Penalty has Verstappen starting 11th. Teammate Perez joins Leclerc in the front row.
SPA-FRANCHORCHAMPS, Belgium—Just like last season, Max Verstappen took the pole for the Belgian Grand Prix on Saturday’s slightly rainy circuit. However, his 10-place grid penalty for replacing his engine will drop him back to 11th on the grid. Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc will start first, with Red Bull’s Sergio Perez joining him on the front row. Lewis Hamilton, due to the penalty adjustment, finished third.
The man in the middle won’t start on the pole (photo F1.com)
Leclerc was surprised by the result, even though he was five-tenths behind Verstappen. “I did not expect that with the tricky conditions this weekend,” he said. “We have done something above our explanations, so it’s a good day for the team. Now, we need to focus on tomorrow and see what will happen whenever the rain is gone. Without this rain, [aiming for] probably P5. That was the position we were fighting for, with Mercedes especially. But with the rain, it helped us a little bit. But I’m not going to complain – I’m really happy. I’m very happy with the lap in Q3, and it’s good to be back on the front part of the grid, but now we’ve got to finalize that tomorrow.”
Verstappen was quickest in the second session; following the opening, it went to McLaren’s Oscar Piastri, who ended the day in fifth. “It was a nice qualifying,” Verstappen said afterward. Luckily, the weather was OK; it was raining a little, so we could do a decent qualifying. The tires worked well—we could do good lap times, but we did not know about Q3 and whether the track would dry out.”
Lando Norris will start fourth in the McLaren, with George Russell sixth in the Mercedes. Carlos Sainz took seventh in the Ferrari, with Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso finishing in eighth. Esteban Ocon, who has not been in the final session for a while, qualified and took ninth in his Alpine. Williams’s Alex Albon will start tenth ahead of the Red Bull of Verstappen.
Weather conditions will be different. On Sunday, ESPN will air the race at 9:00 AM in the Eastern time zone.
