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Max Verstappen finished quickest in qualifying for the Belgian Grand Prix but it is Charles Leclerc who will start from pole at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit.
The Red Bull driver lit up the track when it was most needed, in a session that started in the wet on intermediate tyres before a switch to slicks late in Q2, setting a blistering time of one minute 46.168s, just over eight-tenths of a second faster than nearest rival Leclerc in his Ferrari.
Verstappen, though, serves a five-place grid penalty for a gearbox change beyond the required allocation for a season, and will start sixth, leaving Leclerc on pole, alongside the Dutchman’s Red Bull team-mate Sergio Perez.
Lewis Hamilton will start third in his Mercedes, although the seven-time F1 champion is under investigation by the stewards for returning to the track unsafely following a minor off during Q2, although the driver he inadvertently affected was team-mate George Russell.
Carlos Sainz will line up fourth ahead of a superb Oscar Piastri who produced stunning middle sector times in his McLaren that allowed the Australian to out-qualify team-mate Lando Norris for only the second time in 12 grands prix this season.
Verstappen will now separate the McLaren pair, with Norris seventh on the grid, followed by Russell in his Mercedes, with the fifth row an all-Aston Martin affair, with Fernando Alonso ahead of team-mate Lance Stroll.
On his second outing with AlphaTauri, Daniel Ricciardo will start a miserable 19th after his final lap in Q1 was deleted for exceeding track limits going through Raidillon.
Following a torrential downpour 45 minutes before the scheduled qualifying, which heavily affected the qualifying session for the F2 field, race control opted to delay Q1 for 10 minutes to allow for drainage.
Remarkably, during that 10-minute hiatus, rare blue sky and sunshine appeared, at least helping the circuit to dry to a certain degree, and the cars to take to the track on intermediate tyres.
As the driver at the head of the queue, Russell set the initial time of 2:02.360s.
It was natural that as the track evolved, the tyres warmed to their task, and the drivers were able to post lap after lap, that the times tumbled.
There was a scare for Norris, however, at one stage as the Briton ran wide out of the fast right-hander at Stavelot, forcing him onto the gravel and sustaining suspected front-wing damage.
With just under five minutes remaining, Sainz was the first driver to dip below the two-minute mark with a 1:59.844s.
Leclerc finished quickest with a lap of 1:58.300s, just over two-tenths of a second quicker than Verstappen and Hamilton.
For a moment, it appeared as if Ricciardo was comfortably into Q2 with a time of 1:59.483s, only for it to be quickly deleted due to his track limits breach at Raidillon. It was a lap that would have been good enough for 10th.
It leaves the 34-year-old on the back row alongside Nico Hulkenberg due to the German’s Haas encountering hydraulics issues.
Alex Albon and Logan Sargeant also failed to make it through, with the Williams pair sandwiching Alfa Romeo’s Zhou Guanyu, leaving the trio to line up 16th, 17th and 18th.
Albon, though, is in danger of a penalty after rejoining the track unsafely following an excursion off at the Turn 9 no-name corner.
At the start of Q2, Piastri reported the track was not far off from requiring slick tyres. Whilst parts of the circuit such as Pouhon were dry, there were still many others requiring the need for intermediates.
Piastri did momentarily lead the way with a time of 1:56.370s but was soon deposed by Perez before Verstappen set a 1:55.535s.
With six minutes remaining, Valtteri Bottas was the first to venture out on soft tyres, sparking a flurry of stops to take on the red-striped Pirelli rubber.
Track and tyre evolution was such that Piastri brilliantly set the fastest time in Q2 with a 1:51.534s, doing so under pressure after making a mistake on his previous lap in the final sector that left him in danger of elimination.
Piastri finished 0.177s clear of Sainz, while Verstappen was fortunate to make it through as the 10th-quickest driver, although AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda was over a third-of-a-second adrift and will start 11th ahead of Alpine’s Pierre Gasly.
Mistakes from both Haas’ Kevin Magnussen and Esteban Ocon in his Alpine, which saw them slide onto the gravel out of no-name corner and hit the barrier led to them exiting Q2. They will line up 13th and 15th, either side of Bottas.
Given the gravel littered across the track out of Turn 9, race control was forced to delay the start of Q3 by a few minutes.
After the opening run in Q3, Leclerc led the way from Verstappen with a time of 1:47.931s, followed by Sainz and Piastri, with Norris fifth quickest.
Cometh the hour, cometh the man, however, as two-time F1 champion Verstappen delivered at the death, posting the fastest times in the first two sectors, with Leclerc a staggering 0.820s adrift, with Perez and Hamilton both within a tenth.
Piastri finished with a lap of 1:47.365s, three-tenths of a second quicker than Norris who was arguably hampered by potential car damage following his Q1 run into the gravel.
