Max Verstappen Was Fastest in Qualifying at Spa, but Leclerc Inherits P1

It is still being determined if further driver changes will occur over the next few weeks. However, plenty of rumors about Lewis Hamilton, Carlos Sainz, Lando Norris, and even Charles Leclerc have been going around. So the pressure is on at Spa; everyone wants to rack up as many points as possible before the summer break. The Belgium Grand Prix also has a Sprint race on the schedule, so drivers had to go through qualifying on Friday.

FP1

Getting reacquainted with the 4.35 miles (7.004 km)-long layout during FP1 didn't go quite as expected, as heavy rain impeded the action. Several drivers went off-track throughout the session as they struggled with increasingly poor grip levels. Carlos Sainz and Valtteri Bottas were the two most diligent drivers in FP1, each going for nine laps in total. Still, the difference between them was pretty big (almost nine seconds) as Ferrari's pilot was the fastest of the session, while the Finn came in at P14.

Meanwhile, Oscar Piastri was less than 0.6 seconds behind Carlos Sainz, while Lando Norris was third. Aston Martin may have had an excellent start to the season, but Mclaren is now the British team to look out for. While Ferrari opted to send Sainz out on Intermediate tires, Leclerc was fourth fastest in FP1 using the Wet compound. But given the limited grip levels and poor visibility, everyone was eager to see how the qualifying session would play out instead. After all, Sainz's FP1 result was still about 17 seconds slower than the current track record set by Bottas in 2018.

Qualifying

With 30 seconds to go by the end of Q1, Lewis Hamilton was the fastest session driver, having stopped the watch at 1:58.841. But Verstappen quickly came in and improved that lap time by 0.326 seconds. Daniel Ricciardo was happy for a few seconds as it looked like he was moving on to Q2, but his time was deleted moments later. Charles Leclerc was also in danger of being knocked out of the game early on, but a last-minute effort put him on top of the scoreboard, besting Verstappen's time by 0.215 seconds.

With Hamilton now down in third, Sainz and Alonso set the fourth and fifth fastest times in Q1, with Piastri and Perez not far behind. Seeing Lando Norris down in P14 felt rather strange, but it's still good he avoided crashing after a massive scare down the line. Magnussen was the last driver to make it out of Q1, but you couldn't say the same about his teammate, who posted the slowest time of the session. Both Williams drivers and Zhou Guanyu and Daniel Ricciardo were also eliminated.

The skies were clearing up when Q2 started, but there were still wet patches all over the track. As a result, Esteban Ocon had a minor shunt at the beginning of the session, one he would not manage to recover from by the end of the allotted time. With the session ending, a few drivers were still trying to set a fast lap. Lando Norris was in the lead with a 1:54.051, but things were about to change. And Yuki Tsunoda stepped in to dethrone the young Brit by dipping below the 1:54 mark for the first time this weekend.

But Piastri corrected that result by a massive 1.614 seconds, again foreshadowing his potential to become one of the greatest F1 drivers ever. Not even Lewis Hamilton could manage to best that result, but he did come in a respectable second overall. Well, at least that was valid for a short while, as Lance Stroll took over with a 1:52.193.

Several drivers still needed to complete their fast lap, and Max Verstappen was surprisingly in the drop zone. He improved to P10, and we seemed pretty bitter about the whole thing. With Piastri still in P1, Scuderia Ferrari's aces quickly took P2 and P3, even though Sainz was about 0.3 seconds faster than his teammate. By the end of Q2, both Alpine drivers and Bottas, Tsunoda, and Magnussen were out of the game.

Q3 took things into high gear as the track was drying up. By this time, there were already talks that Max Verstappen would incur a penalty for Sunday's Grand Prix after some changes to his gearbox. Charles Leclerc was in the lead with a fast lap of 1:47.931, but the struggle for Pole wasn't over yet. He improved his record on the final lap, but Carlos Sainz couldn't go as fast. Once Max Verstappen crossed the finish line, it was painfully obvious how much quicker he was than Leclerc: 0.820 seconds!

Hamilton was in charge of P3 briefly, but Sergio Perez denied him that pleasure. Still, with Max Verstappen starting Sunday's GP from P6, Hamilton will be third on the grid, behind Sergio Perez and Charles Leclerc. Carlos Sainz is down in fourth, and he will face tremendous pressure from Oscar Piastri and perhaps even Lando Norris, who is seventh overall. But before the weekend's main event, it's time to see how the Sprint Shootout and Sprint Race will go! After all, drivers can still rack up some points during this secondary event, which could play a significant role in changing the outcome of the championship.