Formula 1

Verstappen fastest but Sainz to start from Belgian GP pole

by Josh Suttill
4 min read

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Formula 1 points leader Max Verstappen dominated qualifying at the Belgian Grand Prix but it will be Carlos Sainz who starts from pole position.

Verstappen is one of seven drivers with major grid penalties, meaning he was simply fighting the five others with back-of-the-grid drops – including chief title rival Charles Leclerc – for 15th-20th on the grid.

Motor Racing Formula One World Championship Belgian Grand Prix Qualifying Day Spa Francorchamps, Belgium

Verstappen looked comfortable throughout practice and the opening two parts of qualifying before he delivered a 1m43.665s with his first Q3 flying lap.

The Red Bull driver stayed in his garage thereafter and none of his rivals got close even with a second flying lap.

Sainz had a scruffy final lap and couldn’t beat his first effort, but that was still good enough to take second in qualifying that will become pole when Verstappen’s back-of-the-grid penalty is applied.

Verstappen’s team-mate Sergio Perez will line-up alongside Sainz on the front row after qualifying third ahead of Leclerc, who only had time for one flying lap in Q3 after his Ferrari team fit the “wrong” set of soft tyres for his first run.

Esteban Ocon was the faster Alpine but his engine penalty means Fernando Alonso will start third on the grid after beating the Mercedes duo to sixth place in Q3. He’ll share the second row with his former team-mate Lewis Hamilton, with George Russell fifth.

Motor Racing Formula One World Championship Belgian Grand Prix Qualifying Day Spa Francorchamps, Belgium

The driver who replaced Russell at Williams, Alex Albon, shed the unwanted tag of the only 2022 F1 driver yet to advance to Q3 by going 10th fastest right at the end of Q2.

In Q3, Albon was ninth fastest ahead of Lando Norris, whose engine penalty leaves him 18th on the grid.

Albon prevented Daniel Ricciardo from back-to-back Q3 appearances by 0.092s but the McLaren driver will still start seventh because of penalties for four drivers ahead of him.

AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly was 12th in qualifying and will share the fourth row of the grid with Ricciardo.

Penalty-stricken Zhou Guanyu and Mick Schumacher advanced to Q2 while their team-mates were knocked out in Q1. They’ll still share the back row of the grid because they were the slowest of the drivers with back-of-the-grid penalties.

Motor Racing Formula One World Championship Belgian Grand Prix Qualifying Day Spa Francorchamps, Belgium

Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll couldn’t repeat his practice pace nor add to Team Silverstone’s stellar history of Spa giant-killings and was 14th fastest between Zhou and Schumacher.

His retiring four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel missed out on a place in Q2 by just 0.002s in 16th place ahead of the second Williams of Nicholas Latifi.

Kevin Magnussen and Yuki Tsunoda both had sloppy runs into the final chicane on their crunch laps and were eliminated from Q1 in 18th and 19th respectively.

For the first time since the 2015 Monaco Grand Prix, Valtteri Bottas was knocked out of Q1 as the Alfa Romeo driver elected to abandon his final flying lap.

That left him 20th and slowest but because his grid penalty isn’t a back-of-the-grid penalty, he’ll start the race in 14th place ahead of six fellow penalised drivers.

Qualifying Results

Pos Name Car Q1 Q2 Q3
1 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1m44.581s 1m44.723s 1m43.665s
2 Carlos Sainz Ferrari 1m45.05s 1m45.418s 1m44.297s
3 Sergio Pérez Red Bull 1m45.377s 1m44.794s 1m44.462s
4 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1m45.572s 1m44.551s 1m44.553s
5 Esteban Ocon Alpine-Renault 1m46.039s 1m45.475s 1m45.18s
6 Fernando Alonso Alpine-Renault 1m46.075s 1m45.552s 1m45.368s
7 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1m45.736s 1m45.42s 1m45.503s
8 George Russell Mercedes 1m45.65s 1m45.461s 1m45.776s
9 Alex Albon Williams-Mercedes 1m45.672s 1m45.675s 1m45.837s
10 Lando Norris McLaren-Mercedes 1m45.745s 1m45.603s 1m46.178s
11 Daniel Ricciardo McLaren-Mercedes 1m46.212s 1m45.767s
12 Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri-Red Bull 1m46.183s 1m45.827s
13 Guanyu Zhou Alfa Romeo-Ferrari 1m46.178s 1m46.085s
14 Lance Stroll Aston Martin-Mercedes 1m46.256s 1m46.611s
15 Mick Schumacher Haas-Ferrari 1m46.342s 1m47.718s
16 Sebastian Vettel Aston Martin-Mercedes 1m46.344s
17 Nicholas Latifi Williams-Mercedes 1m46.401s
18 Kevin Magnussen Haas-Ferrari 1m46.557s
19 Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri-Red Bull 1m46.692s
20 Valtteri Bottas Alfa Romeo-Ferrari 1m47.866s
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