Verstappen will start ahead of Mercedes ‘Russell and World Champion Lewis Hamilton after the hour-long qualifying session, which was postponed twice due to rain and the cleanup of Norris’ wrecked car.
Qualifying results for the Belgian Grand Prix: Verstappen on pole for Russell
What happened in Q1?
After a short delay due to heavy rain and standing water, the session began on a wet road. In the first moments, Hamilton and Bottas both ran far on rain tires in Brussels, while Williams’ Russell set the pace on intermediates. His teammate Latifi spun in Fagnes on his first flying lap (also on intermediates), but then came within 0.6 seconds of Russell on P2.
That sent the wet majority into the pits for Inters. Pole position then relentlessly changed hands, with Sainz, Perez, Ricciardo, Leclerc, Russell (again), Verstappen and Norris all taking turns on P1.
In the final moments, Norris was the target with 1: 58.776 minutes – and was briefly surpassed by Verstappen’s 1: 58.717 minutes, but Norris took it back with 1: 58.301 minutes.
Antonio Giovinazzi from Alfa Romeo, Yuki Tsunoda from AlphaTauri, Mick Schumacher (Haas), Kimi Räikkönen (Alfa) and Nikita Mazepin (Haas) fell at the first hurdle.
Results at the Belgian Grand Prix Q1: Norris fastest from Verstappen
What happened in Q2?
The track slowly dried out in the second quarter, but more rain was forecast. Mercedes started with used intermediates, but quickly abandoned this idea and after one lap joined the rest of the new intermediates.
Norris set the starting pace again with 1: 57.235 minutes, but Verstappen took over the top position with 1: 56.559 minutes. The Mercedes duo struggled to make the cutoff and were forced to use a third set of Inters.
In the final moments, Norris P1 took on a new set of Inters with 1: 56.025 minutes, two tenths ahead of Hamilton and Bottas. “That was way too close, guys,” said Hamilton.
At this point, Leclerc, Latifi, Sainz, Fernando Alonso (Alpin) and Stroll (Aston Martin) – who will start last at the Hungarian GP due to his five-place penalty – were eliminated.
Results at the Belgian Grand Prix Q2: Norris fastest from Hamilton
What happened in the third quarter?
Before the top 10 shootout, the sky opened again, so that the track was completely wet again – the teams fought for full rain. Both Norris and Vettel, who went out first, complained about “aquaplaning” or “too much water” – with Vettel calling for a red flag just before Norris fell badly in Eau Rouge.
After a long delay to recover the wreck and wait for weather conditions to improve, Q3 resumed with eight minutes left. Most of the riders went on intermediates, with Ocon and Russell pitting immediately on wet tires to join them.
Hamilton set the benchmark at 2m01.552s, 0.5s ahead of Perez, 0.9s faster than Verstappen and 1.5s ahead of Bottas.
In the final run, Russell drove a breathtaking lap of 2: 00.086 seconds while Hamilton was 0.013 seconds slower. Verstappen then unleashed his 1: 59.765 seconds, 0.321 seconds ahead of Russell. Hamilton qualified third in front of Ricciardo, Vettel, Gasly, Perez, Bottas and Ocon.
Bottas has a starting penalty of five places, dropping him to 13th place.
