(Spa-Francorchamps) The misfortune of some is the happiness of others: Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) will start Sunday in the lead position of the Belgian Formula 1 Grand Prix, while the undisputed leader of the championship Max Verstappen, penalized, will only start 6th.
On the legendary circuit of Spa-Francorchamps, he may have set the best time in qualifying on Friday, the Red Bull driver will only start from the 3rd row on Sunday, when the lights go out. The fault of a penalty of five places received due to a change of gearbox beyond the authorized quota.
“I know I’m going to drop back on the grid but today was all about feeling confident, we know the car is fast,” Verstappen said at the end of qualifying.
If the double defending champion had a scare by qualifying narrowly for Q3, the last part of the qualifications where the leading position is played, he quickly did honor to his status again, taking from Leclerc, then best time, 0.8s — a chasm — at the very end of qualifying.
What to see the Dutchman very confident about his chances of victory – which would be the 10th this season in 12 races – especially when we remember that he had imposed in Belgium last year from a distant 14th place on the grid, again because of penalties.
The “Mad Max” rocket relegated, it is the Monegasque Leclerc who will start the race on Sunday for the second time this season, after Azerbaijan in April.
“We are still very far from Max’s time but put together, we couldn’t do better today,” admitted the reigning vice-champion.
On a drying track – and a partially recovered blue sky after the downpours until a few minutes before qualifying – he beat the other Red Bull, that of the Mexican Sergio Pérez.
Behind, Hamilton will start 3rd, ahead of the Ferrari of Spaniard Carlos Sainz. The McLarens of Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris, expected to take the lead this weekend after their solid performances in the last two Grands Prix, will start 5th and 7th.
The Belgian Grand Prix is the third round of the year (after Azerbaijan in April and Austria in early July) to feature a sprint format, which changes the course of the weekend.
With the sprint races, qualifying is moved forward to Friday, new this year as it determines the starting grid for the Sunday Grand Prix.
Saturday will be mainly devoted to the sprint: the drivers will take to the track at 12 p.m. for a second qualifying session on the same model as Friday but shorter, which will determine the starting order for the sprint race contested at 4 p.m. h 30.
Verstappen’s penalty will not apply at the start of the sprint.
Far behind the strong men, the two Frenchmen from Alpine, Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon will start 12th and 15th respectively.
During the second part of qualifying (Q2), Ocon hit a wall, damaging the wing of his Alpine: “I just had to go back [to the garage, editor’s note], change the wing, keep the tires and we was going to Q3 today,” he lamented on Canal.
“But we didn’t have it […] so we didn’t have enough time to change it and go for a lap,” he continued, assuring that Q3 was possible.
Earlier today, Alpine announced that it was “by mutual agreement” parting ways with team principal Otmar Szafnauer.
Having arrived at the head of the French team at the start of 2022, Szafnauer will leave his post at the end of the Belgian round. Bruno Famin, newly appointed director of Alpine Motorsports, will take over from the Dutch Grand Prix, the next meeting of the season scheduled for the end of August.
This announcement comes at a time when Alpine is in difficulty and is struggling to meet its objective of getting closer to the top 3 of the championship announced in February. For now, it is 6th in the constructors’ ranking.
Under Szafnauer, the team finished the 2022 season fourth in the championship, behind Red Bull, Ferrari and Mercedes, but behind main rival McLaren.
