@Charles_Leclerc storms to #BelgianGP pole. #F1

Charles Leclerc put in a ripping lap to take pole position for the Belgian Grand Prix with a whopping 0.748 second gap to team-mate Sebastian Vettel as Ferrari locked out the front row.

Leclerc set the benchmark in the initial run in Q3 with a lap of a 1:42.644, which would have been enough to take pole.

The young-Monegasque driver improved once more to 1:42.519 on his final flyer to make it certain of starting at the front and give the Scuderia it’s first pole position at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps since Kimi Raikkonen achieved that moment 12 years ago.

Vettel had to push extra harder to get a place on the front row alongside his Ferrari team-mate and was behind Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton in the first hot laps in the top ten shootout.

Hamilton made an improvement on his second flyer but the Vettel’s lap was just enough to move ahead of the Briton and only by 0.015 seconds.

Valtteri Bottas planted the other Mercedes in fourth place to start alongside Hamilton in a Silver Arrow second row lockout and the Finn was 0.896 seconds adrift of Leclerc’s benchmark.

Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen rounded out the top five and was almost three-tenths behind Bottas with the Dutchman nearly not making out of Q1, after reporting a loss of power before finishing a lap good enough to make the second qualifying stage just 13 seconds before the red flag.

The front-running drivers all struggled during their warm up laps in Q3 as they were scrambling for track position, with both Mercedes drivers locking up and having near-misses on their first runs while out on out-laps.

Vettel also encountered trouble saying “what a mess” on his cool-down lap.

Renault were the best of the rest as Daniel Ricciardo out-qualified his team-mate Nico Hulkenberg by nearly three-tenths as the duo ended up sixth and seventh respectively.

Alfa Romeo Racing’s Kimi Raikkonen almost split the two Renault R.S.19 racers but wound up eighth and narrowly 0.015 seconds off of Hulkenberg.

This put the Finn ahead of Racing Point’s Sergio Perez, who reverted to a previous-spec Mercedes power-train after the upgraded engine failed on Friday.

Haas F1 Team’s Kevin Magnussen completed the top ten but the Dane never looked as though he could improve as high as that.

Magnussen’s team-mate Romain Grosjean was the quickest of the bunch eliminated in Q2 after being out-paced by his fellow Haas colleague by only 0.059 seconds.

McLaren’s Lando Norris qualified 12th and in-front of Racing Point’s 13th-placed Lance Stroll, who only made one run in Q2 as the Canadian holds a grid-penalty for upgrading and taking on the new Mercedes engine at the start of the weekend, which forces him to start at the rear of the grid.

Red Bull Racing’s newly promoted youngster Alexander Albon also will suffer a back-of-the-pack penalty for putting in a newly upgraded Honda engine, meaning the Thai-Briton could only focus on his race preparation.

Although Albon posted a time in Q2, it was set on a scrub set and left him in 14th.

Alfa Romeo Racing’s Antonio Giovinazzi qualified 15th on the grid but was unable to put a time in after suffering an engine failure with his new-spec Ferrari engine at the end of the first qualifying stage.

The Italian’s failure at the end of Q1 resulted in a late red flag and ensured the initial lap times were ones dictating who were to be eliminated.

Returning Toro Rosso driver Pierre Gasly was the quickest of the eliminatees in Q1, after lapping almost three-tenths slower than McLaren’s Q2 qualifier Norris.

McLaren’s Carlos Sainz was the shock elimination in the opening stage of qualifying after the Spaniard had to complete his first flyer on tyres he used before the red flag.

Sainz also joins the raft of drivers being hit with a penalty for receiving a new-spec engine at the start of practice but returned to a previous version for yesterday’s running – although other penalties means he will be starting in 17th.

Toro Rosso’s Daniil Kvyat, who also carries a rear-of-the-grid penalty for upgrading to an upgraded Honda power-train, will start 18th and in-front of ROKiT Williams Racing’s George Russell.

Russell’s team-mate Robert Kubica was unable to set a lap time after his brand-new Mercedes engine blew up towards the end of his initial hot lap.

Kubica brought his FW42 racer, which was shooting out plumes of smoke, to a stop as fire broke out of the rear, and lead to the first red flag of the session.

You can watch what happened in qualifying right here at the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=emdlN4f5Gf0

You can also go onboard with Charles Leclerc’s stunning pole position lap: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJcwEmkn6Co

Provisional Formula 1 Johnnie Walker Belgian Grand Prix Starting Grid

Vale Anthoine Hubert

It was sad to learn of the news this morning of the loss of highly talented driver for BWT Arden Anthoine Hubert in the Formula 2 feature race at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps. He was a great talent to watch and a true champion.

My thoughts and prayers are with his family, friends, his team at BWT Arden, Renault and their Renault Sport Academy, as well as Juan Manuel Correa, Giuliano Alesi and Marino Sato who were also involved in the incident.

Vale Anthoine Hubert, you’ll never be forgotten.