Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc will start from the front of the pack for Sunday’s Belgian Grand Prix despite Max Verstappen taking a hugely impressive pole position at a rain-hit Spa-Francorchamps.
Verstappen reigned supreme throughout qualifying but the Dutchman’s 10-place grid penalty for an engine change means he will line up from only 11th on the grid.
His demotion elevates Leclerc to the sharp end with Sergio Perez second, one place ahead of Lewis Hamilton. Lando Norris will start fourth in his McLaren.
Verstappen has been bumped down the order for taking on his fifth internal combustion engine of the season here, one more than the four he is allowed.
Follow live updates from the Belgian Grand Prix with The Independent
A reminder of the starting grid at Spa:
*Verstappen takes a 10-place grid penalty for exceeding his engine allocation
**Tsunoda starts at the back of the grid after exceeding his engine allocation
Kieran Jackson28 July 2024 11:20
Pole-sitter Charles Leclerc:
“On my side, it was a clean lap, but not an incredible lap. So yeah, I’m very happy to be P2 but I definitely did not expect that.
“I think as a team today P5 will have been a bit of a good result and today we are P2 and tomorrow we will be starting on pole.
“So that’s a good thing. But as I said we don’t have any magical solution for the race pace and it will be a bit of a tricky day.”
Kieran Jackson28 July 2024 11:17
Start time for the Belgian Grand Prix:
How can I watch it online and on TV?
The Belgian Grand Prix will be broadcast live on Sky Sports in the United Kingdom – and ESPN in the United States. Sky’s coverage of Sunday’s race starts at 12:30pm (BST).
You can watch highlights on free-to-air Channel 4 at 7:30pm (BST) on Saturday evening for qualifying and 6:30pm on Sunday evening for the race.
Sky Sports subscribers can watch all the action at Spa-Francorchamps on the Sky Go app. If you’re not a Sky customer you can grab a NOWTV Day Pass here to watch without a subscription.
Kieran Jackson28 July 2024 11:10
Formula One returns to one of the world’s most iconic race tracks this weekend as the famous Spa-Francorchamps circuit hosts the Belgian Grand Prix.
Lewis Hamilton finished on the podium in third while Max Verstappen endured a Sunday to forget as he argued with his race engineer and crashed into Hamilton late on, ultimately finishing fifth. Despite this, Verstappen still has a 76-point lead in the world championship to Norris in second with 11 races remaining.
The Red Bull driver looks set to take a 10-place grid penalty this Sunday due to taking a new engine, though he has won from down the grid in the last two years at Spa. It is also a big weekend for his team-mate Sergio Perez, with uncertainty surrounding his future at the team following a run of poor results.
Kieran Jackson28 July 2024 11:08
Lando Norris laments ‘shocking’ qualifying display in Belgium Grand Prix https://www.independent.co.uk/f1/f1-lando-norris-belgium-qualifying-b2586978.html
Lando Norris lamented a “shocking” qualifying display for Sunday’s Belgian Grand Prix which leaves him scrambling to take advantage of championship rival Max Verstappen’s grid penalty.
Verstappen reigned supreme at a rain-hit Spa-Francorchamps to claim pole position for Formula One’s concluding round before its four-week summer shutdown.
But the Red Bull driver will be relegated to 11th when the lights go out at Sunday’s 44-lap contest for taking on his fifth internal combustion engine, one more than he is permitted.
Kieran Jackson27 July 2024 17:56
Charles Leclerc takes surprise pole position in Belgium after Max Verstappen penalty
Verstappen reigned supreme throughout qualifying but the Dutchman’s 10-place grid penalty for an engine change means he will line up from only 11th on the grid.
His demotion elevates Leclerc to the sharp end with Sergio Perez second, one place ahead of Lewis Hamilton. Lando Norris will start fourth in his McLaren.
Kieran Jackson27 July 2024 16:59
Lando Norris after qualifying fifth-fastest, P4 on the grid:
Kieran Jackson27 July 2024 16:49
Max Verstappen after qualifying in first:
“It was a nice qualifying, the weather was OK. Everything worked well, we could do good lap times. I was trying to keep two new sets for Q3, very happy. The car looked good in the wet.
“I don’t now how quick we can be, hopefully we will be in the mix. The race can be lost in turn one, just see what happens in the start. It’s a very long race, harsh on tyres, hopefully we can be competitive.
“We are not making it easy on ourselves, we need to be quick in the dry tomorrow. It will be a tough battle.”
Kieran Jackson27 July 2024 16:26
Charles Leclerc, who will start on pole tomorrow:
It’s good. I definitely did not expect that this weekend. With the tricky conditions we could do something above our expectations. Now we need to focus on tomorrow and see what happens when the rain is gone.
“Without this rain, probably P5 was what we were fighting for. The rain helped us a little bit, very happy with the lap in Q3.”
Kieran Jackson27 July 2024 16:17
Sergio Perez after qualifying in third, P2 for tomorrow:
“It was very tricky conditions. It was good to finally put it together. We didn’t have any new tyres in Q3, we were a bit lucky to make it from Q2. This was the best we could do. It’s a long race ahead of us, it looks like it will be dry so we’ll see.
“Tomorrow is a new opportunity for us to do better than today and go for that win. It’s a very long race, tomorrow degradation will be tricky. There are a lot of unknowns, I have a good feeling so we’ll se.”
Kieran Jackson27 July 2024 16:10
