Oracle Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen produced a remarkable performance in qualifying as he finished 0.632 seconds clear of the field. However, a grid penalty for using too many engine parts means he will start Sunday’s Belgian Grand Prix from 15th.
The Dutch driver, who leads the championship by 80 points from Ferrari’s Charles LeClerc, will start the race one place ahead of his title rival, who qualified in fourth but will start in 16th after also being hit with a grid penalty.
Team-mate Sergio Pérez also enjoyed an impressive qualifying as he claimed third place, meaning he will start tomorrow’s race on the front row.
There were mixed fortunes for Scuderia AlphaTauri as Pierre Gasly showed improved pace and qualified in 12th – and will start from 8th – while Japanese team-mate Yuki Tsunoda failed to make it out of Q1 and will start from 14th on the grid.
QUOTES
Oracle Red Bull Racing
MAX VERSTAPPEN – 1st (will start from 15th)
“It was an amazing qualifying; the car has been on it all weekend and it’s been very enjoyable to drive. We fine-tuned a few things overnight and it seemed to work out. I’m very happy with my lap and it’s great to be here, it’s a great track with amazing fans around, I hope they had a good day. Starting from the back tomorrow meant that I had to be careful with the tyres I was using throughout the session today. With a car like this it will be a shame not to be on the podium tomorrow, that’s what we are targeting.”
SERGIO PÉREZ – 3rd (will start from 2nd)
“It was a good but not fantastic qualifying. My first lap in Q3 wasn’t great and then that session was slightly disturbed due to other issues, like a little damage to my floor, but being P2 for the race tomorrow, is still decent. We improved very well from yesterday considering we lost a lot of track time in FP2 and I think there is still room to improve in the race. We can fight for the win from the front row tomorrow, we expect to go for it, it’s about getting a good start, a clean lap one and going from there. Being on pole doesn’t benefit you too much here, being close to Carlos in Eau Rogue can get me the lead so I will try to do that. It’s important we race our own race tomorrow.”
CHRISTIAN HORNER – Team Principal and CEO
“It was an unbelievable Qualifying from Max today, the lap time was so good he didn’t need to do the second run. He has been absolutely on fire this weekend. It’s a hard fight from P15 and there are always risks associated with that but we are in for a fantastic race tomorrow with Max and Charles fighting their way through the field. Checo also had a brilliant qualifying, he is perfectly poised to take on Carlos at the front. History has shown us with Sebastian a few years ago, Daniel Riccardio and even Max that at the start, with that run up the hill, the tow is very powerful with the DRS closed. We discussed ahead of time and agreed that tactically P2 may be a better place to start. Yes P1 is traditionally the best place to start but here its all to play for. There is going to be a lot to keep on top of tomorrow.”
Scuderia AlphaTauri
PIERRE GASLY – 12th (will start from 8th)
“It was a good Quali today, I’m really happy about my lap and how the car performed. The balance was great, and I felt like we maximised the package. We’re still not showing our full potential, so we’ve got some work to do as a team to make it into the top 10, but today I think we managed to get the best out of the car. We start P8 tomorrow, thanks to the penalties of some drivers, so we’ll have to make the most of that opportunity come the race. There’s going to be some fast cars behind us trying to move forward, so it’s going to be a hard race, but we’ll try our best to hold our position and to stay in the points.”
YUKI TSUNODA – 19th (will start from 14th)
“It’s been a really disappointing day. I’ve felt quite happy in the car so far this weekend and I think we were competitive enough to comfortably get through to Q2 and even be in with a chance of Q3. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen today – I had a big snap and then, further in the lap, I went off. There are opportunities to pass here in Spa so hopefully we can try and make our way forward.”
JODY EGGINTON – Technical Director
“Following Friday running, we had a good picture of the areas we needed to focus on today. The analysis and subsequent set up changes made overnight pretty much delivered according to expectation, meaning both cars took a step forward in terms of balance for FP3. We included a longer run with both drivers in FP3 in order to try and gather some of the data we were missing following yesterday’s rain shower towards the end of FP2. Qualifying was, as expected, very tight in the midfield, but a strong first run in Q1 by Pierre provided a good basis to build on, which he subsequently did, with the car being well balanced and making Q2 without any fuss. Pierre’s first stint in Q2 on a used tyre was very strong and he built on this for his second outing on new tyres putting in a very clean lap, but unfortunately, we were missing the last 0.15s to make Q3, in what was a very tight session. On the other side of the garage, Yuki struggled a little more in Qualifying and a couple of front tyre lock ups during his second run meant he was not able to put his best lap together and was unfortunately eliminated in Q1. This is frustrating for Yuki and the team, as he has had a solid weekend so far and for sure more was possible. As normal, focus now shifts to preparations for the race, and with the probability of making a pass here being much higher than the season average, there is plenty still to play for in terms of trying to get into the points with Pierre and also getting Yuki moving forward tomorrow.”