Max Verstappen was quickest in qualifying for the Belgian Grand Prix but will take a ten-pace grid penalty following a change with the power unit so Charles Leclerc will start on pole for Ferrari.
In a wet session where the drivers used the intermediate tyres throughout, the teams were split on how they approached Q3, with Verstappen and the Ferrari drivers stopping to switch to fresh inters, while the Mercedes and McLaren cars continue throughout the final segment.
Verstappen led this throughout, as his time of one minute, 53.159 seconds at the end of the opening runs put him top ahead of Perez, with Lewis Hamilton third and heading Oscar Piastri, George Russell and Lando Norris.
They carried on after a cool-down/battery-charge lap, after which Norris was able to get ahead of Piastri and Russell, as they did not improve.
Further rain falling late in Q3 meant the cars that had stopped to change tyres – including Perez going from one used set to another – stood to gain.
Verstappen, even with the fastest third sector of Q3, could not and came up 0.042 seconds short of what would be the top time set on the first runs, while Leclerc edge out the rest in leaping from eighth after the opening goes to second position.
It marks his best grid spot since he was on pole in Monaco six races ago and he will now inherit the pole statistic for this race as again Verstappen drops to start P11 for his latest Spa engine change penalty.
Perez did not improve on the final Q3 runs either, but still stayed ahead of Hamilton, the McLarens and Russell.
Then came Carlos Sainz, Fernando Alonso and Esteban Ocon.
As he did in Q1, Verstappen got through Q2 using just a single set of inters, with the rain coming down slightly harder than in the opening segment.
Alex Albon came just 0.003 seconds in knocking Perez out in Q2, with Pierre Gasly, Daniel Ricciardo (who was in the pits as the rest set their final efforts in the middle segment), Valtteri Bottas and Lance Stroll also exiting at this stage.
In Q1, where threatened further rain never arrived, Haas pair Nico Hulkenberg and Kevin Magnussen got shuffled out in P16 and P17, with Yuki Tsunoda behind joining them in setting a personal best on his final Q1 lap but to no avail.
Tsunoda is set to start last due to his penalty for taking a whole new engine here, which will move the other Q1 fallers – Logan Sargeant and Zhou Guanyu, who faces a post-session investigation for appearing to impede Verstappen at Blanchimont late in the opening segment.
So well done to Charles Leclerc in recording a solid lap to take a front row slot. As for Max Verstappen, he was in the zone throughout qualifying and his pace looks good for the race despite starting P11. It should be a fascinating Belgian Grand Prix as the current championship leader fighting back.
Belgian Grand Prix, qualifying positions:
1 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:53.754
2 Serio Perez Red Bull 1:53.765
3 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:53.835
4 Lando Norris McLaren 1:53.981
5 Oscar Piastri McLaren 1:54.027
6 George Russell Mercedes 1:54.184
7 Carlos Sainz Ferrari 1:54.477
8 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin 1:54.765
9 Esteban Ocon Alpine 1:54.810
10 Alexander Albon Williams 1:54.473
11 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1:53.159*
12 Pierre Gasly Alpine 1:54.635
13 Daniel Ricciardo RB 1:54.682
14 Valtteri Bottas Sauber 1:54.764
15 Lance Stroll Aston Martin 1:55.716
16 Nico Hülkenberg Haas 1:56.308
17 Kevin Magnussen Haas 1:56.500
18 Logan Sargeant Williams 1:57.230
19 Zhou Guanyu Sauber 1:57.775
20 Yuki Tsunoda RB 1:56.593*
*Grid penalties for changing the power unit
Max Verstappen set the fastest time in qualifying for the Belgian Grand Prix, but the Dutchman will start from P11 due to a 10-place grid penalty for making a power unit change, meaning that Charles Leclerc will inherit pole position.
Verstappen looked impressively quick as the session progressed and set an unbeatable lap of 1m 53.159s in the Red Bull, half a second clear of Ferrari’s Leclerc. Sergio Perez also enjoyed a better qualifying by putting his Red Bull into P3, ahead of Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton in P4.
Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri took fifth and sixth respectively for McLaren, with the Mercedes of George Russell following in seventh.
Carlos Sainz claimed P8 for Ferrari, while his countryman Fernando Alonso went P9 in the Aston Martin and Esteban Ocon rounded out the top-10 for Alpine.
https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article/verstappen-claims-p1-in-belgium-qualifying-ahead-of-grid-penalty-as-he-heads.4G7gZvZk3905EWPcv7fdNc
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen reckons he needs “a bit of luck” to challenge McLaren for 2024 Formula 1 Belgian Grand Prix victory, despite the orange cars starting down in fourth and fifth.
For the third year in a row, Verstappen topped GP qualifying at Spa, but will drop down the grid here again due to a penalty – this year, as in 2022, for an engine change.
This means Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc will start from pole on Sunday, ahead of Sergio Perez in the other RB20, Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton and the McLaren pair of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri.
“We are not making it easy on ourselves and especially of course in the battle that we’re in,” Verstappen said of his Spa race chances around his grid penalty after climbing from his car in qualifying parc ferme. “I know that.
“Today was a great day, but it’s in the wet. We need to be quick in the dry tomorrow. But it’s going to be a tough battle. We’ll try to do the best we can.
“Hopefully, we can battle with the Ferraris and the Mercedes ahead. And, if we have a bit of luck, maybe we can challenge the McLarens.”
https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/verstappen-red-bull-needs-luck-to-beat-mclaren-in-belgian-gp/10639497/
Sergio Perez reckoned his third place in Belgian Grand Prix qualifying showed “it’s not like I’ve forgotten how to drive”, as he moves up to the front row for Sunday’s race.
The Mexican looked set to inherit pole position from the penalty-encumbered Max Verstappen when the grid order was set for the grand prix, but was pipped at the post by Charles Leclerc as the Ferrari driver improved up to second with his final lap of the session.
Regardless, it ensured that Perez clinched his first front-row start since the Chinese Grand Prix, offering him an opportunity to challenge for his first victory of 2024 as he hopes to break a difficult run of results.
“[It’s] more than confidence,” Perez explained. “I mean, it’s not like I’ve forgotten how to drive from five, six races ago.
“It’s just that you see it with a lot of drivers: sometimes you’re not able to maximise the full potential of your car. For that reason, you end up lacking that, let’s say, confidence to extract the maximum out of the car you have.
“I think we’ve been taking good step forwards in the right direction since Hungary; I think Silverstone was already quite good, I had a really good Friday. I think the car is going in the right direction for now and hopefully tomorrow we are able to finish it off with a strong result, and still there is a long way to go in the season.
“Head down and I think like I’ve said before, the team and myself are focusing on what we got to do at the end of the day, it’s getting the most points we possibly can. And the rest, I couldn’t care less, to be honest.”
https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/perez-ive-not-forgotten-how-to-drive-after-securing-belgium-front-row/10639561/
Lewis Hamilton reckons a front-row start would have been on the cards for Formula 1’s Belgian Grand Prix if he had not been on a tyre offset against his rivals.
The Briton knew that the wet weather that impacted qualifying offered him and his Mercedes team a better chance of getting nearer the front, with the W15 not appearing well suited to the Spa-Francorchamps circuit in Friday’s dry running.
While happy to set the fourth fastest time in Q3, which will become third on the grid thanks to Max Verstappen’s penalty, he reckons that more could have been possible.
“For sure I definitely can’t complain,” he said. “I think, when I looked at my theoretical time, I should have been second.
“But I think if I had had another tyre at the end, I think I could have [been].”
“I’m always comfortable in these conditions and I do think we could have been further up if we got timing quite perfect in the last stint,” he said.
“But we needed to get through Q1…We came in a bit late, then when I went back out, I couldn’t do a lap because there was traffic into the last corner. So I didn’t get to do that lap.
“That then kind of offsets you through the whole session because I only had one new set at the end.”
https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/hamilton-new-tyre-offset-cost-shot-of-belgian-gp-front-row/10639542/