F1 Belgian GP qualifying results: Leclerc inherits pole from Verstappen

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

What happened in Belgian Grand Prix Q2?

Still on intermediates due to steady drizzle, Verstappen set the pace at 1m53.857s on his first flying lap, despite a snap of oversteer at Stavelot. Hamilton got within two tenths a second of him for P2 on a late flying lap.

Knocked out at this point were Alex Albon (Williams), Pierre Gasly (Alpine), Daniel Ricciardo (RB), Valtteri Bottas (Sauber) and Lance Stroll (Aston Martin).

Belgian GP Q2 results: Verstappen fastest from Hamilton

What happened in Belgian Grand Prix Q3?

On the first runs, Verstappen unleashed 1m53.159s, six tenths clear of the rest led by his team-mate Perez and eight tenths ahead of Hamilton.

On the final runs, Leclerc saved his final set of fresh inters for the closing moments and jumped to second from P8. Verstappen failed to improve on his final run.

Leclerc was 0.595s slower than Verstappen but a hundredth faster than Perez, who will start from the outside of the front row.

Hamilton will start third, ahead of Lando Norris (McLaren), Piastri, George Russell (Mercedes), Carlos Sainz (Ferrari), Fernando Alonso (Aston) and Esteban Ocon (Alpine).

Belgian GP Q3 results: Verstappen fastest but Leclerc gets pole