Red Bull star bounces back after 'UNEXPECTED' Belgian GP qualifying - Top three verdict

Max Verstappen after his win at Imola — Photo: © IMAGO

Belgian Grand Prix Qualifying

Red Bull star bounces back after 'UNEXPECTED' Belgian GP qualifying - Top three verdict

Here's what the top three had to say after a wet qualifying session at Spa

Sheona Mountford F1 Journalist

Motorsport journalist working in F1 since 2024.

Saturday 27 July 2024 17:57 Updated: 19:14

Red Bull returned to their dominant ways in qualifying after a difficult weekend last time out in Hungary.

Max Verstappen claimed pole position, however will start the race in P11 after receiving a 10-place grid penalty for power unit changes.

F1 HEADLINES: Red Bull suffer pole LOSS as FIA slam star with astonishing penalty

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Whilst a Red Bull top two looked likely, Charles Leclerc completed a blistering lap at the last minute to steal P2, and therefore the top spot on the grid for the race.

Sergio Perez re-discovered his form at just the right time this weekend, and qualified P3, meaning he will start the grand prix on the front row.

Finally, it was Alpine who offered the biggest surprise of the session, with Esteban Ocon reaching Q3 ahead of starting P9 after Verstappen's penalty.

Here's what the top three had to say in Belgium...

Max Verstappen

"It was a nice qualifying. Luckily the weather was okay. It was just raining a little bit and at least we could do a decent qualifying.

"Everything worked well. Every tyre set that we were on we could just do good lap times. I was thinking about Q3, not knowing if it was going to dry out, so I was trying to keep two new sets for Q3, and luckily we escaped Q1 and Q2.

"Very happy. The car was working quite well in the wet. I could just do my laps and try to do clean lap times in the wet, which is always quite tricky.

"But tomorrow, of course I know that it’s quite a different day. It’s going to be warmer, normally no rain, so it’s all about tyre degradation. We just need to make sure we’re good on that.

"I know that I have to start 10 places back so this was the best I could do today, and I go from there. I don’t know how quick we’re going to be. I hope that we can be in the mix to try to move forward.

"The race can be lost in Turn 1, so just need to see what happens at the start, naturally, and just go from there. It’s a very long race, it’s very hard on tyres and we just need to try to manage that as good as we can, and hopefully then we can be competitive tomorrow.

"We are not making it easy on ourselves and especially of course in the battle that we’re in. I know that today was a great day, but it’s in the wet, we need to be quick in the dry tomorrow. It’s going to be a tough battle. We’ll try to do the best we can. Hopefully we can battle the Ferrari and Mercedes ahead, and if we have a bit of luck, maybe we can challenge the McLaren."

Charles Leclerc

"Exactly the same [to last year.

"It's good. I definitely did not expect that this weekend. Obviously with the tricky conditions we could do something above our expectations.

"So it's a good day for the team so now we need to focus on tomorrow and see what will happen when the rain is gone.

"Without this rain, probably P5 was the position we were fighting for with the Mercedes especially. But with the rain it helped us a little bit, but I'm not going to complain.

"I'm really happy, I'm really happy with the lap in Q3, and it's good to be back on the front part of the grid. Now we've got to finalise that tomorrow.

"It's not the easiest first place to keep on the first lap here, but honestly I will see. Every start is different and then once I will be in the car tomorrow through Eau Rouge I will see what the best thing is that I can do.

"Obviously I'll try to keep that first place."

Sergio Perez

"It was very tricky, at times. As always in these conditions, it’s so easy for it to go wrong, as it’s been going in the last few qualifyings in these conditions. It was good to finally put it together.

"Unfortunately we didn’t have any new tyres for Q3. We were a bit out of sync in Q2, so we were also quite lucky to make it P10.

"I think P2 is probably the best position you can wish for in Spa. It was the same with Charles last year, so I’m going to be trying tomorrow to be the same. It’s a long race ahead of us. It looks like it’s going to be dry, so we’ll see.

"Like I’ve always said, every weekend is a new opportunity to do better, every day. Tomorrow is a new opportunity for us to do even better than today and go for that win.

"We’ll see. It’s a very long race ahead of us. I think degradation will be quite tricky. Graining with this new tarmac. I think there a lot of unknowns still. But I’ve got a good feeling for tomorrow, so we’ll see."

Written by

Sheona Mountford - F1 Journalist

Sheona Mountford is a motorsport journalist specialising in F1. As a writer and contributor, she covers a wide range of motorsport series from F1 to F1 Academy, responsible for breaking news, live race coverage and in depth analysis of the sport and the culture around it.

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Red Bull Max Verstappen Charles Leclerc Sergio Perez Alpine Esteban Ocon