Max Verstappen was quickest in a wet-dry qualifying for this weekend's Belgian Grand Prix, but his grid penalty for a new gearbox means that pole position for Sunday's race will actually go to Ferrari's Charles Leclerc.
The Monegasque will be joined on the front row by Verstappen's Red Bull team mate Sergio Perez who broke his recent run of poor qualifying positions to finish ahead of Lewis Hamilton and Carlos Sainz.
Verstappen will start from sixth, between of McLaren pair Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris. It was a disappointing outcome for George Russell in the second Mercedes finishing in P8 ahead of Aston Martin pair Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll.
It had proved an unexpectedly busy day in Spa, although much of the activity up to this point had been focused on the Alpine team trailer rather than out on the track, where heavy rain had limited running in the one and only practice session. Ferrari's Carlos Sainz had topped the largely irrelevant timesheets ahead of McLaren pair Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris.
Max Verstappen had been among five drivers not to set a time which also included both otherwise-preoccupied Alpines, and Williams' Logan Sargeant who brought out a red flag after sliding off at Les Combes and shredding a Pirelli hoarding. Now the main question was whether the rain would abate sufficiently to allow qualifying for Sunday's race to go ahead as scheduled before Saturday's sprint sessions. Despite the intervening Formula 2 session having been red flagged, fortunately the rain had indeed stopped and patches of sunshine and blue skies were in evidence by the time qualifying got underway following a ten minute delay.
Q1: Leclerc pips Verstappen and Hamilton as Ricciardo and Hulkenberg miss the cut
By the time that the lights went green at the end of pit lane, Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton and George Russell had already been waiting on intermediates to get going for over five minutes, suggesting that the rain radar was indicating more rain might be expected at the circuit shortly. For now, the rooster tail spray being thrown up by the cars was still looking most impressive.
Given the 7km long nature of the circuit - the longest on the calendar - it was some time before the first push laps were completed. Russell was first on the board with a time of 2:02.360s, and Hamilton then eight hundredths quicker before Norris took charge by four tenths. Russell responded to go back to the top on a lap of 2:01.485s, which proved a tenth quicker than Verstappen when the Red Bull made its bow. Sergio Perez was initially fifth behind, Norris who subsequently went through gravel at turn 15.
Piastri was next to go top by 0.047s from Russell, but Carlos Sainz comprehensively moved the goal posts to put Ferrari top with a time of 2:00.536s which was nearly but not quite matched by Verstappen's next push lap. Fernando Alonso also improved to go ahead of Piastri, Russell and Charles Leclerc. The only driver not to have set a time by the halfway point was Logan Sargeant, as Williams worked hard to complete a precautionary gearbox change following his FP1 accident.
Sainz was first to dip under the two minute mark with a lap of 1:59.844s, but a drier line was now developing and Verstappen soon took charge with a time of 1:58.932s. Piastri gained further to pop up to second by 0.123s from the Red Bull, before Hamilton took charge with a new target time of 1:58.841s and Russell improved to fourth ahead of Sainz and Perez. Esteban Ocon showed there was life in the old Alpine dog to go fifth, with team mate Pierre Gasly now eighth. It was now a question of who timed their remaining run best in the improving conditions, and few could count themselves as absolutely safe.
Haas' Kevin Magnussen made a decent claim to progress in ninth, while AlphaTauri's Yuki Tsunoda put in a thumping lap to shoot up to fourth and Valtteri Bottas saw Alfa Romeo into seventh as Verstappen took over from Hamilton at the top. Last man to start a flying lap was Leclerc, and he was duly rewarded with the top spot. Gasly, Ocon and Lance Stroll all managed to improve to make it into Q2, while Norris also got through despite having a fast lap deleted for exceeding track limits.
All the late improvements had pushed Magnussen down the running order but he survived and made the cut on the bubble in P15 ahead of Alexander Albon and Zhou Guanyu. Sargeant had successfully set a time, but not enough to get him out of the drop zone. Daniel Ricciardo had looked as though he was safely into the top ten until his final lap was another to be deleted for exceeding track limits, leaving him in P19 ahead of Nico Hulkenberg who didn't manage to start his final flying lap in time before the chequered flag.
Q2: Piastri quickest from Sainz and Leclerc, Verstappen just scrapes through
The cars once again started on inters with Mercedes taking point. With no more rain expected for now, the teams were already watching closely to see if the crossover for slick tyres was in sight. For now, Hamilton checked in with a time of 1:58.024s, a quarter of a second quicker than his team mate; but Magnussen was then six tenths quicker still in the Haas before Piastri went a full second quicker still. Verstappen then took the top spot with a time of 1:55.535s, half a second clear of Perez and Leclerc.
A flying lap for Tsunoda meant Sainz was bumped into the provisional drop zone alongside Hamilton, Russell and Stroll with Norris yet to run after his wayward trip into the gravel in Q1, but he was now out on track to begin his run. His team mate Piastri was also back out - and along with Bottas, one of the first drivers to brave the soft slick compound. Others soon followed, including both Red Bulls; Norris himself aborted his run to dive into pit lane to join the club for a final six minute slick shoot-out.
It was a voyage into the unknown for everyone, with the big danger being traffic forcing cars off line onto wet patches, and the possibility of incidents causing yellow flags that would invalidate a crucial flying lap. Ocon was the first to report problems, hitting the wall side-on and damaging the right hand of his front wing. It left him limping back to pit lane unable to improve on his existing time, which had been good enough for fifth up to that point but would soon start to plummet to the bottom of the order.
Russell briefly went top before Norris was quicker, and then it was all change throughout. Tsunoda jumped to the top by a second but that too was short-lived, for it was Piastri who then took charge from Sainz and Leclerc followed by Stroll, Norris and Hamilton. Perez was just ahead of Russell and Alonso, leaving Verstappen barely making it through with a slow final effort for P10. That meant Tsunoda now just missed out along with Gasly, Magnussen and Bottas, Ocon having been unable to get back out in time after his brush with the wall.
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Q3: Verstappen eases to the top, but Leclerc and Perez succeed in taking Sunday's front row
There was a short delay before the start of Q3 as the marshals cleaned up gravel that had been thrown onto the circuit by Ocon's excursion and by a separate incident for Magnussen hitting the wall at the exit of turn 9 and coming back on track on his way back to pit lane. Verstappen spent the time venting over the team radio about the ignominy of ending the second round in P10, after having a lap time deleted and then suffering a shaky final run.
With the sun now beaming down on a rapidly drying track (although it remained treacherously damp off line), DRS was finally available to the drivers as they headed out for the top ten pole shoot-out. First out were Aston Martin pair Alonso and Stroll, followed by McLaren and Mercedes similarly flying in two-by-two formation. The final four were a little more mixed, Verstappen followed by Leclerc and Perez ahead of Sainz.
Alonso set the initial target, then it was Piastri from Norris, before Verstappen took charge only for Leclerc to go top by 0.128s from the Red Bull, with a time of 1:47.931s as the track conditions improved by the second. By now, the two Mercedes were struggling to keep up: Hamilton's second run was only enough for sixth and Russell found himself down in ninth ahead of Stroll, before everyone headed back to pit lane for fresh tyres ahead of a final assault.
Stroll came back out out first, and then it was Leclerc and Sainz followed by the McLaren pair, Piastri heading Norris. Alonso was next, then Verstappen, while Hamilton and Russell were back out ahead of Perez. leaving the Mexican the last man to set a lap time - the best opportunity but at the same time the most at risk of being caught out by any yellow flags should they materialise.
Leclerc improved his time to 1:46.988s with Sainz up to second by 0.164s, but Verstappen decimated that with a run of 1:46.168s proving eight tenths quicker than the Ferraris. Perez then scrambled into third place with Hamilton inserting himself into fourth ahead of Sainz. That left Piastri in sixth, but at least he had succeeded in out-qualifying his team mate Norris in seventh. Russell was a disappointing eighth ahead of the two Astons, Alonso ninth and Stroll tenth.
Verstappen was delighted to be quickest - even apologising to his race engineer for his rant after the end of Q2. However his grid drop for a new gearbox will mean he moves back to sixth on Sunday, leaving Leclerc on pole and Perez joining him on the front row for the start of the Belgian GP. But before that, there's a small matter of sprint business to take care off tomorrow, weather once more permitting.
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