Verstappen contests Russell-Schock-F1-Pole at Spa

Max Verstappen defeated George Russell and took pole in a wet qualifying for the Formula 1 Grand Prix of Belgium in 2021, which was disrupted by Lando Norris due to a serious crash in Q3.

Lewis Hamilton completed the top three, Valtteri Bottas was eighth in the second Mercedes.

The rain before Q3 meant that conditions relied on full rain tires again after the intermediates were the tires of choice in Q1 and Q2.

Norris, who had set the fastest times in Q1 and Q2, reported on his Q3 out lap about aquaplaning, where Sebastian Vettel, shortly behind the McLaren, called for the session to be aborted.

After Russell led the field into the first few laps of the shootout, Norris’ correction of a slight oversteer through the second part of Eau Rouge sent his car to the left and into the barriers just before Raidillon and the top of the hill.

The massive impact tore off two wheels and damaged all four corners of the McLaren, which ricocheted off the guardrails and spun wildly several times before coming to a standstill in the play-off behind Raidillon.

After Vettel stopped to check that Norris was okay, the Brit was able to get out of his car and the session was paused for over 40 minutes when the wreck was cleared and the FIA ​​then assessed conditions to reboot to enable.

When that happened, Esteban Ocon and Russell led the field on full wet tires, but they pitted at the end of their laps to join the rest of the Q3 runners on the Inters.

Hamilton and Bottas therefore drove the first timed laps of Q3, with Hamilton leading with 2: 01.552 minutes after the first Q3 runs, while Verstappen was almost a second behind his title rival at this point.

In the final rounds, Russell, who had just completed his first timed lap in Q3 and finished ninth fastest, stayed for a second lap in a row on that lap and amazed the drivers behind him by setting the best sectors of the track at the time in Q3 in the first two thirds of the round.

Russell shot at the provisional pole, while Hamilton, who followed the Mercedes junior, could not beat his compatriot and lost himself, 0.013 seconds behind.

But Verstappen still had to set his lap and the fastest Q3 time in the middle sector, combined with personal bests in the other two, meant that he crept into pole position at the last moment with 1: 59.765 minutes – as the only driver who hit the 2ms mark in the last part of qualifying.

Daniel Ricciardo finished fourth for McLaren ahead of Vettel and Pierre Gasly, while Sergio Perez, who was second fastest after all the drivers had done their first runs in Q3, finished seventh – Perez was the only driver in the top 9 who did not have a personal best in his final Q3 lap.

Bottas finished eighth, but thanks to his starting penalty he will start five places back because he caused the fall at the head of the field in the first corner of the Hungarian GP.

Ocon ended up in ninth place while Norris was ranked ninth but may face a grid failure if he needs to fix his car, which means he needs new restricted components or is starting from the pit lane.

In Q2 it was mainly about the fact that the Mercedes drivers have to pits twice to change their Inters after they were initially sent on used sets.

This got them off-beat with the rest of the field and meant they spent most of Q2 at the end of the times, finishing 11th and 12th before the final runs.

But after Hamilton and Bottas came to take a second new set of Inters for Q2 – their third overall in qualifying – Hamilton and Bottas improved enough to get through safely.

Behind them, Ricciardo defeated Charles Leclerc in his last attempt in Q2 in 11th place.

Nicholas Latifi took Williams in 12th place – his best F1 qualifying result – after being pushed back by others who also improved in the second quarter, but the Canadian set a personal best on his final lap – as did Fernando Alonso on his way to the 14th

On either side of the Alpine rider were Carlos Sainz, who pitted at the end of his last timed lap in the middle segment, and Lance Stroll, who missed one final Q2 time as he was unable to complete a late break.

Like Bottas, Stroll will lose five places on the grid on Sunday because he caused the second shunt at the start of the race in Budapest the last time.

In Q1, which was delayed by 12 minutes as the FIA ​​assessed how wet track conditions were after rain before qualifying started, the Williams drivers were the only drivers to lead the intermediate standings.

Although Latifi spun in the Fanges chicane on his first flying lap and spun again on the sodden, puddle-filled grass after the sequence, the Williams pair proved the Inters were the right tires and the rest of the field switched of full rainfall after each driver has completed at least one trip.

Russell and Latifi were shuffled down in order as the riders found time with every lap they completed on the Inters despite the risk of more rain.

Although several drivers – including Ricciardo, Alonso and Hungarian GP winner Ocon at the end of the first quarter – were under pressure, Antonio Giovinazzi and Yuki Tsunoda’s personal bests in their final runs were not enough to make it through.

The Alfa Romeo and AlphaTauri drivers were eliminated in 16th and 17th place respectively, while Mick Schumacher took 18th place for Haas, despite not setting his fastest time on his last Q1 lap.

Kimi Raikkonen showed his best performance right at the end of the opening segment, but that was only enough for 19th place and ahead of Nikita Mazepin at the bottom of the field.