Max Verstappen dominates Belgian Grand Slam qualifying. price However, an engine penalty costs Charles Leclerc the pole position. ~ after A rainy afternoon in Spa-Francorchamps.
Verstappen was incomparable throughout the afternoon, despite the weather being dangerously wet at times. Heavy rain soaked the circuit before qualifying, Intermittent showers prevented the track surface from drying out completely, and intermediate tyres were used on all three sections.
The Dutchman’s Red Bull car made use of downforce. The twisty mid-section paid off handsomely for its wet-weather performance.But he was much faster than the other drivers. This formed the basis for his final lap time of 1 minute, 53.159 seconds.It was set on the first lap and proved to be out of reach..
But Verstappen will not be rewarded for his laps, as a 10-place grid penalty for adding a new combustion engine to his power unit pool will see him drop to 11th on the grid on Sunday.
“It was a good qualifying session,” he said. “I was very happy. The car ran pretty well in the wet. I could just do laps and try to get a clean lap time in the wet, which is always quite tricky.why.
“I don’t know how soon we’ll be able to do it. [tomorrow]. I hope we can mix and try to move forward.”
Leclerc promoted to pole position with penalty For the second year in a row, Monaco inherited the top spot from Verstappen, who was penalised. In Belgium in 2023.
Leclerc leapt forward as one of the few drivers to significantly improve on the second lap of Q3. ~ in eighth Gained second place in rankings He is ahead by more than 0.25 seconds, 0.595 seconds behind Verstappen.
“I never expected this to happen this weekend.“,” said Leclerc. “Of course, under difficult conditions, we were able to exceed expectations.
“It’s a good day for the team. Now we have to focus on tomorrow and see what happens when the rain stops.“
Sergio Perez starts the race second. —As it was last year— It was 0.011 seconds short of Leclerc’s best time. teathat Mexico aims for a repeat Last year’s He saw off Leclerc’s assisted launch to take the lead. ~ Of A powerful wake coming out of the first corner.
“I think P2 is the best position you can hope for at Spa,” he said. “I was exactly like Charles last year.so I am Ogne I should try to do the same tomorrow.
“We have a good feeling about tomorrow, see.”
Lewis Hamilton will be in the top four.Deployed Mercedes – He was ~ 0.676 seconds slower than Verstappen but 0.081 seconds behind Leclerc — With McLaren’s Lando Norris.
