Tag: Spa Francorchamps

27 July 2024: Max Verstappen dominated a wet qualifying session at Spa-Francorchamps beating Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc by almost six tenths of a second, with under pressure Sergio Pérez putting in a good performance to take third. However, with Verstappen set for a 10-place grid penalty for the race, Leclerc grabs pole for tomorrow’s Belgian Grand Prix. 

“It was a nice qualifying. It was raining a little bit but we could do a decent qualifying,” said Verstappen, who will start the race from P11 after taking a fifth ICE of the season this weekend. “I know that I have to start 10 places back so this was the best I could do today. We’ll go from there. I don’t know how quick we are going to be but I hope that we can be in the mix to try to move forward.”

The opening session of qualifying began on a damp track, on Intermediate tyres but with no rain falling and Verstappen was quickly to the fore. The Red Bull driver posted a lap of 1:56.003 on his opening lap to take top spot from McLaren’s Oscar Piastri, with Pérez in third. 

With a little less than seven minutes remaining, Piastri jumped back to top spot with a lap of 1:55.549, 0.454 ahead of Verstappen who was starting another flyer. And when the Dutchman crossed the line, he returned to the top of the leaderboard with a time of 1:54.938, six tenths ahead of Piastri. 

In the final minutes, Piastri once again stole top spot with a lap of 1:54.835. Verstappen went for a last attempt but the Dutchman came across a slow Guanyu Zhou on his flyer and as Alpine’s Pierre Gasly took P2, Verstappen eased through in third place having used just one set of Inters during the session, with Pérez in fourth. 

At the other end of the table, Haas’ Nico Hülkenberg and Kevin Magnussen were ruled out in 16^th and 17^threspectively, with RB’s Yuki Tsunoda exiting in P18 ahead of Williams’ Logan Sargeant and the Sauber of Zhou. 

Alex Albon kicked things off in 1:54.724, but he was swiftly demoted by Lando Norris who went almost three tenths of a second quicker than the Williams driver. Verstappen, though, was going even quicker and he jumped to top spot with a lap of 1:53.857, six tenths ahead of Norris and eight clear of Albon. 

Verstappen then shaved two hundredths of a second off his first flyer to cement himself into P1 but further back, Pérez, was flirting with trouble.

The Mexican bolted on more fresh Inters and jumped to fourth but as the track improved further and better times flooded in elsewhere, he began to slide down the timesheet. And when the order settled after the final shake-up, the Mexican scraped through to Q3 in tenth place, just 0.003s ahead of Williams’ Alex Albon who was eliminated ahead of Gasly, RB’s Daniel Ricciardo, Sauber’s Valtteri Bottas and Stroll. 

At the start of the top-10 shootout, the Red Bull pair were last out on track and on new Inters Verstappen powered to the top of the order with a lap of 1:53.159, six tenths of a second ahead of Pérez who put in a strong lap on used tyres to post a lap of 1:53.765. That put the Mexican over two tenths clear of Hamilton who was on fresh tyres. 

And with only the Ferrari cars with fresh inters for the final runs, Verstappen’s opening time proved untouchable as claimed top spot in qualifying, meaning that after his penalty for taking a fifth ICE of the season, the champion will start from 11^th place on the grid. 

Behind him, Leclerc, one of the few to have a fresh set of Inters for his final run, edged ahead of Pérez by 0.011s in the final moments to claim P2 and a front-of-the-grid start for the race. Pérez, third in the session, will line up on the front row for the first time since the Chinese Grand Prix in April.

Behind Checo, Hamilton qualified fourth ahead of Norris, with Piastri in sixth place. Russell took seventh in the second Mercedes ahead of Sainz, while Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso ended the session in ninth place ahead of Ocon. 

2024 FIA Formula 1 Belgian Grand Prix – Qualifying
1 Max Verstappen Red Bull/Honda RBPT 1’53.159 
2 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1’53.754 0.595
2 Sergio Pérez Red Bull/Honda RBPT 1’53.765 0.011  
4 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1’53.835 0.081 
5 Lando Norris McLaren/Mercedes 1’53.981 0.227 
6 Oscar Piastri McLaren/Mercedes 1’54.027 0.273  
7 George Russell Mercedes 1’54.184 0.430 
8 Carlos Sainz Ferrari 1’54.477 0.723 
9 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin/Mercedes 1’54.765 1.011 
10 Esteban Ocon Alpine/Renault 1’54.810 1.056 
11 Alexander Albon Williams/Mercedes 1’54.473 0.719 
12 Pierre Gasly Alpine/Renault 1’54.635 0.881 
13 Daniel Ricciardo RB/Honda RBPT 1’54.682 0.928 
14 Valtteri Bottas Sauber/Ferrari 1’54.764 1.010 
15 Lance Stroll Aston Martin/Mercedes 1’55.716 1.962 
16 Nico Hülkenberg Haas/Ferrari 1’56.308 2.554 
17 Kevin Magnussen Haas/Ferrari 1’56.500 2.746 
18 Yuki Tsunoda RB/Honda RBPT 1’56.593 2.839 
19 Zhou Guanyu Sauber/Ferrari 1’57.775 4.021 
20 Logan Sargeant Williams/Mercedes 1’57.230 3.476 

Spa Francorchamps (Belgium) 28 July 2023: Max Verstappen topped Qualifying for the Belgian Grand Prix, delivering an impressive final flying lap in Q3 to beat Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and third-placed Red Bull team-mate Sergio Pérez by more than eight tenths of a second. But the champion will start the race at Spa-Francorchamps from sixth place on the grid after he takes a gearbox penalty. 

At the start of Q1, on a damp track, it was McLaren’s Lando Norris who set the early benchmark with a lap of 2:01.874 set on Intermediate tyres. Mercedes’ George Russell then bettered that by almost three tenths of a second before Verstappen Max jumped to second place with an opening flyer of 2:01.597. McLaren’s Oscar Piastri then took top spot and he was then eclipsed by Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz who led the way on 2:00.536. 

With five minutes left in the opening segment Verstappen rose to P1 with a lap of 1:58.932 that put him ahead of Sainz and Pérez who had moved to P3 with a lap of 1:59.911. Hamilton then moved to the top with a lap of 1:58.841 but it was Charles Leclerc who took the Q1 bragging rights at the end of the segment. The Ferrari man was one of the last drivers on track at the end and his final tour of 1:58.300 saw him jump from P16 and the drop zone to the top of the timesheet. 

Verstappen eased through in second place, two tenths behind Leclerc, while Hamilton progressed in third place. 

At the other end of the timesheet, Alex Albon was the first man eliminated in P16. The Williams driver was followed to the exit by Alfa Romeo’s Zhou Guanyu, Williams’ team-mate Logan Sargeant, Alpha Tauri’s Daniel Ricciardo, who had his final lap deleted for a track limits violation at Raidillon, and Haas’ Nico Hülkenberg. 

At the start of Q2 Hamilton was first on track on Intermediate tyres. The Mercedes driver stopped the clock at 1:58.024 to take P1 but it was clear that the surface was improving rapidly and when Verstappen vaulted to P1 with a time of 1:55.535, more than two seconds ahead of Hamilton, the change was clear and drivers began to switch to slicks for the final runs. 

And in the end it was McLaren’s Piastri who made the most of the conditions. The Australian took top spot with a lap of 1:51.534, almost two tenths ahead of Sainz, with Leclerc third ahead of Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll.

Verstappen, though, was almost caught out by the changing conditions. The Dutchman had a lap deleted for track limits and had to put in a last-ditch flyer. That was also imperfect and his final time of 1:52.784 saw him scrape through in P10. 

The unpredictable nature of the session continued in the first runs of the top-10 shootout. Verstappen’s first flying lap of 1:48.059 took him to P1. But Leclerc was able to find more time and the Ferrari driver took provisional pole 0.128 ahead of the world champion with Sainz in third. 

But in the end, Verstappen unlocked the pace of his RB19 and with a new set of Soft tyres on board and with more confidence in the car and the conditions, he string together an impressive lap that left closest rival Leclerc eight tenths of a second adrift. 

The champion’s grid penalty means Leclerc will start from pole and Pérez will move from P3 in qualifying, just five hundredths of a second off the Ferrari driver, to a front row start. Behind the Mexican Hamilton took fourth place in Qualifying ahead of Sainz, with Piastri sixth. All will move up a place for the race start. Norris finished in P7 ahead of Russell, while Alonso will line up in P9 alongside team-mate Lance Stroll. 

2023 FIA Formula 1 Belgian Grand Prix – Qualifying 
1 Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing 1:58.515 1:52.784 1:46.168 22
2 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:58.300 1:52.017 1:46.988 23
3 Sergio Perez Red Bull Racing 1:58.899 1:52.353 1:47.045 22
4 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:58.563 1:52.345 1:47.087 24
5 Carlos Sainz Ferrari 1:58.688 1:51.711 1:47.152 23
6 Oscar Piastri McLaren 1:58.872 1:51.534 1:47.365 23
7 Lando Norris McLaren 1:59.981 1:52.252 1:47.669 21
8 George Russell Mercedes 1:59.035 1:52.605 1:47.805 24
9 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin 1:58.834 1:52.751 1:47.843 22
10 Lance Stroll Aston Martin 1:59.663 1:52.193 1:48.841 22
11 Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri 1:59.044 1:53.148 15
12 Pierre Gasly Alpine 1:59.511 1:53.671 17
13 Kevin Magnussen Haas 2:00.020 1:54.160 17
14 Valtteri Bottas Alfa Romeo 1:59.484 1:54.694 17
15 Esteban Ocon Alpine 1:59.634 1:56.372 13
16 Alexander Albon Willians 2:00.314 8
17 Zhou Guanyu Alfa Romeo 2:00.832 9
18 Logan Sargeant Williams 2:01.535 6
19 Daniel Ricciardo AlphaTauri 2:02.159 8
20 Nico Hulkenberg Haas 2:03.166 5