On a very delicate Spa-Francorchamps circuit, with intermittent rain and tricky conditions, Max Verstappen felt at home to set the best time of the F1 Belgian GP qualifying session. For statistics, Max took the pole, but not in practice: he immediately gave it to Charles Leclercwho by being second against the clock gained power start this Sunday’s race first because of the 10-place penalty the World Championship leader is carrying for an engine change.
Verstappen, coming back from 11th
In this way, Max Verstappen, without a rival in the wet, with other stratospheric laps in the water, fulfilled his first main objective of the weekend, to maximize his qualifying result and be the fastest, which means start 11th in this Sunday’s race. So, the Dutchman got the maximum number of places possible for the start to go for a comeback that seems very complicated, because in the dry (it is not expected to rain this Sunday) his Red Bull is no longer the best car
Norris chose a better arrangement for the race
The opportunity seemed perfect for Lando Norris. He is 76 points behind Max Verstappen in the World Championship with 11 races remaining and wants to continue cutting points away from Max to put pressure on the current best car on the grid. He had to grab a pole to get the biggest booty and poke his rival’s wound, but in the wet, Lando Norris is far from the goal: he is 5th (starts 4th) 0.822 behind Verstappen, but more importantly, he is two tenths behind Leclerc (starts 1st). Lando had to pay for what happened in Sunday’s race, starting in 4th place with a theoretically better race pace, to put pressure on Verstappen to go all out.
Probably, the explanation does not lie in the hands of Norris, but in the configuration chosen by McLaren: a car with less downforce to be faster on the straight, something that can harm it in the rain. However, this arrangement will probably fly the race. Lando must win.
* Verstappen was penalized 10 places and Tsunoda was last
Pérez, with honey on his lips, came out in 2nd
The battle for the first real position on the grid is very tight. ‘Checo’ Pérez took second with a good attempt in Q3 and seemed to have secured first place at the start. But at the last breath, Leclerc got a good lap to overtake Pérez by just 11 thousandths. Even Hamilton had a surprise at the end, as he ended up 4th (he would start 3rd) Only 81 thousandths of Charles.
Sainz will start 7th
Next to Hamilton, Norris will start, 4th, with Piastri in 5th position, Russell in 6th and Carlos Sainz in 7th place. The man from Madrid could not shine in the conditions in which he always does, finishing 1.3 off the best time and just over 7 tenths behind his teammate Charles.
Alonso will start 8th
The one in Belgium is a complex classification. Especially, in Q1 and Q2 where it was key to set the time at the end because of how good the track was, where drivers like Pérez, Sainz, Alonso, Russell and Hamilton managed to make a cut after changing- alternate in different stages between possible elimination. In Q3 a light rain accompanied the drivers and the track did not improve. In these conditions, for intermediate tires, Fernando Alonso entered the top 10 and thus achieved the first goal of the weekend, but he was not surprised because he could not use new tires as the Top team.
He arrived in Q3 without a new tire and there was nothing for him to do. His goal was to beat Ocon and he did. He is 9th, 1″6 behind the best and 1″1 behind Leclerc, so the Spaniard will start from 8th position against Ocon (9th) and Albon (10th).
Source: La Verdad
I’m Rose Herman and I work as an author for Today Times Live. My expertise lies in writing about sports, a passion of mine that has been with me since childhood. As part of my job, I provide comprehensive coverage on everything from football to tennis to golf.
