#F1 #BelgianGP Qualifying: @Max33Verstappen fastest, @CharlesLeclerc inherits pole.
Max Verstappen, #1, Oracle Red Bull Racing, Honda-RBPT, RB20, arrives in Parc Ferme after being quickest in Qualifying, Formula 1 Rolex Belgian Grand Prix 2024, Circuit De Spa-Francorchamps, Stavelot, Belgium. Image credit to Mark Thompson/Getty Images. Leclerc Belgian GP Pole, 2024 Belgian GP Qualifying, Belgian GP Qualifying Results, F1 Belgian GP Qualifying, Verstappen fastest Belgian GP Qualifying.
Leclerc Belgian GP Pole – Championship leader Max Verstappen was fastest in a damp qualifying session, but due to his ten-grid-placed-penalty for taking on a fifth Internal Combustion Engine demoting the Dutchman to 11th on the grid, Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc inherits pole position for tomorrow’s Belgian Grand Prix as Sergio Perez takes third in the classification but lines-up on the front-row alongside the Monegasque driver.
In a wet Q3 session where drivers used the green-branded intermediates throughout, the teams were split on how they approached the 12-minute session, with Verstappen and the Ferrari pairing opting to switch to fresh inters, whilst the Mercedes and McLaren drivers all circulated throughout the last segment.
Verstappen held provisional P1 with a personal best in sector one and two purples in sectors two and three to post a 1:53.159 and was 0.606 seconds quicker than team-mate Perez as Mercedes’ Sir Lewis Hamilton was a further 0.852 seconds adrift in third and ahead of McLaren’s Oscar Piastri, Mercedes’ George Russell and McLaren’s Lando Norris.
They continued on after a cool-down/battery charge lap, after which Norris was able to move ahead of team-mate Piastri and Russell, as they could not improve.
Further rain falling in Q3 meant the drivers that came in to change tyres – including Perez going from one used set to another – made a gain.
In the final hot-laps, Verstappen was unable to improve on his final flyer, but held P1 as Leclerc improved on his lap to jump from eighth to take second with three personal bests and wounded up 0.595 seconds off as Perez ended up 0.606 seconds adrift of his Red Bull team-mate in third.
Mercedes’ duo Hamilton and Russell took fourth and seventh respectively as McLaren pairing Piastri and Norris sandwiched in-between the Silver Arrows duo in fifth and sixth.
The other Ferrari SF-24 entry of Carlos Sainz was eighth as Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso and Alpine’s Esteban Ocon completed the top ten.
In the second qualifying stage, which was topped by Verstappen, a late improvement from Sainz saw Williams’ Alexander Albon miss out on a Q3 appearance by a very narrow 0.003 seconds and wounded up 11th.
Alpine’s Pierre Gasly qualified 12th and ahead of RB’s Daniel Ricciardo who took 13th as Sauber’s Valtteri Bottas and Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll were the slowest of the Q2 runners in 14th and 15th.
In the opening segment, which was topped by Piastri, after a late improvement from Sainz, MoneyGram Haas F1 Team pairing Nico Hulkenberg and Kevin Magnussen missed out on a Q2 appearance by 0.236 and 0.428 wounding up 16th and 17th respectively.
RB’s Yuki Tsunoda qualified 18th but will start at the rear due to taking on all-new power-unit components for exceeding the allocations.
Williams’ Logan Sargeant and Sauber’s Zhou Guanyu brought up the rear.
You can see the full Formula 1 Rolex Belgian Grand Prix 2024 Qualifying Results classification at the link: https://www.formula1.com/en/results/2024/races/1242/belgium/qualifying
2024 Belgian GP – The Top Three
2024 Belgian GP Pole Position – Max Verstappen, #1, Oracle Red Bull Racing, Honda-RBPT, RB20 – 1:53.159:
“It was a nice qualifying, luckily the weather was okay, raining a little bit but we could still do a decent qualifying. The car was working quite well in the wet so I could just do my laps. Tomorrow is a different day, warmer, no rain. It’s all about tyre degradation – I don’t know how quick we’ll be, but I hope we can be in the mix. The race can be lost in Turn 1, so I just need to see what happens and go from there.”
2nd Place – Charles Leclerc, #16, Scuderia Ferrari, SF-24 – +0.595s:
“I definitely did not expect that this weekend, with the tricky conditions to do something above our expectations. We need to focus on tomorrow and what will happen when the rain is gone. Without the rain, P5 was the position we were fighting for with the Mercedes – the rain helped us, but I’m not going to complain. I’m really happy. It’s not the easiest first place to keep on the first lap but I’ll see, every start is different.”
3rd Place – Sergio Perez, #11, Oracle Red Bull Racing, Honda-RBPT, RB20 – +0.606s:
“Very tricky out there. It was good to finally put it together. Unfortunately we didn’t have any new tyres in Q3. P2 is the best position you can wish for at Spa. Like I’ve always said, every weekend is a new opportunity to do better. I think tomorrow degradation will be tricky, and graining – there are a lot of unknowns, but I have a good feeling.”
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