It’s time to see what went down in a really trick wet-to-dry Friday Qualifying Session at Spa.
Q1
In Qualifying 1; Alex Albon, Zhou Guanyu, Logan Sargeant, Daniel Ricciardo, and Nico Hulkenberg were the five slowest drivers. I get the feeling that Alex Albon will be really disappointed to be out in Q1 as Williams had high hopes this weekend whilst Zhou Guanyu massively struggled for pace compared to his teammate. Logan Sargeant was also a long way away from his teammate (1.2s) whilst Daniel Ricciardo got his best lap time deleted for track limits which must’ve been really frustrating. Nico Hulkenberg will line up last for Sunday’s Grand Prix after a hydraulic issue that cost Nico getting a lap in at the optimal time. Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc topped Q1 over Max Verstappen by just over 2 tenths.
Q2
In Qualifying 2; Yuki Tsunoda, Pierre Gasly, Kevin Magnussen, Valtteri Bottas, and Esteban Ocon all failed to make it into the top 10 shootout. Yuki Tsunoda should be really happy with his performance because P11 in an Alpha Tauri is very impressive whilst Pierre Gasly will be frustrated to only be 12th. Kevin Magnussen pulled out one of his better performances of the season to qualify 13th whilst Valtteri Bottas did alright and will start Sunday’s Race from P14. As for Esteban Ocon, he will be really frustrated with himself after crashing and taking off his front wing. Just nothing seems to be going right for Alpine right now! McLaren’s Oscar Piastri topped Q2 by just under 2 tenths to Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz.
Q3
In Qualifying 3, Max Verstappen set a blistering 1:46.168 to take Pole Position by over 8 tenths of a second! Max will actually start 6th on Sunday due to a 5-place grid penalty, but I don’t think that’s going to affect his overall result. Charles Leclerc got P2 which is definitely the maximum he could’ve got whilst Sergio Perez had his best Qualifying result for a while, and it still felt underwhelming. Checo can not be nearly 9 tenths off his teammate, it’s just not acceptable! Lewis Hamilton pulled out a really good final sector to qualify P4 whilst Carlos Sainz will probably be slightly disappointed with 5th place. Oscar Piastri pulled out another great Qualifying performance, but he will also be disappointed with only 6th whilst his McLaren Lando Norris struggled for pace, potentially due to the mistake he made in Q1. George Russell was nowhere in his Mercedes whilst Fernando Alonso led his teammate Lance Stroll as Aston Martin continue to lose touch on the top 4 teams.
Starting Grid for the 2023 Belgian Grand Prix and my Qualifying Grades
Charles Leclerc: 10
Sergio Perez: 6
Lewis Hamilton: 8
Carlos Sainz: 7
Oscar Piastri: 7
Max Verstappen: 10
Lando Norris: 5
George Russell: 4
Fernando Alonso: 6
Lance Stroll: 4
Yuki Tsunoda: 8
Pierre Gasly: 4
Kevin Magnussen: 6
Valtteri Bottas: 5
Esteban Ocon: 2
Alex Albon: 3
Zhou Guanyu: 2
Logan Sargeant: 1
Daniel Ricciardo: 1
Nico Hulkenberg: -
My Predictions for the Belgian Sprint Shootout
Max Verstappen
Charles Leclerc
Carlos Sainz
Oscar Piastri
Lewis Hamilton
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