A sensation in qualifying! Hamilton beaten by a driver from the tail of the starting field, Norris crashed

Very attractive, but also dangerous. That was the qualifying for the Belgian Grand Prix on Saturday. It brought especially the terrifying antics of Lando Norris or the sensational finish of George Russell! Who took pole position?

It has to be said that we had a very unique qualifying session, precisely because of the conditions. It was raining heavily before the start of Q1 at Spa-Francorchamps. So the start was delayed by a few minutes.

George Russell and Nicholas Latifi were the only drivers to take to the wet track on intermediate tyres. Everyone else wore the wet specification marked in blue.

And that it was going to be a dramatic qualifying session was indicated in the first part of the race when Latifi failed to make the exit of Turn 12 and ended up on the grass. While the drivers were circling their fast laps, the track was drying out, so the drivers decided to put on just the compound for the intermediate conditions.

Nikita Mazepin (20th), Kimi Räikkönen (19th), Mick Schumacher (18th), Júki Cunoda (17th) and Antonio Giovinazzi (16th) did not make it through to the next session. The first part was dominated by Lando Norris in the McLaren.

Q2, or the second part of Saturday’s action, was the “quieter” part. Lance Stroll, who will start from 15th place, failed to advance to the final part. Fernando Alonso (14th) and both Ferrari cars also had a tragic result, with Carlos Sainz finishing 13th and Charles Leclerc 11th.

A good result, however, was recorded by Canadian Latifi, who took his Williams to 12th place, splitting the two Ferrari monoposts at the start.

In the third part of qualifying, the rain started to fall heavily again, which Norris tried to take advantage of, dominating Q2. However, he crashed dramatically at the start of his fast lap at the Eau Rouge corner and would start from tenth position at best.

Esteban Ocon set at least the ninth fastest time for a poor qualifying session for the Alpine stable. However, it will be Valtteri Bottas who will be upset as he failed to qualify and is eighth on the results list. But even that won’t stay with him.

The Finnish driver received a five-place grid penalty after the last race, when he caused a big crash at the first corner. The same penalty was also given to Lance Stroll by the sports commissioners. Both will therefore still fall in the standings.

Sergio Pérez will start Sunday’s race from seventh place, with Pierre Gasly sixth and Sebastian Vettel fifth. A very solid result for Daniel Ricciardo in his McLaren, who will join Lewis Hamilton on the second row.

The seven-time world champion was in fact beaten, very probably by his future teammate, Russell! He’s going to line up on the front row with his Williams alongside Max Verstappen. The man, who is only 16th in the current championship standings, drove brilliantly in the wet. He’s beating Hamilton cleanly and right on the racetrack.

Sunday’s race starts at 15:00 and if it’s at least as interesting as today’s qualifying, we have a lot to look forward to!

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