#BelgianGP Qualifying Report: @LewisHamilton storms to pole. #F1
Lewis Hamilton, #44, Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport, F1 W11 EQ Power+, Qualifying, Formula 1 Pirelli Belgian Grand Prix, Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, Stavelot, Belgium. Image credit to Sutton Images. Hamilton Belgian GP pole.
Lewis Hamilton stormed to pole in qualifying at the Belgian GP ahead of Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas breaking the lap record and Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen who was third.
Both Mercedes drivers and Verstappen will start the race on the C3 yellow side-walled mediums as they progressed with what was a better race compound than the softs that the rest of the top ten runners will begin the Grand Prix on in dry conditions.
Ferrari managed to escape out of the first qualifying stage, but Charles Leclerc and Sebastian Vettel were both knocked out in Q2, one year on from claiming pole at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps.
In Q3, Hamilton lead the way after the initial flyers setting a 1:41.451 – a new track record, while Mercedes team-mate Bottas had more time to make up after suffering a lock-up and running wide on the large kerb at the exit of La Source.
While Bottas was able to improve early on in the final hot-laps on the C4 softer rubber in the third qualifying stage, Hamilton went even quicker – setting personal best times in sectors one and three, and fastest of all in the middle sector, where Mercedes has been flying all weekend.
Hamilton’s final lap looked solid all the way round as he posted a blistering 1:41.252 to score his sixth Belgian GP pole and broke the lap track record once more.
Bottas lost time all around on his final flyer and was 0.511 adrift of team-mate Hamilton’s benchmark pole position time.
Verstappen was frustrated after wounding up only 0.15 seconds off of Bottas, complaining that he ran out of battery energy at the end of his final hot-lap.
Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo will start fourth on the grid after Verstappen’s final improvement dropped him down a place, with the Australian aborting his last effort.
The other Honda-powered RB16 Red Bull of Alexander Albon was fifth and ahead of Renault’s Esteban Ocon, who found an improvement in his final flying lap to deny McLaren’s Carlos Sainz sixth place.
BWT Racing Point’s Sergio Perez and Lance Stroll qualified eighth and ninth respectively after only running one lap in the third qualifying stage, while McLaren’s Lando Norris completed the top ten.
Personal best efforts were not enough for Scuderia AlphaTauri’s Daniil Kvyat and Pierre Gasly from being eliminated in Q2, as the Racing Point duo made huge gains in their initial attempts to get through the middle segment on the C3 medium tyres.
Stroll and Perez moved up the order from 11th and 12th respectively after their initial hot-laps relegated the two AlphaTauri drivers despite their own improvements, which meant they ended up outside the top ten.
Both Ferrari’s were knocked out of Q2 for the first time in the 2020 season, with Leclerc 13th and Vettel 14th.
Williams Racing’s George Russell one again made it to the second qualifying stage, but pulled out of his initial run, his second could only give the Briton 15th after the Ferrari pairing found improvements on their final flying laps.
In the first qualifying segment, Vettel was under-pressure to improve after he was down in 19th after the initial runs were completed, but the threat of both Ferrari’s being eliminated in Q1 remained.
The warm up laps for the drivers attempting to improve on their final flyers left Vettel and Leclerc running without a tow and leading a pack of drivers.
But both managed to progress into Q2, with Vettel jumping up six places, although Leclerc had a nervous wait after falling down to 15th, later complaining about not having a slip-stream.
The top four runners eliminated in the first qualifying stage all posted personal best efforts, but Alfa Romeo Racing’s Kimi Raikkonen, Haas F1 Team’s Romain Grosjean, Alfa Romeo Racing’s Antonio Giovinazzi and Williams Racing’s Nicholas Latifi were unable to match the surprised Russell in splitting the Ferrari duo.
All four drivers will start from 15th-19th respectively, with Haas F1 Team’s Kevin Magnussen starting at the rear after the Dane’s final flyer was ruined an excursion through the gravel trap at Stavelot, where he nearly ran his VF-20 racer into the wall to his left as he could not slow his car.
Belgian GP Qualifying – The Top Three
Pole Position – Lewis Hamilton, #44, Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport, F1 W11 EQ Power+:
Today was really quite important to me, I woke up to the sad news of Chadwick passing away. That news really, really rocked me and it wasn’t easy to get back to focus but I knew I had to get out there and drive to perfection. He was such a shining light.
2nd – Valtteri Bottas, #77, Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport, F1 W11 EQ Power+:
Turn 1 was a bit inconsistent, I think the tyres were too cool. Second run felt pretty good overall, I’m not too bothered as second place is a good place to start here. The first lap is a great opportunity.
3rd – Max Verstappen, #33, Aston Martin Red Bull Racing-Honda, RB16:
For us overall, it’s been a very constant weekend. To be P3 and that close to Valtteri, I can be pleased with that, the lap was decent. A lot of opportunities for tomorrow.
You can see the full Formula 1 Pirelli Belgian Grand Prix 2020 Qualifying Results Classification at the link: https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2020/races/1051/belgium/qualifying.html
In the earlier FP3 session, Hamilton was quickest by 0.230 seconds clear of Ocon with Norris third, Albon fourth and Bottas rounding out the top five.
You can catch up with yesterday’s FP1 and FP2 sessions at the following links:
#BelgianGP FP1 Report: @ValtteriBottas leads @MercedesAMGF1 one-two. #F1
#BelgianGP FP2 Report: @Max33Verstappen quickest ahead of @danielricciardo. #F1
You can also see this weekend’s race preview at the link:
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