Charles Leclerc said he was surprised to take top spot in qualifying for the Belgian Grand Prix 2024, where rainy conditions and Max Verstappen’s 10-place penalty for using a fifth internal combustion engine (ICE) of the season gave the Ferrari driver pole.
Reigning champion Verstappen beat Leclerc by 0.595 seconds in a dominant display but dropped to 11th for exceeding the allowance ICEs across a season, with Red Bull’s Sergio Perez promoted to second on the grid.
“I definitely did not expect that,” conceded Leclerc. “With the tricky conditions, we could do something above our expectations.
“So it’s a good day for the team. Now we need to focus on tomorrow and see what will happen when the rain is gone.”
QUALIFYING CLASSIFICATION
Verstappen comfortably quickest 💪#F1 #BELGIANGP PIC.TWITTER.COM/V2QLSADKJ7
— Formula 1 (@F1) JULY 27, 2024
Belgian Grand Prix: Leclerc pole
“Without this rain, probably P5 was the position we were fighting for, with the Mercedes especially,” added Leclerc.
“But the rain helped us a little bit. I’m not going to complain. It’s not the easiest first place to keep on the first lap here, but I will see.”
Red Bull’s Verstappen has won the last three editions of the race, with Lewis Hamilton, on four wins at Spa, the only current driver with a better record there.
Verstappen happy at Belgian Grand Prix
“It was just raining a little bit and at least we could do a decent qualifying [session],” said Verstappen, declaring himself “very happy”.
“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.
“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, I know that it’s quite a different day. It’s going to be warmer – normally there is 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.”
“It was good to finally put it together” 😅
A relieved Sergio Perez reacts to claiming P2 in Spa 🤩 PIC.TWITTER.COM/GNCKI4XNFV
— Sky Sports F1 (@SkySportsF1) JULY 27, 2024
F1 Belgian GP: ‘Hard on tyres’
The Belgian Grand Prix is known for accommodating overtaking, which may encourage Verstappen, who came from ninth to win in Miami in 2023.
“The race can be lost in Turn 1, so I just need to see what happens at the start and go from there,” said Verstappen.
“It’s a very long race, it’s very hard on tyres and we just need to try to manage that as well as we can, and hopefully then we can be competitive tomorrow.
“We are not making it easy on ourselves – especially in the battle we’re in. I know today was a great day but it’s in the wet; we need to be quick in the dry tomorrow.”
