Max Verstappen take sprint pole and victory on another tricky wet day at Spa-Francorchamps despite losing the lead shortly after the start.
Max Verstappen dominates a rain-affected qualifying but won’t start on pole position thanks to a five-place gearbox penalty.
Max Verstappen dominated qualifying on a drying track for the Belgian Grand Prix but will cede pole position to Charles Leclerc thanks to a gearbox penalty.
Despite a Q2 scare that saw him barely scrape through to the pole shootout in 10th, Verstappen mastered the slicks-on-damp conditions of Q3 to take top spot by an imperious 0.82s. But the Dutchman must serve a five-place grid penalty for unsealing his fifth set of gearbox components, one more than allowed for the season, which will drop him to sixth on the grid and promote Leclerc to pole on Sunday.
“Last year I had more penalties and we could still with the race,” Verstappen said, recalling his drive from 13th to victory. “That’s still the target on Sunday.”
Continue reading on RACERCarlos Sainz topped the sole practice session for the Belgian Grand Prix in heavy rain as Formula 1 contemplates potential alternatives to running qualifying on Friday afternoon.
Rain fell constantly and with varying intensity through the sprint weekend’s only hour of practice, making it impossible to draw meaningful comparisons between the teams and drivers. Only 15 drivers were able to set a lap, but most were unrepresentative, with more than 10 seconds covering the spread.
Five drivers, including championship leader Max Verstappen, failed to set a time, with only a pair of installation laps to his name.
Continue reading on RACERAll eyes are on the radar, with rain forecast to disrupt running on all three days at Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps.