It was an extraordinary qualifying: the summary is that Red Bull’s lightened chassis is worth more than Ferrari’s new hybrid, but the battle that took place at Spa-Francorchamps has much more complicated interpretations. The best time of Q3 was set by Max Verstappen in the first run: the Dutchman with the soft tires reached 1’43 “665, leaving all the others at over six tenths. The world leader ridiculed his opponents, but the pole real position was signed by Carlos Sainz.
The Spaniard is second with 1’44 “297, but can celebrate the second start at the pole of his career (at Silverstone he then won …) which is the 11th for Ferrari in Belgium. Vetstappen, having unmarked a fresh power unit ended up in penalties like Leclerc, Ocon, Norris, Zhou and Bottas.
We witnessed a very anomalous qualifying: Max did his job to the best, paying attention only to his interests: after shooting an unapproachable time he returned to the pits and unfastened his belts, considering his task over. The question did not arise as to whether it was right to put oneself at the service of companion Sergio Perez, to try to sew those 165 thousandths that separated the Mexican from the poleman Sainz. He didn’t even think about it for a minute, while Ferrari tried to exploit the link between the two drivers with Leclerc who offered his help to the Madrid driver.
Charles got nervous when in the first run he saw that he had been fitted with a train of new soft, instead of the used ones planned. An error that did not allow him to improve in the second attempt when he could have expressed the best of him. A flaw that did not change the final result: the Monegasque will be 16th at the start, alongside Verstappen to give life to a race in the race. We will experience a fantastic challenge and it will be interesting to see where the two can recover …
Perez will be in the front row and with this “rocket” Red Bull with a top speed much higher than the competition he will be able to play his cards already in the first lap, because Ferrari does not seem to have the pace to counter the RB18 which on the flying lap seems unbeatable.
The fifth time was signed by Esteban Ocon who will be 17th at the start: the Frenchman made himself available to Fernando Alonso in the second run to give the Spaniard the wake who tomorrow will put the Alpine in third position ahead of Lewis Hamilton’s two Mercedes. and George Russell.
The W13s have disappointed once more: with the two greats of the world championship out of the game, the gap that Silver Arrows have remedied today weighs a lot: one second and eight tenths. Really too much for a car that should have been reborn with the introduction of the TD39 that had to penalize Red Bull and Ferrari. The facts have said the opposite!
Among the heroes of the day there is Alexander Albon who brought Williams in Q3 with merit: the Thai Anglo will have the opportunity to line up in the third row, in a position that is far beyond the value of the car. Well did Jost Capito to block him with a renewal of the contract.
He did not impress Lando Norris with the McLaren that closed the top 10 of the times, but the young Englishman will be only 18th at the turn off of the traffic lights: where will he be able to climb? Tomorrow we will witness an incredible race with a reshuffling of values that could offer us a great show …
In Q2 Daniel Ricciardo does not conquer a position in the top ten on the track which he will conquer with penalties. Behind the Australian there will be a Pierre Gasly who seemed to have found the key to the problem with the AlphaTauri, but therefore did not thrill. The Frenchman left Guanyu Zhou with Alfa Romeo three tenths of a second, but the Chinese will only be 19th on the grid and will only precede Mick Schumacher who, with the penalized Haas, will be the driver to close the grid. The German boy seems destabilized by market rumors: in the USA team he already feels an external element and can only hope for an Alpine call.
Lance Stroll finished 14th with Aston Martin confirming that at this moment he is the reference driver of the Silverstone team, also because Sebastian Vettel with the other AMR21 did not come out of Q1, leaving two thousandths to Mick Schumacher, but the German due to the penalties he will be tenth on the grid ahead of Nicholas Latifi with Williams. The Canadian finished the first cut in 17th place, but at the start he will be 11th ahead of Kevin Magnussen who will be 12th.
Bad Yuki Tsunoda who lost the braking point at the Bus Stop with the cool weather, remedying two blasts with the AlphaTauri: the Japanese will be 13th on the grid followed by Valtteri Bottas who pays for the change of the parts of the power unit, without having deserved to finish back in the grid. The Finn had not been out of Q1 for seven seasons, but the choice of Alfa Romeo was strategic, trying to preserve the mechanics from useless laps.
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