Coming into Qualifying, we knew that this was going to be a different type of qualifying as 7 drivers were taking grid penalties. These drivers are Max Verstappen, Charles Leclerc, Lando Norris, Esteban Ocon, Mick Schumacher, Zhou Guanyu and Valtteri Bottas who is going to start 14th no matter what.
Q1
In Qualifying 1, Sebastian Vettel, Nicholas Latifi, Kevin Magnussen, Yuki Tsunoda and Valtteri Bottas where all knocked out. Sebastian Vettel will be very frustrated as he was only 2 thousandths off getting through to Q2. Latifi won’t be too annoyed with 17th but to be 8 tenths off his teammate in Q1 isn’t very good. Kevin Magnussen will also be disappointed with his session as he has been quicker than his teammate for most of the season. Yuki Tsunoda continued to struggle in his Alpha Tauri as he qualified 19th whilst Valtteri Bottas didn’t put in a competitive lap time due to him already knowing where he is starting. Verstappen was quickest in the session by 5 tenths to Carlos Sainz
Q2
In Qualifying 2, Daniel Ricciardo, Pierre Gasly, Zhou Guanyu, Lance Stroll and Mick Schumacher all failed to make it into Q2. Mick Schumacher didn’t put in a competitive lap time and will start from last place tomorrow. Lance Stroll was just slow, the Aston was once again a slow car in qualifying. The positive for Stroll is his car is pretty good in the race and he starts inside the top 10 so he may have a shot at scoring points. Zhou Guanyu finished 13th but he achieved his objective of outqualifying Mick Schumacher. Pierre Gasly can be pretty happy with P12 and will start in a very good P8 in the race. Daniel Ricciardo, however, will be disappointed with his efforts as he wasn’t quick enough to get through despite receiving a toe from his teammate. The big standout in this session was Alex Albon managed to get his Williams into Q3. This means that every driver has now made it into Q3 at some point this season. Charles Leclerc topped the session by 2 tenths over Verstappen. Max’s lap was on a used tyre though.
Q3
In Qualifying 3, Max Verstappen was comfortably quicker and set a 1.43.665. The Dutchman was over 6 tenths ahead of Carlos Sainz in P2. Sainz will be frustrated with the gap, but he will start in Pole tomorrow which must be a nice feeling. Alongside him on the front row will be Sergio Perez. Perez finished the session in third but was a worrying 8 tenths off his teammate. Charles Leclerc will start 16th in the race after a messy qualifying that saw him nearly a second off the championship leader. Alpine then finished 5th and 6th which is a very impressive result. Esteban did his job to qualify ahead of McLaren’s Lando Norris and he also gave his teammate a mega toe which has ultimately meant that Fernando will start tomorrow’s race from P3 which is very exciting. Mercedes, who were really confident coming into the weekend, have had their confidence wiped as they managed to be nearly 2 seconds off the fastest time. Lewis Hamilton will start ahead of his teammate for tomorrow’s race after the 7-time World Champion outqualified his younger teammate by nearly 3 tenths. Alex Albon was one of the stars of qualifying and managed to come across the line in P9. The Williams Driver will start in an incredible P6 for tomorrow’s race. I hope he doesn’t just get overtaken by anyone as that would be a shame. Lando Norris rounded out the top 10 as the Brit didn’t really push in the final session of Qualifying. Lando will start 18th for tomorrow’s race, and he will probably believe that he can finish in the points come the end of the race tomorrow.
Starting Grid for tomorrow’s race and my Qualifying Grades
Carlos Sainz: 8
Sergio Perez: 7
Fernando Alonso: 9
Lewis Hamilton 6
George Russell: 5
Alex Albon: 10
Daniel Ricciardo: 4
Pierre Gasly: 6
Lance Stroll: 5
Sebastian Vettel: 3
Nicholas Latifi: 3
Kevin Magnussen: 2
Yuki Tsunoda: 1
Valtteri Bottas: -
Max Verstappen: 10
Charles Leclerc: 6
Esteban Ocon: 10
Lando Norris: 6
Zhou Guanyu: 5
Mick Schumacher: 4
My Predictions for the Belgium Grand Prix
Max Verstappen
Carlos Sainz
Sergio Perez
Lewis Hamilton
Fernando Alonso
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