Leclerc on pole in Belgium as Verstappen takes grid penalty

Max Verstappen set the fastest time in qualifying for the Belgian Grand Prix, but the Dutchman will start from P11 due to a 10-place grid penalty for making a power unit change, meaning that Charles Leclerc will inherit pole position.

Verstappen looked impressively quick as the session progressed and set an unbeatable lap of 1:53.159s in the Red Bull, half a second clear of Ferrari’s Leclerc. Sergio Perez also enjoyed a better qualifying by putting his Red Bull into P3, ahead of Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton in P4.

Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri took fifth and sixth respectively for McLaren, with the Mercedes of George Russell following in seventh.

Carlos Sainz claimed P8 for Ferrari, while his countryman Fernando Alonso went P9 in the Aston Martin and Esteban Ocon rounded out the top-10 for Alpine.

Alex Albon only narrowly missed out on Q3 by just three thousandths of a second in the Williams, putting him in P11, and Pierre Gasly followed for Alpine in P12.

Daniel Ricciardo took 13th place in the RB, putting him ahead of Kick Sauber’s Valtteri Bottas in 14th and Lance Stroll – whose Aston Martin was repaired in time to participate after his FP3 crash – in 15th.

The Haas pair of Nico Hulkenberg and Kevin Magnussen had a disappointing day, having both exited in Q1 in 16th and 17th, while Yuki Tsunoda was also eliminated in 18th, though the RB driver had already been set to start from the back due to an engine penalty.

Logan Sargeant ended the day down in P19 for Williams, while the Kick Sauber of Zhou Guanyu followed in 20th place.

Q1

After rain limited running in the third and final practice hour earlier in the day, the track remained wet as qualifying approached at Spa-Francorchamps. Showers were not forecast to return until the end of the session, but the weather still posed something of an unknown factor.

Uncertainty also surrounded whether Stroll would participate following his heavy crash in FP3. While the Canadian was fortunately all ok after the incident, the Aston Martin crew were hard at work fixing the damaged AMR24 in time for qualifying.

Given that continued threat of rain, a queue of cars had formed in the pit lane ahead of Q1 getting underway, with everyone keen to put a lap on the board should the conditions change. Norris’ engineer explained the importance of the first lap due to further showers potentially arriving within minutes.

All of the field had headed out on the intermediate tyres within the opening moments but the track looked to be posing challenges, with Hamilton reporting that there was “no grip”. However, it looked to be rapidly ramping up as the times continued to tumble.

Bottas caught the eye by going up from last to sixth with around eight minutes left on the clock, while Gasly had impressively slotted into third. Meanwhile Norris was told, “Now or never for a new set, we think we should take a new set”, to which the Briton responded, “Okay, we box then”, as several drivers boxed for new intermediates.

With five minutes remaining, Verstappen displaced Piastri at the top of the timesheets while Norris, Zhou, Albon, Hulkenberg and Sargeant were in the danger zone, before Norris quickly hauled himself up the order into fifth.

As the order continued to change, other big names found themselves at risk, including Russell in P17 as the session entered into its final minutes. Everybody had pitted for fresh intermediates – with the exception of Verstappen, seemingly feeling comfortable in P1.

Russell surged up to third and into safety – though was eventually pushed down to seventh – while Piastri went quickest of all and Gasly took second. Perez also avoided another Q1 exit by going fourth fastest behind team mate Verstappen.

While some front-runners looked to potentially be at risk at times, most ultimately avoided elimination but only just, with Norris in 12th and Hamilton in 13th.

Others weren’t so lucky, though. The Haas pair of Hulkenberg and Magnussen exited in P16 and P17, followed by Tsunoda in P18, though the Japanese driver was already set to start from the back owing to an engine penalty. Sargeant was P19, while Zhou brought up the rear in P20.

Knocked out: Hulkenberg, Magnussen, Tsunoda, Sargeant, Zhou

Q2

Intermediates remained the tyre of choice as Q2 began. Verstappen questioned whether rain had arrived again just a few minutes into the session, before being informed by his engineer that it was “very fine drizzle”.

The track looked to be quickly drying out, with Norris pumping in a lap time one second up on his Q1 effort. Verstappen then went even faster on a lap of 1:53.857s, putting him six tenths ahead of Norris.

As the segment entered its final five minutes, the rain looked to have increased and there were again some notable names at risk, including Sainz and Leclerc. The Ferrari duo improved to go into the top five, before Perez then ended up in the drop zone in P11.

While replays showed Piastri having a bit of a moment, the Australian still managed to put himself into second behind Verstappen. Perez, meanwhile, improved enough to secure a Q3 appearance – but, with others bettering their times, the Mexican was pushed down the order and eventually just made it in P10.

This meant that Albon missed out by only three thousandths of a second, while Gasly also failed to make it through in P12. Also exiting were Ricciardo, Bottas and Stroll in 13th, 14th and 15th places.

Knocked out: Albon, Gasly, Ricciardo, Bottas, Stroll

Q3

The Mercedes cars were at the front of the queue as the green light appeared for Q3, leading Hamilton to question if this was a good thing. “Depends on what this rain does,” was the response he received from his engineer.

It was Verstappen who had gone fastest after the first runs and by some margin, with the Dutchman’s lap of 1:53.159s putting him six tenths ahead of team mate Perez. Hamilton took third, from Piastri in fourth, Russell in fifth and Norris pushed down to sixth.

While many cars returned to the pit lane following the opening laps, the Mercedes and McLaren drivers stayed out, seemingly to keep themselves safe should further heavy rain arrive. Most did not make drastic improvements, but Norris moved himself up to fourth ahead of Piastri.

The rest of the field returned to action for their final efforts, but could anyone match Verstappen’s impressive benchmark? Leclerc bettered his time to go into second, yet this was still half a second clear of the Red Bull.

Perez enjoyed his best qualifying in some weeks by taking third, ahead of Hamilton in fourth and the McLaren pair of Norris and Piastri in a disappointing fifth and sixth. The top-10 was completed by Russell, Sainz, Alonso and Ocon.

The 2024 Belgian Grand Prix is set to begin at 15:00 local time (14:00 GMT) on Sunday. Can Verstappen produce more heroics at Spa to reach the podium or will Ferrari head into the summer break with the badly needed confidence boost a win would bring?