Max Verstappen on Red Bull was the fastest in qualifying for the Belgian GP, the 14th round of the Formula 1 World Championship, but due to a ten-position grid penalty, he will start from 11th, while Charles Leclerc will be on pole position with the Ferrari, having recorded the second fastest time. Also in the front row is Sergio Perez with the Red Bull, as in 2023, while in the second row will be Lewis Hamilton with the Mercedes and Lando Norris’s McLaren. Carlos Sainz with the other Ferrari recorded the eighth fastest time. “It’s exactly the same position as last year, it’s nice because I certainly wasn’t expecting it this weekend,” commented Charles Leclerc. “With the difficult conditions today, we managed to do something above our expectations,” continued the Ferrari driver, who is already thinking about Sunday’s race. “According to the forecasts, the race will take place on dry asphalt. Starting from pole here, it’s not easy to maintain the first position, but I will try to do it,” concluded the Monegasque.
The times on the Spa circuit
On the wet track, in other areas soaked by rain, Verstappen recorded a time of 1:53.159, while Leclerc was 595 milliseconds behind, snatching the position from Perez by just 11 milliseconds. Behind Norris, with the fifth fastest time, were his McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri in sixth, followed by George Russell in seventh with the Mercedes ahead of Sainz. Ninth and tenth fastest times went to Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) and Esteban Ocon (Alpine).