Max Verstappen, who races with a Dutch license but was born in Hasselt, Belgium, had to change his gearbox. And because he exceeded the number of allowed gearbox changes for this season, he will start the race five positions back on the grid.
Charles Leclerc lost 82 hundredths of a second to the Red Bull driver. Sergio Perez in the Red Bull was third. In front of the series leader, the fourth-placed Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) and Carlos Sainz Jr. (Ferrari) will also start.
Qualifying started on a wet track after heavy rain today. However, this did not affect the favorites‘ performance, and most of the eliminated drivers were outsiders. Returning driver Daniel Ricciardo behind the wheel of AlphaTauri was also out of the game. The Australian’s excellent time was canceled due to track limits violation.
The second phase brought strategic tire choices. Seven minutes before its end, the first drivers appeared on slick tires.
Taking risks did not pay off for some drivers. Esteban Ocon damaged the front spoiler of his Alpine against the barriers. This meant the end of his hopes for the Frenchman.
On the other hand, Max Verstappen had great luck and finished tenth. In the final session, he left nothing to chance and won convincingly. „In the second part of qualifying, it was very close. The conditions were really tricky, and in the last lap, I didn’t expect that I could push. But in the third part, we had two sets of tires, so we had a better chance to attack,“ said Verstappen.
The race weekend at Spa-Francorchamps continues on Saturday with a sprint race starting at 16:30. The starting order for the sprint race will be determined by a shortened qualifying session on Saturday morning. The Belgian Grand Prix itself starts on Sunday at 15:00.
Results: [not provided]
