Verstappen dominates qualifying but grid drop leaves Leclerc on pole

Max Verstappen bounced back from his tricky Hungary weekend to top qualifying for Formula 1’s Belgian Grand Prix, where Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc made a surprise late leap to second to inherit pole.

Verstappen, who felt “everything worked well” in a damp Spa qualifying that he dominated, topped the pole shootout but with his 10-place grid penalty for an engine change he will start in 11th place.

Sergio Perez had looked set to inherit pole but was beaten by Leclerc’s final lap in Q3, meaning the Ferrari driver picked up pole with the Mexican in second.

In a wet session where the drivers used the intermediate tyres throughout, the teams were split on how they approached Q3, with Verstappen and the Ferrari drivers stopping to switch to fresh inters, while the Mercedes and McLaren cars circulated throughout the final segment.

Verstappen led this throughout, as his 1m53.159s at the end of the opening runs put him top ahead of Perez, with Lewis Hamilton third and heading Oscar Piastri, George Russell and Lando Norris.

They carried on after a cooldown/battery-charge tour, after which Norris was able to get ahead of Piastri and Russell, as they did not improve.

Further rain falling late in Q3 meant the cars that had stopped to change tyres – including Perez going from one used set to another – stood to gain.

Verstappen, even with the fastest third sector of Q3, could not and came up 0.042s short of what would be the top time set on the first runs, while Leclerc stunned the rest in leaping from eighth after the opening goes to second.

It marks his best grid spot since he was on pole in Monaco six races ago and he will now inherit the pole statistic for this race as again Verstappen drops to start 11th for his latest Spa engine change penalty.

Perez did not improve on the final Q3 runs either, but still stayed ahead of Hamilton, the McLarens and Russell.

Then came Carlos Sainz, Fernando Alonso and Esteban Ocon.

As he did in Q1, Verstappen got through Q2 using just a single set of inters, with the rain coming down slightly harder than in the opening segment.

Charles Leclerc, Scuderia Ferrari

Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images

Alex Albon came just 0.003s shy of knocking Perez out in Q2, with Pierre Gasly, Daniel Ricciardo (who was in the pits as the rest set their final efforts in the middle segment), Valtteri Bottas and Lance…