#BelgianGP Qualifying: @Max33Verstappen fastest, @CharlesLeclerc inherits pole. #F1

Verstappen Belgian GP Pole – Red Bull’s Max Verstappen pipped Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc to take P1 in a wet-to-dry Qualifying session at the Belgian GP, but the Dutchman drops five places back due to taking on a new gearbox meaning Leclerc inherits the pole position slot for Sunday’s race.

Verstappen entered the qualifying session at the Circuit De Spa-Francorchamps having fitted his fifth gearbox of the season, which triggered a five grid-placed penalty for the Grand Prix but does not impact the championship leader’s starting spot for Saturday’s 100km Sprint Race.

In Q3, Leclerc held provisional pole in the initial flyers, setting a 1:47.931 and was 0.128 seconds quicker than Verstappen who had only just scraped through in 10^th in Q2 following the switch from wet to slicks in that session and the Dutchman had a disagreement with Red Bull’s running plan, which lead to an intense argument with race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase.

On the final flying laps, Leclerc lead his competitors around and lowered the benchmark to a 1:46.988 gaining almost a second on his previous personal best.

The Ferrari driver had no threats by anyone, but Verstappen, who was running in the deep pack behind, scoring purple in all three sectors to snatch P1 from Leclerc with a 1:46.168 effort, but the Dutchman starts sixth on the grid due to a five grid-placed penalty for taking on a new gearbox meaning Leclerc inherits pole.

The other Red Bull RB19 entry of Sergio Perez will join Leclerc on the front row for the Grand Prix as the Mexican improved on his last hot-lap to knock Mercedes’ Sir Lewis Hamilton to fourth.

Hamilton faces a post-qualifying investigation for a possible unsafe rejoining infringement following a bizarre incident where the Briton momentarily went off the circuit through the Eau Rouge/Raidillon complex whilst running in-front of team-mate George Russell, who wound up eighth in the other Mercedes F1 W14 entry.

Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz placed fifth and ahead of McLaren pairing Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris, who went off into the gravel exiting the second part of the Stavelot sequence during the early wet proceedings on the intermediates in the opening qualifying segment.

Aston Martin duo Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll completed the top ten.

In the second qualifying stage, which was topped by Piastri, AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda placed outside the top ten 11^th place and ahead of Alpine’s Pierre Gasly who was 12^th and Haas F1 Team’s Kevin Magnussen who placed 13^th.

Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas and Alpine’s Esteban Ocon were the slowest of the Q2 runners in 14^th and 15^th respectively.

In the opening segment, which was topped by Leclerc, Williams Racing’s Alexander Albon was the quickest of the Q1 eliminatees and will start Sunday’s Grand Prix in 16^th and in-front of Alfa Romeo’s Zhou Guanyu who was 17^th and team-mate Logan Sargeant who took 18^th.

AlphaTauri’s Daniel Ricciardo improved to sixth place but had his lap-time invalidated due to exceeding track limits through Raidillon and wound up in 19^th, whilst Haas F1 Team’s Nico Hulkenberg brought up the rear.

You can see the full Formula 1 MSC Cruises Belgian Grand Prix 2023 Qualifying Results Classification at the link: https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2023/races/1216/belgium/qualifying.html

2023 Belgian GP Qualifying – The Top Three

2023 Belgian GP Pole Position – Max Verstappen, #1, Oracle Red Bull Racing – Honda-RBPT, RB19, 1:46.168:

“It was very tight [in Q2]. The track was drying quickly, and I just didn’t have the confidence. But in Q3 with two tyre sets, you can push a bit more, risk a bit more. I know with the penalty I drop back on Sunday, but today was all about feeling confident. We know the car is quick. Last year I had more penalties, and we still won the race, so that’s the target.”

2^nd Place – Charles Leclerc, #16, Scuderia Ferrari, SF-23, +0.820:

“Not a bad qualifying for us, especially in those conditions. I’ve put in a lot of work in those conditions as I wasn’t too comfortable a few races ago. We went too early on that last run; we could have been closer. But we have a great starting position for Sunday!”

3^rd Place – Sergio Perez, #11, Oracle Red Bull Racing – Honda-RBPT, RB19, +0.877:

“Very tricky qualifying out there, we thought it was going to get a lot drier a lot quicker. Even in Q3, there were a few places that were very tricky. It’s a good result – a bit of a shame I didn’t get Charles [Leclerc].”

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