Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc secured pole place for the Belgian Grand Prix on Saturday, regardless of Red Bull’s reigning champion Max Verstappen clocking the quickest lap in moist circumstances.
Verstappen faces a 10-place grid penalty for utilizing a fifth engine, dropping him to eleventh on Sunday.
Championship chief Verstappen, a three-time world champion, will begin from the center of the pack however goals for his fourth consecutive win in Belgium, a monitor recognized for its overtaking alternatives.
Red Bull’s Sergio Perez, beneath stress after a string of poor performances, joins Leclerc on the entrance row. Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton will begin third, with McLaren’s Lando Norris finishing the second row.
“I definitely did not expect that this weekend, with the tricky conditions, to do something above our expectations,” Leclerc mentioned. “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.”
Norris is second within the championship, 76 factors behind Verstappen, and can see this as one other nice likelihood to shut the hole, particularly within the anticipated drier circumstances.
It turned out to be a repeat of final 12 months’s qualifying at Spa, the place Verstappen was additionally quickest however dropped to sixth on the grid with one other penalty, and Leclerc took benefit by grabbing pole place.
This time round, Verstappen set a time of 1 minute, 53.159 seconds, which no one may beat, however Leclerc, 0.595 seconds slower, would be the man on the entrance of the grid.
McLaren’s Oscar Piastri, who gained his first F1 Grand Prix final weekend in Hungary, begins fifth with George Russell sixth within the Mercedes.
Leclerc’s Ferrari teammate Carlos Sainz will begin seventh on the grid, and Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso eighth, with Alpine’s Esteban Ocon ninth, and Alexander Albon of Williams tenth.
Practice washout
The rain meant the sooner remaining apply was roughly a washout, with little driving achieved and Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll crashing early on, however qualifying started in barely improved circumstances.
Stroll’s group had loads of work to do earlier than qualifying after they had been pressured to alter all the pieces besides the survival cell, and he did not make the ultimate section of qualifying.
Verstappen gained right here in 2022 from 14th on the grid, and final 12 months from sixth, however after the spectacular type of McLaren final weekend of their one-two in Hungary, and with Leclerc on pole, the championship chief has an actual battle on his arms.
Leclerc has had just one different pole place this season, at Monaco, however that additionally gave him his solely win this time period. Verstappen is in actual hazard of failing to win for a fourth successive GP, one thing that has not occurred since 2020.
“It was a nice qualifying, luckily the weather was OK, raining a little bit but we could still do a decent qualifying,” Verstappen mentioned. “Tomorrow is a different day, warmer, no rain. It’s all about tire degradation. I don’t know how quick we’ll be, but I hope we can be in the mix.”
Source: www.dailysabah.com