Sainz promoted to pole after Verstappen penalty at the Belgian Grand Prix

Max Verstappen clinched pole position at the 2022 Belgian Grand Prix at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit in Belgium.

Carlos Sainz was in second position, 0.632 seconds slower than Verstappen. Sergio Pérez was in third position ahead of Charles Leclerc and Esteban Ocon.

Verstappen, Leclerc, Lando Norris, Ocon, Zhou Guanyu and Mick Schumacher will start at the back of the grid due to engine penalties. Valtteri Bottas also has a twenty-place grid penalty which includes a fifteen-place grid penalty for new power unit components and a five-place grid penalty for a gearbox change.

These penalties has mixed up the starting grid. Sainz and Pérez will start on the first row. Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton will start on the second row. George Russell and Alexander Albon will start on the third row.

The start of the qualification session was delayed due to damaged barriers caused by a crash in the Porsche Supercup qualifying session. The session started after a delay of twenty-five minutes after the barriers were repaired.

The qualification session at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit started in cool and overcast conditions with air temperature at 15 degrees C and track temperature at 20 degrees C. There was a 30% chance of rain during the session.

The Pirelli tyre choice at this race is the white-striped hard compound tyres (C2), yellow-striped medium compound tyres (C3), and red-striped soft compound tyres (C4), the middle range of compounds in the Pirelli tyre range.

Q1: Vettel and Bottas eliminated

Nicholas Latifi was the first driver on the track when the lights went green. The Canadian driver returned to the garage after an installation lap.

Schumacher set the first timed lap with a lap time of 1m47.929s. Verstappen went fastest in the initial exchanges with a 1m44.581s lap time. Sainz, Pérez, Leclerc and Ocon slotted in behind the Dutchman.

Albon split the Mercedes drivers as he finished sixth in the dying minutes of the session. Lance Stroll and Schumacher escaped the dropzone in the dying minutes of the session.

Q1 dropzone: Sebastian Vettel, Nicholas Latifi, Kevin Magnussen, Yuki Tsunoda, Valtteri Bottas

Q2: Ricciardo and Gasly knocked out

Verstappen was again on top of the time charts ahead of his team-mate Perez with a lap time of 1m44.723s.

Sainz, Ocon, Norris and Leclerc slotted in behind the leaders. After the initial run on used soft compound tyres, the final flying laps determined the drivers in the dropzone.

Norris on used tyres was used to tow Daniel Ricciardo to lift him out of the dropzone. In the dying minutes of the session, Leclerc went to the top of the time charts and Albon escaped the dropzone.

Q2 dropzone: Daniel Ricciardo, Pierre Gasly, Zhou Guanyu, Lance Stroll, Mick Schumacher

Q3: Verstappen takes pole but penalties promote Sainz to pole position

The last all-important twelve minutes of the top ten shootout started with effective pole position being contested by Pérez and Sainz with the penalties for all the other drivers.

Verstappen went fastest ahead of Sainz and Pérez after the first set of flying laps. Sainz was given a tow by team-mate Leclerc in the initial run.

Verstappen did not come out for the second flying lap. Sainz, Pérez, Leclerc and Ocon stayed in the same positions behind Verstappen.

Alonso and Hamilton improved to sixth and seventh positions on the last flying lap. Russell, Albon and Norris rounded off the top ten positions.

Top 10: Max Verstappen, Carlos Sainz, Sergio Pérez, Charles Leclerc, Esteban Ocon, Fernando Alonso, Lewis Hamilton, George Russell, Alexander Albon, Lando Norris

2022 Belgian Grand Prix Qualification Results:

Pos	No	Driver	Nat.	Team	Q1	Q2	Q3	Laps
1	1	Max Verstappen	NED	Oracle Red Bull Racing	1:44.581	1:44.723	1:43.665	9
2	55	Carlos Sainz	ESP	Scuderia Ferrari	1:45.050	1:45.418	1:44.297	14
3	11	Sergio Perez	MEX	Oracle Red Bull Racing	1:45.377	1:44.794	1:44.462	12
4	16	Charles Leclerc	MON	Scuderia Ferrari	1:45.572	1:44.551	1:44.553	14
5	31	Esteban Ocon	FRA	BWT Alpine F1 Team	1:46.039	1:45.475	1:45.180	15
6	14	Fernando Alonso	ESP	BWT Alpine F1 Team	1:46.075	1:45.552	1:45.368	16
7	44	Lewis Hamilton	GBR	Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team	1:45.736	1:45.420	1:45.503	20
8	63	George Russell	GBR	Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team	1:45.650	1:45.461	1:45.776	20
9	23	Alexander Albon	THA	Williams Racing	1:45.672	1:45.675	1:45.837	18
10	4	Lando Norris	GBR	McLaren F1 Team	1:45.745	1:45.603	1:46.178	14
11	3	Daniel Ricciardo	AUS	McLaren F1 Team	1:46.212	1:45.767		9
12	10	Pierre Gasly	FRA	Scuderia AlphaTauri	1:46.183	1:45.827		12
13	24	Zhou Guanyu	CHN	Alfa Romeo Racing	1:46.178	1:46.085		12
14	18	Lance Stroll	CAN	Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant F1 Team	1:46.256	1:46.611		12
15	47	Mick Schumacher	GER	Haas F1 Team	1:46.342	1:47.718		13
16	5	Sebastian Vettel	GER	Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant F1 Team	1:46.344			6
17	6	Nicholas Latifi	CAN	Williams Racing	1:46.401			7
18	20	Kevin Magnussen	DEN	Haas F1 Team	1:46.557			6
19	22	Yuki Tsunoda	JAP	Scuderia AlphaTauri	1:46.692			6
20	77	Valtteri Bottas	FIN	Alfa Romeo Racing	1:47.866			5