Verstappen Grabs Pole Position Ahead of Russell at the Belgian Grand Prix

Max Verstappen clinched pole position at the Belgian Grand Prix in the twelfth race of the 2021 FIA Formula 1 World Championship. In wet and treacherous conditions, the Dutchman grabbed the ninth pole of his career in the dying minutes of the session.

George Russell with a sensational lap took second position ahead of Lewis Hamilton in third position. It was a stellar result for the young Briton to start on the first row.

The qualifying session at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit in Belgium took place under wet and cold conditions with air temperatures at 14 degree C and track temperatures at 16 degree C.

The three compounds for this race are from the middle range of the Pirelli tyres – the white-striped hard tyres (C2), the yellow-striped medium tyres (C3) and the red-striped soft tyres (C4).

The start of the qualification was delayed by twelve minutes due to standing water on the track.

Q1: Giovinazzi and Tsunoda Eliminated

For the first installation lap all the drivers except the two Williams F1 drivers were on full wet tyres.

George Russell’s first flying lap was compromised as his team-mate Nicholas Latifi spun and brought out the yellow flags. But on their second lap, Russell and Latifi went to the top of the time charts on the intermediate tyres.

The other drivers pitted to take on the intermediate tyres for their next lap. Esteban Ocon then went to third position on the time charts behind the Williams duo.

The drivers scrambled to get in their laps before the rain came down again. Lando Norris topped the session ahead of Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton.

Q1 dropzone: Antonio Giovinazzi, Yuki Tsunoda, Mick Schumacher, Kimi Räikkönen, Nikita Mazepin

Q2: Both Ferrari drivers knocked out

The second qualification session started with the drivers on the intermediate tyres and the threat of rain hanging over the circuit. Norris set the first timed lap with a 1m57.235s to go to the top of the time charts.

With six minutes to go, both the Mercedes drivers were in the drop zone and managed to move themselves into the top ten positions. But with two minutes to go, both Hamilton and Bottas were again in the drop zone.

Hamilton and Bottas in a last gasp effort took second and third position. Norris again topped the time charts. In the dying minutes of the session, Daniel Ricciardo and Ocon knocked out the two Ferrari drivers.

Q2 dropzone: Charles Leclerc, Nicholas Latifi, Carlos Sainz, Fernando Alonso, Lance Stroll

Q3: Verstappen takes pole position

Norris was the first driver on the track which was very wet now. Vettel behind him told his pit wall that they should red flag the session as it was too dangerous.

Norris on his first timed lap crashed heavily at Eau Rouge and the session was red-flagged. The rain intensified and the drivers sat in their cars and waited for the resumption.

The session finally resumed at 16:45 local time with eight minutes and fifty-nine seconds left. In very wet conditions, the drivers were out on the intermediate tyres.

Hamilton took provisional pole position ahead of Verstappen by 0.973 seconds. But Russell with an outstanding lap took first position.

In the dying minutes of the session, Verstappen grabbed pole position from Russell in a sensational end to the wet qualification session.

Top 10: Max Verstappen, George Russell, Lewis Hamilton, Daniel Ricciardo, Sebastian Vettel, Pierre Gasly, Sergio Pérez, Valtteri Bottas, Esteban Ocon, Lando Norris

2021 Belgian Grand Prix:Qualification Results:

Pos	No	Driver	Nat.	Team	Q1	Q2	Q3	Laps
1	33	Max Verstappen	NED	Red Bull Racing	1:58.717	1:56.559	1:59.765	20
2	63	George Russell	GBR	Williams Racing	1:59.864	1:56.950	2:00.086	24
3	44	Lewis Hamilton	GBR	Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team	1:59.218	1:56.229	2:00.099	22
4	3	Daniel Ricciardo	AUS	McLaren F1 Team	2:01.583	1:57.127	2:00.864	22
5	5	Sebastian Vettel	GER	Aston Martin Cognizant Formula One Team	2:00.175	1:56.814	2:00.935	23
6	10	Pierre Gasly	FRA	Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda	2:00.387	1:56.440	2:01.164	23
7	11	Sergio Perez	MEX	Red Bull Racing	1:59.334	1:56.886	2:02.112	22
8	77	Valtteri Bottas	FIN	Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team	1:59.870	1:56.295	2:02.502	22
9	31	Esteban Ocon	FRA	Alpine F1 Team	2:01.824	1:57.354	2:03.513	23
10	4	Lando Norris	GBR	McLaren F1 Team	1:58.301	1:56.025	DNF	19
11	16	Charles Leclerc	MON	Scuderia Ferrari	2:00.728	1:57.721		16
12	6	Nicholas Latifi	CAN	Williams Racing	2:00.966	1:58.056		17
13	55	Carlos Sainz	ESP	Scuderia Ferrari	2:01.184	1:58.137		15
14	14	Fernando Alonso	ESP	Alpine F1 Team	2:01.653	1:58.205		16
15	18	Lance Stroll	CAN	Aston Martin Cognizant Formula One Team	2:01.597	1:58.231		16
16	99	Antonio Giovinazzi	ITA	Alfa Romeo Racing ORLEN	2:02.306			9
17	22	Yuki Tsunoda	JAP	Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda	2:02.413			9
18	47	Mick Schumacher	GER	Uralkali Haas F1 Team	2:03.973			9
19	7	Kimi Räikkönen	FIN	Alfa Romeo Racing ORLEN	2:04.452			9
20	9	Nikita Mazepin	RAF	Uralkali Haas F1 Team	2:04.939			8