Max Verstappen was the fastest in qualifying for the Belgian Grand Prix, but he won’t start from pole due to an engine penalty. Instead, Charles Leclerc will be on pole with Sergio Perez next to him.
Verstappen led most of the session and was way ahead at the start of Q3. He was six-tenths faster than Perez. Mercedes and McLaren took spots behind them, while Ferrari ended up in P7 and P8 after their first runs. Leclerc managed to get ahead of Perez for P2, which means he gets pole position.
Perez needed a good qualifying after some bad luck recently. He had a rough time in Q1 but made it through easily. In Q2, he just scraped by with 0.003 seconds to spare. Despite this, he did well in Q3 to secure his spot on the front row.
Q1
FP3 had lots of red flags, and the Formula 2 sprint race got delayed, but qualifying started on time because the rain stopped for a bit. Everyone rushed out when the green light came on since more rain was expected soon. McLaren got their laps done early fearing more rain. When Verstappen did his lap, it was drier and he went 1.4 seconds faster than Piastri! Norris found himself in trouble but managed to pull himself up later.
With seven minutes left, both Haas drivers, both Williams drivers, and Lance Stroll were at risk of elimination. Perez started his final lap inside the drop zone but moved up to P4 just two-tenths behind Verstappen! Sadly for Haas drivers along with Logan Sargeant, Zhou Guanyu and Yuki Tsunoda who faced engine penalties; they couldn’t make it through.
Out – P16 Hulkenberg, P17 Magnussen, P18 Tsunoda (engine penalty), P19 Sargeant (engine penalty), P20 Zhou
Q2
Norris quickly topped the timesheets this round while some big names struggled initially like Russell and Leclerc who found themselves near elimination with five minutes left; Hamilton and Sainz were also close calls! Russell managed to save himself four minutes before end though still far from Verstappen’s pace.
Ferrari & Mercedes improved pushing Perez into danger again; under pressure he barely made it through by 0.003 seconds much relief among fans seeing such tight margins!
Out – P11 Albon, P12 Gasly (close call!), P13 Ricciardo (surprise!), P14 Bottas (unexpected), P15 Stroll
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