Masterful Max shows that he still has the pace in Qualifying for the Belgium GP, the Redbull driver secured pole with room to spare ahead of the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc and Sergio Perez.
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Belgium GP Qualifying 1 – HAAS are Out
The rain that curtailed running FP3 had left the track wet and the need for the green stripped inters.
The session started with some confusion due to McLaren stating over the radio that rain was due very soon, however the local weather radar and the other teams were not on the same page.
The size of the track didn’t allow anyone to take on the slicks as too many parts of the track were still too wet, even with some dry areas of the circuit.
As we headed into the final seven minutes, both the HAAS, Williams and Stroll in the Aston Martin were in the bottom five.
There were several cars that were “on the bubble” including Carlos Sainz, Zhou and Alonso.
The session was dictated by the track conditions, whoever timed it right would get themself out of the elimination zone.
Who timed it Right?
With only four spaces remaining in the bottom five due to Yuki Tsunoda’s penalty for power unit changes, George Russell found himself sitting in seventeenth with only 1 minute 21 left of the Q1, the pressure was on the Mercedes driver, not to worry as Russell put the car into the top three.
The end of the session saw both HAAS drivers out along with Tsunoda, Sargeant and Zhou.
Belgium GP Qualifying 2 – Perez makes it in (JUST)
With no rain due for the first part of the session, it was interesting to see when the teams would go for a dry tyre run, it was still not dry enough at the start of the session.
The early runs had Norris, Ocon and Piastri sitting up in the top three, however it didn’t take long for the Redbull of Max Verstappen to fire the RB20 into 1st.
A couple of front running cars were still in the bottom five with Russell in eleventh and Leclerc sitting in thirteenth, most teams decided to go for an out /push/cool/push to end the session, however the rain was causing some confusion with most teams unsure what the weather was going to do.
The session to get into Q3 was all about timing, with most drivers improving their times unfortunately for Alex Albon he would miss out on a Q3 appearance by 0.003, allowing Sergio Perez to scrape through into the final session and the fight for pole. This was only the second time in the last seven races that the Mexican driver has made it into Qualifying 3.
The session ended with Albon, Gasly, Ricciardo Bottas and Stroll all eliminated from qualifying.
Belgium Qualifying 3 – Masterful Max
The fight for pole began with Lewis Hamilton getting to exit of the pit lane first, the Mercedes driver was the first driver to set the pace for the rest to work with.
The first runs put the Redbull of Verstappen in provisional pole with Perez in second and Hamilton in third.
With five minutes to go Lewis Hamilton went for another flying lap, the Mercedes driver couldn’t challenge the Redbull’s in front of him but he did improve his time.
All eyes were on the Ferrari pair who were sitting seventh and eighth going into their final runs, they had new inters to help, however the rain was slightly heavier than earlier in the session.
Carlos Sainz was the lead Ferrari on the track, however he crossed the line and remained seventh, the other side of the Ferrari garage faired so much better, Leclerc fired in a great lap that puts the Ferrari into second place, which will be pole for the race with Verstappen dropping to tenth due to his Power Unit penalty.
Sergio Perez did (almost) what was required getting the RB20 onto the front row next to the Ferrari.
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Mercedes and Hamilton qualified in fourth, starting third and ahead of both McLarens.
Interestingly, the McLaren’s didn’t seem to have the pace in the changeable conditions, they will be hoping to find more pace in the race tomorrow, which is reportedly going to be dry.
Feature Image: Redbull Content Pool