That means Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc will start from the front of the grid, ahead of Red Bull’s Sergio Perez and Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes after the one-hour qualifying session, which is split into three segments with five cars each being knocked out in Q1 and Q2 before the top-10 shootout of Q3.
Belgian Grand Prix grid: Leclerc on pole from Perez
What happened in Belgian Grand Prix Q1?
On a wet track, but with more rain forecast, teams were keen to get their drivers on track right from the start of the session.
On intermediate tyres, McLaren’s Oscar Piastri set the benchmark at 1m57.411s on his opening flyer, but Verstappen blew that away with 1m56.003s.
Piastri stayed out as the track dried, working down to 1m55.549s to retake P1 with six minutes remaining but Verstappen reclaimed the top spot with 1m54.938s.
Piastri wasn’t to be denied, however, setting 1m54.835s on a second set of inters for his final run, 0.076s ahead of an impressive Pierre Gasly for Alpine and a tenth clear of Verstappen.
Falling at the first hurdle were the Haas duo of Nico Hulkenberg and Kevin Magnussen, Yuki Tsunoda (RB – who will start from the back of the grid anyway), Logan Sargeant (Williams) and Zhou Guanyu (Sauber).
Belgian GP Q1 results: Piastri fastest from Gasly
| Cla | Nº | Driver | Car / Engine | Time | Delay | Laps |
| 1 | 81 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren/Mercedes | 1’54.835 | 9 | |
| 2 | 10 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine/Renault | 1’54.911 | 0.076 | 9 |
| 3 | 1 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull/Honda RBPT | 1’54.938 | 0.103 | 8 |
| 4 | 11 | Sergio Pérez | Red Bull/Honda RBPT | 1’55.139 | 0.304 | 9 |
| 5 | 55 | Carlos Sainz | Ferrari | 1’55.169 | 0.334 | 9 |
| 6 | 16 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 1’55.349 | 0.514 | 8 |
| 7 | 63 | George Russell | Mercedes | 1’55.353 | 0.518 | 8 |
| 8 | 31 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine/Renault | 1’55.417 | 0.582 | 9 |
| 9 | 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | RB/Honda RBPT | 1’55.451 | 0.616 | 8 |
| 10 | 14 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin/Mercedes | 1’55.489 | 0.654 | 9 |
| 11 | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | Sauber/Ferrari | 1’55.531 | 0.696 | 9 |
| 12 | 4 | Lando Norris | McLaren/Mercedes | 1’55.582 | 0.747 | 10 |
| 13 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1’55.692 | 0.857 | 8 |
| 14 | 23 | Alexander Albon | Williams/Mercedes | 1’55.722 | 0.887 | 9 |
| 15 | 18 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin/Mercedes | 1’56.072 | 1.237 | 9 |
| 16 | 27 | Nico Hülkenberg | Haas/Ferrari | 1’56.308 | 1.473 | 9 |
| 17 | 20 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas/Ferrari | 1’56.500 | 1.665 | 9 |
| 18 | 22 | Yuki Tsunoda | RB/Honda RBPT | 1’56.593 | 1.758 | 8 |
| 19 | 2 | Logan Sargeant | Williams/Mercedes | 1’57.230 | 2.395 | 8 |
| 20 | 24 | Zhou Guanyu |
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at Motorsport.com – Formula 1 – Stories…