Charles Leclerc will start from pole position for the third time in his Formula 1 career in Sunday's Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps.
The Ferrari driver was on stunning form throughout the afternoon, and out of reach of anyone including his team mate Sebastian Vettel who will start tomorrow's race alongside him on the front row.
Lewis Hamilton bounced back from his FP3 accident to secure third place on the grid alongside his Mercedes team mate Valtteri Bottas. Max Verstappen overcame early glitches on his Red Bull to claim fifth ahead of Renault's Daniel Ricciardo.
The session saw two early red flags in Q1 for apparent engine issues for Robert Kubica and Antonio Giovinazzi.
Spa was sparkling in the summer sunshine, the Ardennes forest shimmering in the heat haze, as the cars emerged on track for the first qualifying session following the annual two-week shutdown. The big question was whether the extended break had made any major changes to the fortunes of the ten teams.
Q1: Leclerc on stunning form amid red flags for Kubica and Giovinazzi
George Russell was the first to set off when the track went green, followed a few moments later by his Williams team mate Robert Kubica. Alfa Romeo then dispatched Antonio Giovinazzi and Kimi Raikkonen, but it was almost four minutes into the 18-minute round before everyone bar Lewis Hamilton and Daniil Kvyat made their move.
However before anyone could actually set a time, the session was red-flagged for a major issue for Kubica. The Pole's FW42 was billowing plumes of smoke out of the back of the newly installed Mercedes power unit, followed by tell-tale flames from the exhaust. Even before this emergency, Russell had already abandoned his installation lap and returned to the Williams garage with a problem of his own, reporting that "the dash is going a bit mental - it keeps alternating from white to black."
When the session resumed, there were 13 minutes remaining on the clock and a long line of cars waiting to go out and set times. The ten minute delay in proceedings had helped Mercedes complete repairs to Hamilton's car after his FP3 accident, and Russell's issues were also now sorted out, but there had been signs of consternation in the Ferrari garage around Charles Leclerc's car and the Monagasque was among the last of the drivers to head out.
The first time on the leaderboard was set by Max Verstappen, but the Red Bull's time was significantly off the expected pace and the Dutch driver was on the radio complaining of problems. By the time everyone completed their first push laps, Verstappen's 1:51.843s put him eight seconds off the top time of 1:43.587s subsequently set by Leclerc, a spectacular effort that instantly shrugged off any concerns about the reliability of his SF90.
Leclerc was even half a second faster than his team mate Sebastian Vettel, with Valtteri Bottas a full second slower still in third just ahead of Hamilton. Alexander Albon carried Red Bull's colours in fifth ahead of Daniel Ricciardo, followed by Giovinazzi and the two Haas drivers Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen sandwiching Sergio Perez's Racing Point to round out the top ten.
Verstappen found himself at the bottom of the remaining 19 cars still in the session, and at risk of elimination along with Russell, Kvyat and McLaren's Carlos Sainz who already had a grid penalty for new engine parts. Once the Red Bull mechanics had got to grips with the RB15's problems, Verstappen was back out for a second run and this time he did enough to go third fastest despite hitting traffic along the way.
He was fortunate to complete the lap, because seconds later Giovinazzi's car crawled to a halt at exit of La Source with an apparent engine issue. It triggered a second red flag which prematurely terminated the session, catching out everyone who had been on their final push lap. Verstappen's last-gasp leap to safety had ironically plunged his former team mate Pierre Gasly into the drop zone along with Sainz, Kvyat, Russell and Kubica.
Q2: Ferrari stay top, Norris and Albon fail to make it through
There was a slight delay to the start of the second round as track workers took care of Giovinazzi's stricken Alfa, which would clearly take no further part in the session despite finishing Q1 in a strong eighth place.
With Spa presenting the longest lap of the season, there was little time to waste as drivers headed out on soft tyres for their initial flying laps. First on the timing screens was Raikkonen with 1:44.140s which was good enough to hold on to the top spot until Verstappen finally managed to shave off eight thousandths of a second to dethrone the Finn.
The two Mercedes drivers were then faster, Hamilton pipping Bottas, before the Ferraris emphasised their domination once again with Leclerc's 1:43.376s proving to be 0.130s quicker than Vettel. The good news for the Silver Arrows was that Hamilton was only a little over two tenths off Leclerc's pace, much closer than in previous sessions.
The front runners then cruised back to the pits, careful not to put any more wear on their tyres than necessary given that they could prove to be the set they would start Sunday's race on. Also provisionally through to the final round after the first runs were Renault's Daniel Ricciardo and Racing Point pair Sergio Perez and Lance Stroll. Kevin Magnussen held the final transfer spot for Haas ahead of Nico Hulkenberg, Romain Grosjean, Lando Norris and Alexander Albon who all faced elimination.
Verstappen decided there was no need for him to come out to play again in Q2, while Stroll and Albon also remained in the garage as engine penalties meant they would be starting near the back of the grid anyway. Everyone else came back out again - still on softs - with even the two Ferraris feeling the need to cover off the possibility of any major big improvements from their rivals.
Leclerc eked out a little more time to post a new effort of 1:42.938s with Vettel also improving to stay just within a tenth. Once again Hamilton and Bottas ended up uncomfortably far off the pace in third and fourth, but still ahead of Ricciardo who pushed past the absent Verstappen for fifth place. Raikkonen remained in seventh despite a late improvement from Hulkenberg to eighth, putting him ahead of Perez and Magnussen.
Grosjean was 0.059s behind his team mate and duly joined Norris, Stroll, Albon and the sidelined Giovinazzi in the elimination zone as the chequered flag flew.
Q3: Leclerc proves unstoppable, Vettel helps Ferrari to front row lock-out
With drivers seeking to get into the slip stream of the cars ahead, traffic ended up proving the biggest headache of the final round. The cars packed up heading into Stavelot, forcing Hamilton to slow to a crawl to avoid running into the back of Bottas on their warm-up laps.
Raikkonen took advantage of a clear track ahead of him to set a benchmark of 1:44.978s, which was quickly bettered by Ricciardo. The earlier congestion seemed to affect the pace of Hamilton, Bottas and Verstappen; however there was no stopping Leclerc, who flew to the top with a dazzling 1:42.644s. It put him once again more than six tenths ahead of Hamilton, but the big surprise was Vettel only managing third quickest ahead of Bottas and Verstappen which pushed Ricciardo down to fifth.
After a brief pause, the second push saw the outbreak of another cat-and-mouse game as the cars tried to find strategic track position among their rivals. Hamilton attempted to shadow Leclerc, only for the Ferrari to dismiss any ideas of gaining any slipstream advantage itself and quickly disappearing down the road on the way to clinching pole with 1:42.519s, over seven tenths clear of the field.
Vettel once again started well only to fall off the pace in the second sector as he tried to pick up the draft from Bottas. However he still managed to do enough to narrowly pip Hamilton for second place and make it an all-Ferrari front row, with Hamilton and Bottas set to line up behind them on the grid on Sunday.
Verstappen was fifth fastest ahead of Ricciardo, followed by Hulkenberg, Raikkonen, Perez and Magnussen.
©Ferrari
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