History Repeats Itself At Spa: Verstappen Quickest, But Ferrari On Pole

History repeats itself. Max Verstappen was quickest in qualifying for the Belgian Grand Prix (1’53”159 in Q3), but it’s a Ferrari driver who will start at the head of the field from pole position tomorrow.

The same situation occurred in the previous two years, when the Dutchman was quickest in Q3 – by 632 thousandths from Sainz in 2022 and by 820 from Leclerc in 2023 – but had to give up those pole positions to the two Ferrari drivers because of having exceeded the permitted number of complete power units the first time and gearboxes the second.

And that was the case this year, as the three-time world champion was by the far the quickest in Q3 (1’53”159) almost six-tenths quicker than Leclerc (1’53”754) who will lead the field away tomorrow afternoon.

This year, Verstappen picked up a ten-place grid penalty for using his fifth internal combustion engine of the season, one more than permitted in the regulations. However, the coincidences do not end there. Not only is a Ferrari driver on pole for a third consecutive year, but the next two drivers on the grid are in the same positions they occupied in 2023: Red Bull’s Sergio Perez starts from second on the front row, having set the third fastest time of 1’53”765, while Lewis Hamilton (1’53”835) is third on the grid, just as he was last year, while back in 2022 he was fourth.

This is Leclerc’s 25th pole position, the third at this track, following on from last year and 2019. It is his second this season after Monaco and it is Ferrari’s 251st pole, the 17th at this Grand Prix.

The third free practice session was affected by rain that began to fall around twenty minutes before the green light. Then came a red flag after ten minutes when Stroll crashed and that pretty much signalled the end of the session, which up to that point had seen almost all drivers run with intermediate tyres, the only exceptions being the two Sauber drivers who did their first lap on the Extreme Wet. The Race Director then declared the track open with two minutes remaining, just so that the drivers could do their practice starts.

Qualifying took place from start to finish on a wet track, even if the rain only fell intermittently and not on the entire track. Therefore what made the difference was driver skill in very low grip conditions, as well as their management of the intermediate tyres as each driver had four new sets available: the only driver of those who got to Q3 who able to do four runs always using a new set was Verstappen, while all the others had to do at least one run on a used set.

Max Verstappen was presented with the Pirelli Pole Position Award by Damon Hill, the 1996 World Champion at the wheel of a Renault-powered Williams. He raced in Formula 1 from 1992 to 1999, driving for – in chronological order – Brabham, Williams, Arrows and Jordan. Apart from his title, his palmares feature 22 wins, 20 pole positions, 19 fastest race laps and 42 podium finishes. The Belgian Grand Prix is actually the race where Damon enjoyed the most success, winning in 1993 and 1994 with Williams and then in 1998 with Jordan, that win being his final appearance on the podium.

Max Verstappen – Position: 1 [Start Position: 11]

“Today was a positive day. We were really strong, have maximised the car and have the best possible position for tomorrow. You always try and do the best lap possible; it was wet today and the conditions tomorrow will be better and I think it will all be about tyre management. Hopefully what we did today will help us with tyre management for tomorrow, and I felt more comfortable with the wing that we chose, so I hope I can come back into the fight with the other teams. There are many other fast cars out there who are really strong and I think the McLarens will be tough to beat tomorrow. Hopefully we can fight for a position with the grid place penalty and be back in the mix and I hope that we can be competitive. We hope that it won’t hurt us too much but we will see as the weather will be different, the wind will change and we will set up the car a bit differently. So we will see and we look forward to tomorrow.”

Charles Leclerc – Position: 2 [Start Position: 1]

“It feels good to be starting at the front of the grid. It isn’t the easiest track on which to defend the first position on the opening lap, but I will do everything to convert this to a victory for the team. The weather conditions played their part and today’s result exceeded our expectations. It feels good to be starting at the front of the grid. It isn’t the easiest track on which to defend the first position on the opening lap, but I will do everything to convert this to a victory for the team. The weather conditions played their part and today’s result exceeded our expectations. Our focus will now shift to getting ready to do the same in dry conditions tomorrow.”

Sergio Perez – Position: 3 [Start Position: 2]

“It is a good boost of confidence for myself and the team to be starting on the front row tomorrow. It feels good to have momentum on my side and to hopefully have a strong result ahead of summer break. We had good pace all the way through qualifying, we changed the car’s balance dramatically from yesterday to today with everything focused on race pace. We managed to get nice, solid balance out there so I’m very pleased with that. It’s going to be a long race tomorrow, if I see an opportunity early on we’ll go for it but it is going to be a different scenario with weather conditions. Tomorrow is a new opportunity, and I’m looking forward to it as I think we are in a good position to fight for the victory.”

Mario Isola – Pirelli Director of Motorsport

“Today was another example of how changeable the weather can be here in Spa! In fact, we and the teams were expecting rain to be the feature of Saturday, which meant that the data acquired yesterday will be vital in deciding the best strategy for tomorrow’s race, which regardless of the peculiarities of the Belgian summer, should take place on a dry track.

“Compared to last year, the new track surface has now shifted the balance significantly towards a two-stop strategy. It also means that the hardest tyre here, the C2, is now much more suitable for the race than it was twelve months ago, to the detriment of the softest C4. However, all three compounds are still perfectly viable, also because only four teams – Ferrari, McLaren, Mercedes and Alpine – have two sets of Hards available.

“On paper, the fastest strategy is to run the first stint on the Medium before doing a double stint on the Hard. The logical alternative is to go Medium/Hard/Medium but the Soft/Hard/Hard and Soft/Hard/Medium options cannot be ruled out. The one-stop is too slow, while the three-stop, even on a track where overtaking is definitely possible is, at least according to simulations, not faster. A further consideration is that the set-up choices made today remain the same for tomorrow, given that the cars in are in parc ferme and that could also change the balance of power seen in qualifying.

“It’s worth noting that in qualifying run on a wet track and over seven kilometres, the top six drivers on the grid are all covered by just 430 thousandths. Of course there’s one driver who finished Q3 almost six tenths ahead of the rest, but he goes by the name of Max Verstappen…”

FORMULA 2

A complicated day for Formula 2 with the Sprint Race postponed until after Formula 1 qualifying because of rain. It eventually started on a wet track and then stopped after eight of the scheduled 18 laps and was not restarted. First when the red flag was waved was Zak O’Sullivan (ART Grand Prix), who crossed the line ahead of Dennis Hauger (MP Motorsport) and Richard Verschoor (Trident), and they duly stood on those steps of the podium.

FORMULA 3

A one-two finish in the Sprint race for the PREMA team with Dino Beganovic regaining the lead he lost at the start to team-mate Gabriele Minì on lap 4. The pair fought for almost all twelve laps and the gap only ever grew to over a second on the final lap. On the third step of the podium was Mexico’s Noel Leon (Van Amersfoort Racing), who passed Germany’s Tim Tramnitz (MP Motorsport) on the last lap. The race was run a track that was still damp from overnight rain, although the surface gradually dried and, as a result, the lap times improved from then on.