Verstappen fastest in Friday qualifying but denied pole due to gearbox penalty, will start P6; P2 Leclerc promoted to pole, P3 Perez second on grid
On the last race weekend before the long summer break, qualifying for Sunday’s Belgian Grand Prix took place on Friday due to this being another of Formula 1’s periodic, somewhat gimmicky Sprint Race weekends. But with the first race held at legendary Spa-Francorchamps in July instead of the traditional late August second half opener, Red Bull’s magnificent Max Verstappen was once again definitively the fastest man on track. Pulling an epic final flier out of the bag on the rapidly drying but still damp 4.35-mile circuit in the heart of the Ardennes after a typical period of deluge earlier in the day, Verstappen whipped up the pace to the tune of a whopping 8-tenths advantage over Ferrari man Charles Leclerc’s formerly fastest lap of 1:46.988. Unfortunately for Verstappen, however, that superlative effort did not result in pole position because Red Bull chose this race to take their sixth gearbox change of the season on Max’s car, resulting in a 5-place gird drop for the Dutch master. While that forces the current runaway championship leader to start from only P6 on the grid come Sunday a week after having his pole streak snapped by Lewis Hamilton in Hungary, you’d have to be braver man than I to bet against Verstappen charging all the way back to the front and contesting for the win.
Due to that penalty, Leclerc was elevated to pole for the GP, the Monegasque being truly quick all day long and definitely in contention for a podium, if not the win itself, with what looks to be an improved Prancing Horse, at least on a long, flowing track like this one. Verstappen’s Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez qualified P3 but will now start alongside Leclerc in P2. Lewis Hamilton was fourth fastest but his Mercedes teammate George Russell could do no better than P8 in these tricky conditions. Likewise, Leclerc’s teammate Carlos Sainz lagged behind him in P5, trailed by the greatly improved McLarens of Oliver Piastri in P6 and Lando Norris in P7. Aston Martin rounded out the Top 10 qualifiers, with Fernando Alonso once again out-qualifying Lance Stroll, P9 to P10. After their gangbusters first third of 2023, Aston appear to have lost ground when their most recent “upgrade” made the car slower rather than faster and even at a favorable long, high speed circuit like Spa they couldn’t match the pace of Ferrari, McLaren and Mercedes, much less Red Bull .
Top 10 qualifiers for the Belgian GP:
| POS | DRIVER | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1:58.515 | 1:52.784 | 1:46.168 | |
| 2 | 1:58.300 | 1:52.017 | 1:46.988 | |
| 3 | 1:58.899 | 1:52.353 | 1:47.045 | |
| 4 | 1:58.563 | 1:52.345 | 1:47.087 | |
| 5 | 1:58.688 | 1:51.711 | 1:47.152 | |
| 6 | 1:58.872 | 1:51.534 | 1:47.365 | |
| 7 | 1:59.981 | 1:52.252 | 1:47.669 | |
| 8 | 1:59.035 | 1:52.605 | 1:47.805 | |
| 9 | 1:58.834 | 1:52.751 | 1:47.843 | |
| 10 | 1:59.663 | 1:52.193 | 1:48.841 |
Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com.
Adjusted starting grid after Verstappen’s penalty is here.
Click here for Sprint Shootout Qualifying and Sprint Race results.
Tomorrow’s race airs live on ESPN beginning at 9AM Eastern here in the States. This is Leclerc’s and Perez’s best opportunity in some time to make up at least a little ground on Verstappen — let’s see if they take advantage of it. Hope to see you then to find out how it all shakes out!