© Getty Images2024 Belgian Grand Prix - Qualifying ReportMax takes P1 on a damp Saturday afternoon with Checo taking P3, leaving the Dutchman in P11 and the Mexican in P2 after penalties are handed out.
MaxVerstappenutterlydominatedadampandpotentiallytreacherousSaturdayafternooninBelgiumtotopthequalifyingtimesheetsforthefourthyearinarowatSpa-Francorchamps.Butwiththechampionsetforagridpenalty,itwasChecoPérezwhocameagonisinglyclosetopolepositionfortherace,withtheMexicandrivermissingoutonaP1racestartbyahundredthofasecond.
"It was a nice qualifying. It was raining a little bit, but we could do a decent qualifying,” said Max, who will start the race from P11 after taking a fifth ICE of the season this weekend. “I know that I have to start 10 places back, so this was the best I could do today. We'll go from there. I don't know how quick we are going to be, but I hope that we can be in the mix to try to move forward.”
Checo, meanwhile, scraped through to Q3 at the edge of the top 10, and with no fresh sets of Intermediate tyres available for the top 10 shootout, it looked like he might struggle. But the Mexican pulled out a superb under-pressure opening lap to take P2 behind Max, and he was only denied pole for the race by Leclerc, who had fresh tyres available for his final run.
Earlier in the day, Max was the first to explore the wet conditions at the start of FP3, with the champion heading out on Intermediate tyres as soon as the green light came on at the end of the pit lane.
The Dutch driver crossed the line for the first time at 2:03.232, almost 20 seconds slower than his best time from Friday’s dry sessions. He completed three more laps, getting down to 2:01.565 to lead McLaren’s Oscar Piastri by 1.4s, with Alpine’s Pierre Gasly in third. Checo was also on track, and in a short three-lap run, the Mexican posted a time of 2:07.103 that would leave him 10th at the end of the session.
However, just after the 10-minute mark, Lance Stroll aquaplaned off on the approach to Raidillon, and after hitting the barriers and breaking his front-left suspension, the session was red flagged.
After a 10-minute delay, the session was green-lit, but with the rain falling more heavily, the entire field stayed in the pit lane. And when the red flags again came out due to the worsening track conditions, any more meaningful running was ended.
Heavy Rain In FP3© Getty Images
The opening session of qualifying began on a damp track, on Intermediate tyres, but with no rain falling. Checo led the Bulls out on track, and in the tricky conditions, the Mexican slotted into second behind McLaren’s Oscar Piastri with a lap of 1:58.080. Max was just behind his teammate on track, and at the end of his opening flyer, the champion crossed the line in 1:56.003 to take top spot.
After dropping back to 11th, Checo’s second flyer of 1:56.618 jumped him back up to second, though he was swiftly shuffled back to fifth as better times came in. With a little less than seven minutes remaining, Piastri stole top spot with a lap of 1:55.549, 0.454 ahead of Max, who was starting another flyer. And when the Dutchman crossed the line, he returned to the top of the leaderboard with a good time of 1:54.938, six tenths ahead of Piastri.
Checo, meanwhile, was told that a new set of Inters was required, and as he once again fell down the leaderboard to P13, the Mexican pitted ahead of a final run in the final three minutes.
And in the final runs, Piastri once again stole top spot with a lap of 1:54.835. Max went for a last attempt, but the Dutchman came across a slow Zhou Guanyu on his flyer, and as Gasly took a surprise P2, Max eased through in third place, having used just one set of Inters during the session. Checo’s final run on new tyres was more successful, however, and as the chequered flag came out, his lap of 1:55.139 boosted him to fourth place, though the Mexican was not happy with the warm-up on the new tyres.
At the other end of the table, Haas’ Nico Hülkenberg and Kevin Magnussen were ruled out in 16th and 17th, respectively, with RB’s Yuki Tsunoda exiting in P18 ahead of Williams’ Logan Sargeant and the Sauber of Zhou.
Straight In, Straight Out© Getty Images
Williams’ Alex Albon opened the Q2 account with a lap of 1:54.724, but he was swiftly demoted by Lando Norris, who went almost three tenths of a second quicker than the Williams driver. Max, though, was going even quicker, and he became the first driver below 1m54s as he jumped to top spot with a lap of 1:53.857, six tenths ahead of Norris and eight clear of Albon. Further back, Checo’s Q2 opener netted him a time of 1:54.791, and that was good enough for sixth place.
After his opening flyer, Max put in a cool down lap before going again, and even though rain was beginning to fall, the Dutchman shaved two hundredths of a second off his first flyer to cement himself into P1. Behind him, Checo once again pitted for a new set of tyres, and once again, the Mexican got it right, climbing from P11 to P4 with a lap of 1:54.470.
However, as the track improved further and better times flooded in elsewhere, Checo once again began to tumble down the timesheet. And when the order settled after the final shake-up, the Mexican scraped through to Q3 in tenth place, just 0.003s ahead of Williams’ Alex Albon, who was eliminated ahead of Gasly, VCARB’s Daniel Ricciardo, Sauber’s Valtteri Bottas, and Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll.
An Intermediate Kind Of A Day© Getty images
At the start of the top 10 shootout, the Bulls were last out on track, with Checo ahead of Max. The Mexican, with no fresh set of Inters left, was on a used set of the green-banded tyres, while Max was on a fresh set.
And with the benefit of new rubber, Max powered to the top of the order with a lap of 1:53.159, six tenths of a second ahead of Checo, who put in a superb lap on used tyres to post a lap of 1:53.765. That put the Mexican over two tenths clear of Hamilton, who was on fresh tyres.
And with only the Ferrari cars with fresh inters for the final runs, Max’s opening time proved untouchable as he claimed top spot in qualifying, meaning that after his penalty for taking a fifth ICE of the season, the champion will start from 11th place on the grid.
Behind him, Checo almost hung on to pole position, but in the final moments, Leclerc, one of the few to have a fresh set of Inters for his final run, frustratingly edged ahead by 0.011s. Checo will, however, line up on the front row for the first time since the Chinese Grand Prix in April.
Behind Checo, Hamilton qualified fourth ahead of Norris, with Piastri in sixth place. Russell took seventh in the second Mercedes ahead of Sainz, while Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso ended the session in ninth place ahead of Ocon.
Checo Starts On The Front Row Tomorrow© Getty Images
| Rank | Driver | Team | Time | Gap | | 1 | Max Verstappen | Oracle Red Bull Racing | 1:53.159 | – |
| 2 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 1:53.754 | +0.595 |
| 3 | Sergio Pérez | Oracle Red Bull Racing | 1:53.765 | +0.606 |
| 4 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1:53.835 | +0.676 |
| 5 | Lando Norris | McLaren | 1:53.981 | +0.822 |
| 6 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren | 1:54.027 | +0.868 |
| 7 | George Russell | Mercedes | 1:54.184 | +1.025 |
| 8 | Carlos Sainz | Ferrari | 1:54.477 | +1.318 |
| 9 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin | 1:54.765 | +1.606 |
| 10 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine | 1:54.810 | +1.651 |
