The Saturday in F1 Belgian GP was hectic after the sprint and qualifying which had two different teams on top after Max Verstappen managed to beat the McLaren pair.
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen started the Saturday running in best possible way in F1 Belgian GP at Spa-Francorchamps after passing McLaren’s Oscar Piastri to win the sprint race. He ran qualifying laps with skinny rear wing to keep the Australian and Lando Norris at bay f0r 15 laps.
But he couldn’t repeat the heroics in qualifying after finishing only fourth due to mistake on his final lap. Red Bull changed his set-up and rear wing to abide by the rain prediction. The Dutchman didn’t enjoy it but hopes that it pays off in the race trim. He had teammate Yuki Tsunoda in Q3 at least.
Red Bull decided to give him the upgraded floor – probably from Verstappen’s quota. This contributed to Tsunoda’s better qualifying run to seventh, where a Top 5 finish was possible. But Mercedes’ George Russell made the step when it mattered after early struggles to end up fifth.
Teammate Andrea Kimi Antonelli was knocked out in Q1 again, as the Italian admitted to be low on confidence after being forced to change his driving style to suit the car’s dynamics, since he is a bit more aggressive than Russell. It is a big admission considering the early success he has had.
Antonelli had Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton to accompany in Q1 once again. The Brit made it out but for track limits at Turn 4 – which he didn’t agree with. The seven-time F1 champion apologised to his team for the mistake, as he now braces for a big job on Sunday from the back.
Teammate Charles Leclerc made the most of Verstappen’s troubles to be third. He felt better but was not happy seeing the gap to McLaren, where Norris got the better of Piastri, even though the Brit didn’t improve on his final attempt. The Australian made a mistake as well on his final lap.
Norris: “I think we knew we would find it tough to pass Max if he got ahead at the beginning. I got past Charles and from then it was just kind of a bit of a waiting game to see if anything happened, but nothing did. So I had confidence before that we would be quick. But here, you still need to be a bit quicker in this race than what we were today. Difficult. I think we probably have a quicker car altogether, but just not enough to overtake. As for qualifying, obviously, good enough for pole. I felt like my second one, I improved, just the lap time didn’t. So maybe a little bit more out there, but I think nice improvement from yesterday. Just nice to be in a better position in the pack and be out there again. So, a good day.
“The car’s been feeling great all weekend, so it’s nice to have a one-two. It’s probably going to rain. I don’t know much more than that. We’ll wait and see. It’s Spa, so high chance of rain, but that can also mean it just sometimes hits half the track and the other half stays dry. Could be in for a Silverstone-esque chaotic race, similar to Australia or Silverstone, the ones that are sometimes a bit in the middle. Most likely some rain and drizzle. Hard to know. We’re going off the front, so hopefully, I can make an advantage of that and clean air and go from there.”
Piastri: “Realistically, not that close. I think there was one or two times where I got within a car length but the problem is I didn’t have enough. And Turn 5 is not really a corner where you can make a lunge on someone. Once they defend the inside, it’s difficult to do anything. So I think realistically I was going to have to try and get past on the straight, which we were no chance of doing. A little bit frustrating, but we knew that was a possibility going into the Sprint and I was prepared for maybe not to be within eight tenths the whole race and not be able to do anything, but for this kind of result. I was hoping we would be super quick in the middle sector and be able to hang on, but I think I could for the first part of the race. But spending that much time right behind someone, you overheat the tyres very quickly. Especially around here, they deg as well.
“It’s not just getting hot. I think the back end of the race I lost some of the advantage in the middle sector that I had and obviously you don’t gain anything more on the straight. So realistically I don’t think we had quite enough to even get close enough, but we’ll see what we can do for qualifying. As for qualifying, [I lost] a lot [at Turn 14]. Enough. The lap until that point was strong, but it doesn’t really matter if you could have done it. I didn’t. A bit disappointing. I think both laps in Q3 were a little bit like that, but that’s how it goes sometimes. A bit of a shame, but the car was great again. I felt like I was in a reasonably good flow. Just didn’t quite happen on the second lap. If it’s dry, then yes. If it’s wet, then it obviously adds in some other challenges, but we’ll have to wait and see what the weather does first. I know what I’m hoping for.”
Verstappen: “I’m just happy that I was able to hang on to it. I knew, of course, in the start there were possibilities up to Turn 5. We took it. And then, from there onwards, I knew also they had new Mediums. I knew that it was going to be even more difficult. Just trying to hang in there with the top speed that we had. I knew the middle sector was going to be the weaker area for us and just trying not to make any mistakes there, basically. And it worked very well. The only thing that I had was one time the braking into the last chicane. But it’s also, you know, you’re driving a bit over your own kind of management, so it’s easy to just overheat the tyres a bit too much. But we hung in there and kept the two McLarens behind. Of course, very pleased to win here. I mean, it’s my favourite track, home crowd, home feeling. So, yeah, just very nice always to be here. The team can always count on me. They will always get my very best, whoever is in charge. They know that. I’m never holding back or anything. I’m always trying to give them the best possible result, and that’s also what they pay me for.
“For sure, it’s positive. We need, of course, positive energy, and that’s a great start for us. As for qualifying, of course, on one-lap, it [lower downforce] is slower. My Q3 wasn’t very good for whatever reason, the first set just didn’t have the same grip, when normally you make nice progression, I couldn’t at all. And in the second set, we tried something, and that basically backfired, unfortunately, because already starting the lap, I had so much wheelspin that I couldn’t put the power down. And then the same out of Turn 1, just wheelspin up until fourth gear or something, which, yeah, lost me like two tenths already. Now, even with, let’s say, not being entirely happy with the balance, and losing two tenths in Turn 1, then it actually looks quite ok. But, yeah, it was just not what I hoped for. It’s still… the balance is not where I want it to be to really attack around here. Well, normally not, because McLaren is even stronger in the wet than in the dry, because the overheating is even bigger, of course, on an Intermediate, so they have that really well under control.
“For me, the goal is at least P3. That’s what we targeted [with the set-up, to be better in wet]. Depends on the weather – I mean, of course, if it’s wet and then it starts to dry up, there’s always a lot of chaos. So then, naturally, there will be overtaking. Yeah, in the dry, I mean, once you get stuck in a DRS train a little bit, it can be quite painful. I had that last year because I had to start a bit further back. Now, I think my battle, if it’s wet or dry, I think it will be with Charles. So I don’t think… If I get held up anyway with Charles or whatever, then McLarens already 10 seconds off the road. So, yeah. We just need to target the podium. I think that’s realistic.”
Leclerc: “Quite big. I think we expected to be P4, but with a significant gap in front. At the end, the gap is still significant, but a little bit less than what we initially expected, so that’s positive. We brought upgrades this weekend which have been working since the beginning, but we had to do some fine tunings from yesterday to today. It’s going in the right direction, so I’m very happy. I think it was also a really good lap. I don’t think I left much on the table with the potential we had today, so for that, I’m happy as well. However, it’s only P3, so now we’ll see what we can do tomorrow. Wet weather, we were speaking about it in the last race weekend. I don’t think it’s a strength for our car at the moment. We are really struggling. But having said that, every weekend is different. We’ll learn from the past and see what’s possible tomorrow. I will only be able to tell after the first few laps to see where we are. But I’ll try to look forward before looking in mirrors.”
Hamilton: “It is what it is. Just really sorry to the team. Really hard work with the filming day that we did, and all the preparation, and then you come here and don’t make it through Q1. It’s just… it’s unacceptable from me. Really sorry. I don’t agree, no [that I was outside track limits]. But I’m out. I was not doing it all weekend, but everyone takes that inside kerb, it is probably the farthest that I have been. Yes [I’ll look at it with the stewards]. The limitation to the car? The rear end. It is not ideal from where I am for sure. There is always opportunities in the race, so I’ll see what I can do from there, a tough one. The sprint quali spin, we’ve got a new component on the car that Charles had in Montreal, and he’s had it for a few races, but that’s the first time I’ve had it. Charles, you remember, he crashed with it in Montreal, and then I had the same experience in my first run with it yesterday.”
Russell: “I think so. My laps felt really strong. But clearly as a team we’re off the pace this weekend. And, other than yesterday, this is my worst qualification of the year – same for Kimi, so we need to understand what’s going on. We made some small changes, there’s only so much we can do. Historically, on Sprint Race weekends, if you have a bad Sprint, if you turn the car upside down for the next day, it rarely works. So we made some sensible changes, but we just need to understand – the first six races of the year, we had four podiums, now we’ve had one in the last six, and clearly we’ve taken a big step backwards towards the midfield.
“In stint one there won’t be any more overtakes. But of course when you pit, if it’s dry, nobody knows if this Hard tyre will be a good tyre or not, and that may force people for a two-stop, people might try the one-stop, so always when you have a variety of strategy, options appear. But it looks to be wet – wet races often create some carnage as well. We are quite light on downforce, we were purple in Sector 1 and 3, so you can guess.”
Antonelli: “Since the European season, I’ve been struggling to find confidence with the car, and I felt like I’ve gone I’ve done a backward step. It’s a difficult moment for me, because I feel like I have no confidence on pushing. And yesterday, I tried to push a bit too much, and then I spun. And then it kind of hurts the confidence even more. But it’s a difficult period. I think we know the limitation we have since quite a lot. But with the way I’m driving, I’m just increasing the problem. And that give me even less confidence in the car. Definitely, I think, the car was in a better place, for sure, compared to yesterday. It’s just on my side. I still struggle to get up to speed quickly, just because the confidence has been missing. I think there’s a lot of work to do on my side, and I try to find the light out of the tunnel as soon as possible.
“Definitely, a bit more stability, because with the way I drive, I’m a bit more aggressive with the inputs, also, compared to George, I’m a bit more aggressive overall. I tend to try and carry a lot of speed into the corner. With the limitations I have, I’m just increasing the problem. So on my side, I’m trying to change a little the way I’m driving to also have balance. Of course, it’s impossible to have the perfect balance, so I’m just trying to work on that, but it’s not easy. The team has been trying to help me as much as possible. But I’m probably trying to change the way I’m driving too much, and it feels like I’m not driving naturally. It’s very forced, the way I’m driving, and it’s just difficult. We will change the car, so we will start from pitlane and hopefully that will put us in advantage and hopefully, the confidence will be back.”
After a bad run on Friday, Williams’ Alexander Albon managed to get a Top 5 result in Saturday’s qualifying in a turnaround. The Thai wasn’t too happy with his lap, but made the Q3 cut and put in a good lap eventually after the deployment issue was fixed and set-up tweaked.
Teammate Carlos Sainz didn’t get the grip on his second Q2 lap to be down the order after making it through Q1. It was opposite result for Williams. Visa Cash App RB’s Isack Hadjar was not too happy even though he made it in the Top 10, as he felt he had bit more than eighth.
There was some joy since Liam Lawson backed the pace in ninth. Hamilton’s misery was a delight for Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto, who made it out of Q1. He ended up 10th in the end, which was the maximum he thought he could secure considering the pace of the midfield cars in front.
Teammate Nico Hulkenberg made it in Q2 but did not have enough to pull through. After double Top 10 in sprint, Haas’ journey ended with a close 11th place finish for Esteban Ocon. He has retained the lower downforce traits after team decided to split and put Oliver Bearman on the higher one.
The Brit backed his teammate in pace to be 12th, where he felt Top 10 was possible if not for traffic. Alpine’s Pierre Gasly only had enough to be Q2, as Franco Colpainto missed out just, as Fernando Alonso didn’t feel as bad in the Aston Martin car, but just didn’t have enough like Lance Stroll to be out of Q1.
Albon: “It is always nice to be that side of it [being close to Max]. Really happy, I would say, we were quite draggy in the sprint race and we decided to drop some wing from the car for just be more in line with the people, I felt in the sprint race I was quick but I couldn’t do anything behind the cars. It means going into qualifying, everything is a lot trickier because you are obviously sliding around a bit more, the tyres fall away from you more as well. We fixed the deployment which was the biggest difference from Friday to Saturday. But then, I would say on pure pace, I felt less competitive during qualifying than I was at any point before the qualifying session, so it felt tricky. I was P10 in Q2, I didn’t feel that happy, I didn’t really know where lap time I could get, where I could get more positions, lets say.
“And then Q3 happened and I found chunk of time, so I put it down to tyres as it always is, we found a sweet spot on the last run. I didn’t feel that quick and honestly if I get to Q3 now, I am happy and then…so that was it. I was happy with P10 and then I was P5, so there we go, double punched. Honestly, I think, our race pace is strong. It is hard to know because I have been in DRS train the whole sprint race. My race pace was good on Friday, I think we will be okay, we just need to get some clear air and I hope the cars in front clear off and I can do my race. I think the DRS is too short, we had it last year and they haven’t changed it this year, so unfortunately, you are not getting any side-by-side action, that you see in Turn 5.”
Hadjar: “It was a good Sprint for us this morning. We showed a really good pace and we managed to score a point. In Qualifying, both Liam and I got into the rhythm very quickly. I’m very satisfied, but I just expected a bit more than a P8, as we started the session really strong and Alex in P5 is just a tenth away from us, so I feel like I could have done a better job – maybe Turn 1, I could have found time, the rest was pretty tight. Overall, we have a stable car, which has worked really well, and it gave me confidence from the beginning, so I’m definitely proud of the team. We have a strong pace and we also start within the points tomorrow. We know that there’s a chance for a wet race but I’m happy with our car setup, so the aim is obviously to be in the fight to try and get some points.”
Bortoleto: “I was very-very frustrated in that moment because I knew the potential in the car was there. Many things happened in Q1 which put us in that situation. I think going very early, myself making too making mistakes in that second lap…the margins are so tight in this grid that a small mistake you do, it can cost you in quali. We had done some stuff that didn’t work and obviously when I received the call on the radio that Hamilton had lost his lap, I said, ‘now I need to give everything and need to fix all the things that I had done wrong, put everything together and do a great quali’.
“That’s what happened, we managed to put it there and get to Q3. No, not at all [there was no pressure in Q3]. I had a used set of tyres, I knew everyone would beat me there because it is impossible to beat people with used set of soft when everyone has new. I just wanted to put a lap on board in case someone lose a lap or is deleted, so you get the position but when you don’t have a set of soft, there is nothing you can do about it.”
Ocon: “I’m super pleased with the Sprint, six points for the team today is a really good result. We can be satisfied with that as the cars in front were out of reach, so we finished on top of our race, so to speak. It was very close out there in qualifying this afternoon, but there are some positives as we’ve fixed some issues with the balance of the car. It’s still a decent starting position and we’re only one place away from a point which is pretty good, so we need to maximize the potential there. It was quite good obviously from the team side to split the cars in that sense to make sure that we have one car in the right setting in the race. I don’t know which one it would be yet, but Ollie has a little bit downforce on his car.”
Gasly: “It has been a tricky day with the Sprint Race and Qualifying. Frustratingly, the Sprint was over before it started as we had a water leak on the car on the way to the grid. The team managed to repair it so we did some laps – almost like a Free Practice 3 for us – but not anything meaningful in the end. These things happen and the team did a great job to even turn things around to have some track time. For Qualifying, everything felt quite good. We progressed through Q1 and then in Q2 the final lap was decent.
“We probably just needed someone in front of us for a tow but we were the first car on track so missed out. A tenth or two would have been enough to reach Q3, and we know all the little details count. We will see what we can do tomorrow. We know some teams have opted for different set-ups but we will focus on ourselves and give it everything to come away with the best possible result.”
Alonso: “This weekend hasn’t gone our way so far. We made some set-up changes for the rain, but we just lacked pace today. We need to go back and understand why our package isn’t performing here. I don’t know, I think it is question for the technical people, we only drive the car as fast as we can and the car felt good, the balance was good, nothing really terribly wrong with the lap, and yeah, the timed lap when you cross the line, it is not fast enough, that’s the only conclusion we can make.
“Lets see if we understand why we are slow in this layout and in this high efficiency circuit. At Spa, you need to have a car that has grip in corners but also straightline speed and it seems that we could not find the right set-up to have both of them, lets see what we can take from here. Starting near the back is never easy, and this performance doesn’t reflect where we are as a team this season. I still feel quick in the car, and we’ll keep pushing to see what we can do tomorrow.”
Here’s how F1 Belgian GP qualifying panned out