Logan Sargeant, who spun coming out of the second part of Stavelot a few minutes before Stroll’s crash, in P11, P12 and P13.

Neither Williams pair set a time, with Albon being credited ahead because of his position ahead of Sargeant on what was set to be his sole timed tour, while he was caught out by Stroll’s crash having remained in the garage for most of Q2.

Albon, and Fernando Alonso were finally on out-laps on their mediums having waited a long time seemingly in an effort to discover if a slicks attempt was possible, when the incident occurred and so they were knocked out too.

Stroll pitting for meant he also lacked a timed lap on the inters, but he ended up ahead of his frustrated birthday-celebrating teammate again while Alonso was still on his out-lap.

In Q1, which Verstappen topped as the times fell over four seconds from Hamilton’s initial two minutes, 02.297 seconds, Yuki Tsunoda set a personal best on his final effort but could not do better than P16 with many others finding time behind the AlphaTauri.

Valtteri Bottas was not one of these as he finished his final flier well ahead of the dash for the flag, with the Alfa Romeo driver heading for the pits as his rivals ended the opening segment and he only recorded P17.

Kevin Magnussen was the lead Haas driver in a very different session for the American team, with K-Mag and teammate Nico Hulkenberg bucking the trend of circulating throughout the 12-minute segment and twice pitting for fresh inters.

This meant neither had a time on the board ahead of the final laps and with Hulkenberg delayed a few seconds leaving the pits for the third time by a jack being left near his car following his second inters change, he ran out of time and did not even get to attempt a flier.

That left Hulkenberg last behind Zhou Guanyu, but Magnussen could only manage P18 just ahead of that pair with his sole time lap, despite completing the same number of laps in Q1, as Verstappen.

Q1 also featured an incident where Verstappen had to go along away around Hamilton going slower on the racing line being noted for a possible impeding infraction, but the stewards decided no further action was necessary.

So congratulations to Max Verstappen with this sprint pole and yet it was so close for Oscar Piastri. The McLaren driver missed out by 0.011 seconds but he will start on the front row for the sprint race later.

Belgian Grand Prix, sprint shootout results:
1 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1:49.056
2 Oscar Piastri McLaren 1:49.067
3 Carlos Sainz Ferrari 1:49.081
4 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:49.251
5 Lando Norris McLaren 1:49.389
6 Pierre Gasly Alpine 1:49.700
7 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:49.900
8 Sergio Perez Red Bull 1:49.961
9 Esteban Ocon Alpine 1:50.494
10 George Russell Mercedes 1:55.742
11 Daniel Ricciardo AlphaTauri 1:57.687
12 Alexander Albon Williams No time
13 Logan Sargeant Williams No time
14 Lance Stroll Aston Martin No time
15 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin No time
16 Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri 2:00.568
17 Valtteri Bottas Alfa Romeo 2:00.951
18 Kevin Magnussen Haas 2:01.079
19 Zhou Guanyu Alfa Romeo 2:01.430
20 Nico Hulkenberg Haas No time

The defending world champion was in a different speed zone as Max Verstappen beat Charles Leclerc by a massive eight tenths of a second in a wet-to-dry qualifying session at Spa.

Verstappen had entered the Belgian Grand Prix qualifying having had a fifth gearbox of the season fitted, which means a five-place grid penalty for the main event but does not impact his starting spot for Saturday’s sprint race.

The Red Bull driver had trailed Leclerc after the first runs in Q3 – having only just scraped through in P10 in Q2 following the switch from wet to dry tyres in that session and as he disagreed with Red Bull’s run plan that led to a tense radio exchange with his engineer Gianpiero Lambiase.

On the second runs in Q3, Leclerc led the frontrunners around and improved the top spot benchmark with a lap time of one minute, 46.988 seconds – gaining nearly a second on his previous personal best.

He was untroubled by all but Verstappen, who was running deep in the Q3 pack behind, blasted to the top position in all three sectors on his final lap and he secured the fastest time with one minute, 46.168 seconds, with the world champion set to start Sunday’s race in sixth following his penalty.

Sergio Perez will join Leclerc on the front row for that event as he improved with his final run to knock Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton down to fourth position.

Hamilton faces a post-qualifying investigation for a possible unsafe rejoining infraction following a bizarre incident in which he briefly went off the track at Eau Rouge/Raidillon while running ahead of teammate George Russell, who ended up eighth in Q3.

Carlos Sainz finished fifth ahead of the McLaren pair Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris, who went off into the gravel exiting the second part of the Stavelot sequence during the early wet running on the intermediates in Q1.

Aston Martin Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll rounded out the top ten, with the double world champion ahead and finishing behind Russell.

In Q2, led by Piastri with a one minute, 51.534 seconds, the field made the switch from the inter after the first half of the middle segment – a dry line having appeared around much of the long Spa layout.

This increased the track evolution factor that had dominated the Q1 segment, with several drivers putting in times that had them high up the order when they crossed the line with the chequered flag out, only for the rest behind to go even quicker and shuffle them down and out.

This happened to Yuki Tsunoda, who had briefly been top in Q2 with his personal best time set right at the end of that part of qualifying, with the AlphaTauri driver eventually eliminated in P11.

Pierre Gasly and Kevin Magnussen set their personal bests after much of the rest had completed their final laps, but they did not trouble the top ten and they were knocked out behind Tsunoda.

Valtteri Bottas, who had led the change to slicks aboard his Alfa Romeo and ran on them longest, ended up in P14, with Esteban Ocon P15 after crashing at Turn 9 while he was pushing early in the late-Q2 slicks running.

The Alpine driver lost control of the rear of his car over a part of the circuit that was still rather wet, his right rear wheel hitting the barriers on the track’s outside before his right front also hit the advertising hoardings at that spot, which ripped several of these off and badly damaged Ocon’s front wing.

He managed to keep going and made it back to the pits, but Ocon did not take part in the final Q2 running, and the gravel that had been brought onto the track during this incident had to be swept away before Q3 began, which triggered another five-minute delay before the final segment began.

Q1, which Leclerc eventually topped, was delayed by ten minutes to allow extra time for the track to dry out following the dousing it had had only 30 minutes earlier in the preceding Formula 2 practice session.

The Mercedes drivers were sent to the end of the pitlane well ahead of the rest, where Russell noted the bright sunshine burst through the clouds over the La Source hairpin on the other side of the pitwall, while Hamilton spotted his right-side mirror had become dislodged.

When the action did get going, the cars circulated more or less throughout other than coming into change inters at some teams, for fear of more rain arriving from the direction of the Les Combes chicane, as the times fell from Russell’s initial two minutes, 02 seconds bracket to Leclerc’s then best of one minute, 58.300 seconds.

He jumped from P16 in the drop zone ahead of completing his final lap, with the times getting ever quicker and the improvements meaning Albon was shuffled down the order as he did not complete his lap following an off at Turn 9, which will be investigated now qualifying has been completed for a possible unsafely rejoining.

Albon was joined in exiting in Q1 by Zhou Guanyu, who could not produce a personal best on his final flier, while Logan Sargeant just behind did but nevertheless got eliminated in 18th.

Sargeant missed the first half of Q1 as Williams worked to change his gearbox following his FP1 crash, with the American likely to have missed any qualifying running ahead the session’s start not been delayed.

Daniel Ricciardo thought he had done enough to progress but the Australian’s second 2023 qualifying for AlphaTauri was brought to an early end as his best time, set on his final lap, was deleted for a track limits violation at Raidillon.

Nico Hulkenberg missed taking part in the final fliers as Haas had to try and work to fix a hydraulic issue on his car and although he headed back out in the closing minutes of Q1 he did not have enough time to get around and start a full-speed lap.

So congratulations to Max Verstappen in being the fastest at Spa. The speed was mighty impressive and despite the gearbox penalty, overtaking at Spa is possible so Max can fight through to take another solid points finish.

Charles Leclerc inherits P1 for Ferrari so it will be interesting if he has the race pace to hold off the Red Bulls in the main race.

Belgian Grand Prix, qualifying positions:
1 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:46.988
2 Sergio Perez Red Bull 1:47.045
3 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:47.087
4 Carlos Sainz Ferrari 1:47.152
5 Oscar Piastri McLaren 1:47.365
6 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1:46.168*
7 Lando Norris McLaren 1:47.669
8 George Russell Mercedes 1:47.805
9 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin 1:47.843
10 Lance Stroll Aston Martin 1:48.841
11 Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri 1:53.148
12 Pierre Gasly Alpine 1:53.671
13 Kevin Magnussen Haas 1:54.160
14 Valtteri Bottas Alfa Romeo 1:54.694
15 Esteban Ocon Alpine 1:56.372
16 Alex Albon Williams 2:00.314
17 Zhou Guanyu Alfa Romeo 2:00.832
18 Logan Sargeant Williams 2:01.535
19 Daniel Ricciardo AlphaTauri 2:02.159
20 Nico Hulkenberg Haas 2:03.166
*Five-place grid penalty for gearbox change