Max Verstappen set the quickest time in qualifying for the Belgian Grand Prix, but the Dutchman will start from P11 due to a 10-place grid penalty for changing power units, ensuring Charles Leclerc will take pole position.
Verstappen looked extremely swift as the session went, setting an unmatched lap time of 1m 53.159s in the Red Bull, half a second ahead of Ferrari’s Leclerc. Sergio Perez also had a better qualifying, placing his Red Bull in third place, ahead of Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton in fourth.
McLaren’s Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri finished fifth and sixth, respectively, with George Russell’s Mercedes in seventh.
Carlos Sainz finished eighth for Ferrari, with his countryman Fernando Alonso ninth in the Aston Martin and Esteban Ocon rounding off the top ten for Alpine.
Alex Albon missed Q3 by only three thousandths of a second in the Williams, finishing P11, while Pierre Gasly followed for Alpine in P12.
Daniel Ricciardo finished 13th in the RB, ahead of Valtteri Bottas from Kick Sauber in 14th and Lance Stroll, whose Aston Martin was repaired in time to compete following his FP3 collision, in 15th.
Nico Hulkenberg and Kevin Magnussen of Haas had a terrible day, finishing 16th and 17th in Q1, respectively, while Yuki Tsunoda was also eliminated in 18th, despite the fact that the RB driver was already scheduled to start from the back owing to an engine penalty.
Logan Sargeant finished 19th for Williams, with Zhou Guanyu’s Kick Sauber following in 20th place.
