Verstappen storms to Belgian GP pole but Leclerc tops grid

Max Verstappen dominated qualifying at the Belgian Grand Prix but an engine penalty will promote Charles Leclerc to pole position after a wet afternoon at Spa-Francorchamps. Verstappen was peerless throughout the afternoon in at-times treacherously wet conditions. Heavy rain drenched the circuit ahead of qualifying, while intermittent showers prevented the track surface from ever truly drying, with intermediate tires used through all three segments. The Dutchman’s Red Bull car had been plied with downforce for wet-weather performance, and it paid significant dividends through the twisty middle sector, though which he was comfortably faster than any other driver. It was the foundation of his ultimate lap time of 1m53.159s, set with his first lap and which proved untouchable. But Verstappen won’t reap the rewards for his lap. A 10-place grid penalty for adding a new internal combustion engine to his power unit pool will drop him to 11th on Sunday’s grid. “It was a nice qualifying,” he said. “Very happy. The car was working quite well in the wet. I could just do my laps and try to do clean lap times in the wet, which was always quite tricky. “I don’t know how quick we’re going to be . I hope we can be in the mix to try and move forward.” The penalty promotes Leclerc to pole position for the second year in a row, the Monegasque having likewise inherited top spot from a penalized Verstappen in Belgium in 2023. Leclerc was one of the few drivers to meaningfully improve with his second lap of Q3, leaping from eighth to second in the order with a gain of more than a quarter of a second to slot behind Verstappen by 0.595s. “I definitely did not expect that this weekend,” Leclerc said. “Obviously with the tricky conditions we could do something above our expectations. “It’s a good day for the team. Now we need to focus on tomorrow and see what will happen when the rain is gone.” Sergio Perez will start the race second — just as he did last year — after falling just 0.011s short of Leclerc’s best time. The Mexican is targeting a repeat of last year’s launch, which saw him take the lead from Leclerc with the help of the powerful slipstream out of the first corner. “I think P2 is probably the best position you can wish for in Spa,” he said. “I was the same with Charles last year, so I’mg oign to be trying tomorrow to do the same. “I’ve got a good feeling for tomorrow, so we’ll see.” Lewis Hamilton will line up fourth in the best-placed Mercedes — he was 0.676s slower than Verstappen but only 0.081s behind Leclerc — alongside McLaren’s Lando Norris. Oscar Piastri will be promoted to fifth on the grid ahead of George Russell, while Carlos Sainz and Fernando Alonso will share the fourth row on the grid. Esteban Ocon was the slowest car in Q3 and will start ninth ahead of Alex Albon – who was knocked out in Q2 just 0.003s behind Perez — who will move up to 10th. Verstappen will start 11th ahead of Pierre Gasly and Daniel Ricciardo, who was sent out too early for his final flying lap and missed the best conditions of Q2 with his fresh intermediate tires. Valtteri Bottas will start 14th ahead of Lance Stroll, who qualified 15th after a mammoth repair job by his Aston Martin team following his crash in second practice. The team rushed to change the car’s front-left corner, front wing and floor, while precautionary power unit and gearbox changes were also undertaken in time for qualifying. Haas teammates Nico Hulkenberg and Kevin Magnussen were knocked out 16th and 17th. Yuki Tsunoda qualified 18th but will start last with a penalty for taking a new power unit this weekend, promoting Logan Sargeant and Zhou Guanyu to 18th and 19th on Sunday’s grid. Zhou will be investigated after the session for blocking Verstappen through Blanchimont late in the session.