Yesterday in the second free practice a Belgian mother was a guarantee for a top-4 ranking. Is that the case again today, in qualifying for the Belgian Grand Prix?
Formula 1 has returned to the beautiful Belgian Ardennes for the first race after the summer break. The four-week break actually flew by, partly because Fernando Alonso and Oscar Piastri kept us busy with their unexpected moves even without races. Alpine still shakes a little after. At the moment it is rumored that they want to have Gasly with team France.
Max Verstappen meanwhile has almost won his second title. Yes, Ferrari was perhaps just a bit faster than Red Bull in much of the first half of the season. But the last races was the rose tendon of the Scuderia is no longer so superior even without strategic blunders. In fact, yesterday already showed that team red really will not dominate the last half of the season, in order to still be able to attack Red Bull. MV1 was far superior in speed.
Will it be a piece of cake for the Dutchman this weekend? Well no, because Verstappen will receive a grid penalty by using new parts. The same goes for his great rival Leclerc and a few other drivers. So we may have an interesting catch-up race with a shuffled grid, where the two top players have to fight their way through the field.
Perez and Sainz do not take penalties and are therefore the calibrated candidates for victory on paper. Will they also take that chance, in qualifying for the Belgian Grand Prix in 2022?
Q1
Latifi is the first on the track, but not the first to set a lap. That is Mick Schumacher, but his lap time is not extremely impressive. The Mercs then come to improve Mick’s time, but also don’t make a huge impression. George Russell can look forward to being half a second faster than Lewis Hamilton. But the fact that Magnussen is faster than Hamilton does indicate that the Mercedes revival is not there for the time being.
Perez and later Sainz then show some speed. But there is one man much faster than everyone else. That’s Max Verstappen. The difference with Perez is in the end almost eight tenths of a second. unbelievable. It is clear that our hero has done the RB18 very well by now and that his Mexican teammate will have a hard time.
But, it’s about the losers. It is still exciting, but one of them is again called Vettel. The German is two thousandths of a second too slow this time, also because Albon drags his Williams to P6 when the flag falls. The British Thai thus split the Mercs. Teammate Latifi cannot match this feat and breaks off his last round. Tsunoda makes a vout and, like Bottas, the Japanese does not complete his round, while Magnussen is too slow.
So five different cars in the last five. The teammates of the five dropouts can therefore automatically be proud of their achievement. BOT has an excuse as he is one of the men with a grid penalty, so it didn’t make much sense for him to get the most out of it. Nevertheless, finishing last in a session is never really a sign of opulence.
The dropouts: Vettel -Latifi – Magnussen – Tsunoda – Bottas
Q2
Verstappen is quickly the fastest again in Q2. Perez comes very close this time, but that has an explanation. Verstappen has set his time on used softs, Perez rides on new softs. The Ferraris are nowhere. Sainz is in third place, seven tenths behind. Leclerc is almost a second too slow and even has to tolerate Ocon and Norris. The Monegask is not happy with his car at all, it appears via the radio.
A number of teams team up for the second runs in the session to bring at least one driver into Q3. Norris and Ocon are also drivers with heavy grid penalties and give their teammates a tow in the first sector. Alonso goes to P5, Ricciardo to P8. But the Mercs and Albon are still to come. albonio? But he drives for Williams, right?
Yes, but the Williams turns out to be very slippery and go really hard on straights. AA23 actually makes it to Q3, which pushes the troubled Ricciardo out of the top-10. Leclerc considers it necessary to do a quick run and with that he will at least go to P1. Of course there is still some pace in the Fezza, but the Red Bull just seems a lot faster.
The dropouts: Ricciardo – Gasly – Zhou – Stroll – Schumacher
Q3
Albon sets the first time, but Perez and Verstappen are already on their way. Perez goes to a 1:44.4, but Verstappen puts a 1:43.6 against it. Sainz is a tenth faster than Perez and is therefore in fact a fat buyer. Because Verstappen and Leclerc are taking grid penalties, the de facto battle for pole is actually between seconds Perez and Sainz.
Ferrari makes another mistake by sending Leclerc out on new softs. That was clearly not the intention and LEC asks ‘wait…what are these tyres’. The Ferrari pit wall replies ‘yeah sorry that’s a mistake’. If it were the only ones they make this year, we could all understand that… Anyway, luckily team boss Mattia Binotto still has every confidence in these chronic blunders.
What we have to say is that Ferrari is at least trying to help Sainz with a towjust like Alpine and McLaren. Red Bull is more like ‘no, Perez, you better figure it out yourself’. Sainz is despite a perfect tow no faster than in his first attempt. In the meantime, Perez sets a personal fastest first sector…
Sainz makes a mistake in the second sector, but it doesn’t matter. Perez gets stuck in traffic and cannot improve his lap time. Sainz takes pole after Max’s penalty. Perez is next to him on the grid. Leclerc is fourth, but also gets a penalty, just like Ocon on P5. Sixth man Alonso, will be third on the grid tomorrow, next to his old mate Hamilton who then packs Russell again at the last minute. It takes a while to calculate who exactly is where. But with this pace, Verstappen will of course win tomorrow. Street party?
UPDATE: After some calculations we figured out the complete starting line-up.
F1 qualifying Belgium 2022: The full results
- VERSTAKEN – Red Bull 1m43,665 (Q3)
- Sainz – Ferrari 1m44,297 (Q3)
- Perez – Red Bull 1m44,462 (Q3)
- Leclerc – Ferrari 1m44.553 (Q3)
- Ocon – Alpine 1m45.180 (Q3)
- Alonso – Alpine 1m45.368 (Q3)
- Hamilton – Mercedes 1m45,503 (Q3)
- Russell – Mercedes 1m45.776 (Q3)
- Albon – Williams 1m45,837 (Q3)
- Norris – McLaren 1m46.178 (Q3)
- Ricciardo – McLaren 1m45,767 (Q2)
- Gasly – Alpha Tauri 1m45,827 (Q2)
- Zhou – Alfa Romeo 1m46.085 (Q2)
- Stroll – Aston Martin 1m46.611 (Q2)
- Schumacher – Haas F1 1m47.718 (Q2)
- Vettel – Aston Martin 1m46.344 (Q1)
- Latifi – Williams 1m46.401 (Q1)
- Magnussen – Haas F1 1m46.557 (Q1)
- Tsunoda – Alpha Tauri 1m46,692 (Q1)
- Bottas – Alfa Romeo 1m47,886 (Q1)
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