Qualifying Report - Verstappen quickest in mixed conditions

By Peter Habicht

Max Verstappen in his Red Bull-Honda was quickest today in mixed conditions around Spa Francorchamps as Charles Leclerc's Ferrari split the Red Bull teammates with Sergio Perez third followed by Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton, Carlos Sainz and McLaren's Oscar Piastri.

The Dutchman will receive a five grid place penalty this weekend after changing his gearbox and will start from sixth on the grid, moving Leclerc and Perez to start from the front row.

The session started with teams opting to use intermediate tires until a drying line formed around enough of the circuit to make use of soft slick tires, with Verstappen's journey to Q3 nearly ending as the circuit continued to evolve: "It was very tight, of course the conditions were very tricky, the track was really drying quickly and my final lap I just didn't have that confidence in Q2 to push more and I was very lucky to be in P10, but then yeah - Q3 you have two tire sets. You can push a little bit more you can risk a little bit more and what's what we did."

Piastri's rookie Formula 1 performance at Spa was noteworthy as he set the fastest middle sector in Q2, ultimately out qualifying his teammate Lando Norris who will start from seventh ahead of Mercedes' George Russell and the Astons of Fernando Alonso and Lawrence Stroll.

AlphaTauri's Yuki Tsunoda will start from 11th ahead of Alpine's Pierre Gasly, Haas driveer Kevin Magnussen and Alfa Romeo's Valteri Bottas for Sunday's race. Esteban Ocon will start from 15th after hitting the wall at turn 11 after his Alpine went wide, damaging his front wing in the closing minutes of Q2.

At the back, the Williams of Alex Albon and Logan Sargeant were split by the Alfa of Guanyu Zhou, with AlphaTauri's Daniel Ricciardo and Haas' Nico Hulkenberg making up the final row. Ricciardo had been on a lap to put him in sixth in the opening round but exceeded track limits at Radillon, relegating him to 19th on the grid.

Tomorrow's sprint shootout will begin at noon, determining grid order for a 4:30p sprint race.