Max Verstappen qualifies third fastest at Belgian GP: 'Very pleased'

Published on 29 August 2020 by Mike Motilall

Max Verstappen will start the Belgian Grand Prix from third place. On the legendary circuit of Spa-Francorchamps, Max clocked his fastest time in qualifying which was a 1:41.778. Just a tad slower than Valtteri Bottas in second. Lewis Hamilton took the pole home.

After qualifying Verstappen had the following to say: “For us overall it’s been a positive weekend so far. We came here with the thought that it was going to be very tricky for us. Of course we are still half a second off to Lewis, but to be P3 and that close to Valtteri overall I can be very pleased with that. The lap was decent, I might have run out of energy a little bit but of course it’s distributed around the whole lap, it’s probably the fastest way of getting your lap time. But I am very pleased. It was a good day and we have a lot of opportunities for tomorrow.”

Whether or not he can fight for the win remains a question for Max: “I don’t know. If you look at the lap time difference to Lewis, I don’t think that suddenly in the race we can start to fight him. But around here you never know. I hope that the weather can come into play tomorrow. If it rains it will make it a bit more difficult for everyone and it’s a bit more fun as well, especially on this track.”

With a heavy overcast qualifying kicks off on the 7,004 km long circuit that is Spa-Francorchamps. In his first flying lap and on the softs, Max does a 1:43.408, which he betters moments later to a 1:43.197, this puts him third fastest.

Verstappen decides not to venture back out again for the remainder of Q1 and his third fastest time appears to be good enough to see him through to the next part of qualifying. Dropouts in the first part of qualifying are: Kimi Raikkonen (P16), Romain Grosjean (P17), Antonio Giovinazzi (P18) and Nicholas Latifi (P19). Last man in is Kevin Magnussen who also takes a trip in the gravel trap in his final fast lap.

In Q2, Max, just like the Mercedes and Racing Points drivers, heads out with the medium compound strapped on to his RB16. The Dutchman does a 1:42.473, putting him third fastest behind both Mercedes.

Just to be on the safe side, Verstappen exits once more but now on a set of the softs. When it becomes clear that his fourth place is good enough for Q3, he lifts at the end of his flying lap. Those that didn’t make the cut in the second part of qualifying are the AlphaTauris of Daniil Kvyat and Pierre Gasly in eleventh and twelfth and the Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and Sebastian Vettel who disappointingly finish in 13th and 14th. George Russell comes in fifteenth fastest in his Williams.

In the third and final part of qualifying, Max does a 1:42.080 on the softs during his first flying lap. This puts him fourth, slightly behind of Valtteri Bottas and Daniel Ricciardo. Hamilton is well over half a second quicker than the three of them.

On the final run in Q3, Max betters his time to a 1:41.778 and takes P3, just 0.015 behind of Bottas who took second. Hamilton takes the pole while Daniel Ricciardo comes in fourth fastest. Alexander Albon is fifth, behind him Esteban Ocon. Carlos Sainz, Sergio Perez, Lance Stroll and Lando Norris round out the top ten.

Belgium GP contest: Win the orange 1:2 Max Verstappen Belgium GP 2019 helmet!

Results qualifying Belgium: