MAX VERSTAPPEN BEATS OSCAR PIASTRI FOR SPRINT POLE

Max Verstappen took pole position for the Sprint at the Belgian Grand Prix, beating Oscar Piastri and Carlos Sainz Jr. in a tight and tricky wet-dry Shootout in which the top three were covered by just over two hundredths of a second.

Following heavy rain through the morning, the opening segment of the Sprint Shootout got underway after a 35-minute delay in order to allow track conditions to improve.

And when the session began, Lewis Hamilton and George Russell were first on track, with cars on Intermediate tyres and fuelled for the full 12 minutes.

Hamilton crossed the line in 2:02.297 but that time was beaten by Charles Leclerc and then by Piastri who stopped the clock at 2:01.311.

Verstappen however, took top spot with his first flyer, setting a time of 2:00.352. Russell’s next lap then put him in P2 ahead of the second Red Bull of Sergio Pérez.

With four minutes remaining, Sainz Jr. moved to the top of the order, but Verstappen was about to finish his second flyer and he quickly reclaimed P1 with a faster time by almost a second.

Verstappen held on to top spot, as Hamilton took second place ahead of Fernando Alonso, while Alex Albon jumped to fourth ahead of Pérez.

Eliminated at the end of the session were Yuki Tsunoda in P16 followed by the staggered Alfa Romeo and Haas cars, with Valtteri Bottas in P17 ahead of Kevin Magnussen, Zhou Guanyu and Nico Hülkenberg.

Inters were still the tyre of choice for the start of the 10-minute middle segment and in the opening laps it was Hamilton who set the early pace. Verstappen then moved to the top of the order, 0.623 clear of the Mercedes AMG driver, with Pérez in third place.

With the track steadily improving it was then a question of whether it had become good enough for slick tyres. For most the answer was no, but late in the session Aston Martin sent Lance Stroll out on the mandated Medium compound slick tyres.

It proved the wrong choice and he lost control in Turn 11 and went into the barriers. The red flags came out and with just 30 seconds left on the clock Race Control ruled that the session would not be restarted.

It meant that at the end of SQ2, Daniel Ricciardo, Alex Albon, his Williams’ team-mate Logan Sargeant, Stroll and Alonso were eliminated.

By the time Stroll’s car had been recovered and the final eight-minute segment got underway, the track had reached the crossover point and all 10 drivers left in the session took to the track on the mandated Soft tyres.

Hamilton set the early benchmark, with Verstappen in P2. Pérez then moved to the top as the session drew to a closing stages. However, the drivers behind were finding more time.

The Ferrari and McLaren drivers all took turns at the top but the driver who found most time at the end of the session was Verstappen, and the Dutchman took pole for the Sprint just 0.011s ahead of Piastri.

Sainz Jr. might also have felt aggrieved, as he was relegated to third, just 0.023s off the pace. Leclerc finished fourth, with Norris in P5 ahead of Gasly and Hamilton and that meant that Checo’s best time left him in eight place ahead of Esteban Ocon and George Russell.