Leclerc inherits pole at Spa for the second year in a row, Verstappen sets the fastest qualifying time in Belgium for the fourth year in a row and Perez starts from the front row for the first time since the Chinese Grand Prix. Here are the facts and statistics from qualifying at the 2024 Belgian Grand Prix.
VERSTAPPEN FASTEST – LECLERC ON POLE
For the first time since the Austrian Grand Prix, Max Verstappen was the fastest driver in qualifying for the 2024 Belgian Grand Prix.
2024 is the fourth season in a row in which Verstappen has set the fastest qualifying time at the Belgian Grand Prix – but it is also the third year in a row in which he carries a grid penalty which will see him not start from pole position.
If not for grid penalties, Verstappen would’ve equalled Ayrton Senna’s record for the most successive poles at Spa-Francorchamps. Senna recorded four poles in a row at the track between 1988 and 1991.
Verstappen will start 11th for the 2024 Belgian Grand Prix. Should he win from there, he would set a new record for wins from the most different grid positions. It would be the tenth different grid slot from which he has won.
For the second year in a row, a grid penalty for Verstappen saw Charles Leclerc inherit pole position for the Belgian Grand Prix. This marks the 25th pole position of Leclerc’s career, seeing him move ahead of Niki Lauda and Nelson Piquet to 12th on the list of all-time pole positions in Formula 1.
This was Leclerc’s first front row qualification – and his first top four qualification – since his pole position at the 2024 Monaco Grand Prix.
Ferrari extended their record for most pole positions at the track to 13.
Leclerc’s pole position marks the 50th pole position for car number 16 in Formula 1.
IN THE TOP 10 FOR THE 2024 BELGIAN GRAND PRIX
Sergio Perez qualified third for the 2024 Belgian Grand Prix. It marks his best qualifying result since qualifying on the front row at the Chinese Grand Prix.
2024 is the third year in a row in which Perez has qualified third for the Belgian Grand Prix.
Perez progressed to Q3 at the 2024 Belgian Grand Prix by just 0.003 seconds. It marks only the third time in the last eight races that he has qualified in the top ten.
Having not qualified in the top five for 11 consecutive races up until the Spanish Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton has now qualified in the top five at all of the last five races.
With fifth place, Lando Norris ended a streak of seven consecutive top four qualifying results. This was the first time Norris qualified as low as fifth on the grid since the Miami Grand Prix. He continues his streak of qualifying in the top five at all of the last 12 races.
Fifth is Norris’ best ever qualifying result at the Belgian Grand Prix. His previous best was seventh place, recorded last year.
Qualifying sixth, Oscar Piastri maintained his 100% Q3 appearance record at the Belgian Grand Prix. Mark Webber, Nick Heidfeld and Sébastien Bourdais are the only other drivers who reached Q3 on every Spa appearance since the current qualifying system was introduced in 2006.
Piastri qualified sixth for the second year in a row at Spa.
With Norris fifth and Piastri sixth, this was the first time both McLaren drivers qualified in the top six at the Belgian Grand Prix since 2010.
Carlos Sainz qualified eighth for the 2024 Belgian Grand Prix – his worst qualifying result since missing out on Q3 at the Canadian Grand Prix. This is Sainz’s worst qualifying result at Spa since 2021.
Sainz was out-qualified by team-mate Leclerc for the first time since the Spanish Grand Prix.
Fernando Alonso recorded a third consecutive Q3 appearance – his longest streak of Q3 appearances since recording eight in a row between the 2023 Sao Paulo Grand Prix at the 2024 Chinese Grand Prix.
Esteban Ocon reached Q3 for the third time this season. This marked Alpine’s first Q3 appearance since Ocon was last in Q3 at the Austrian Grand Prix.
OUT IN Q2
Pierre Gasly exited in Q2 at the Belgian Grand Prix for the third year in a row. With 12th place, this was Gasly’s best qualifying result since his seventh place at the Spanish Grand Prix.
Both Valtteri Bottas and Daniel Ricciardo were eliminated in Q2 – each failing to reach Q3 at the Belgian Grand Prix for the third year in a row.
Ricciardo out-qualified his team-mate for the second race in a row. It’s the first time he has out-qualified a team-mate at consecutive races since the 2021 United States and Mexico City Grands Prix.
For the third year in a row, one Sauber driver progressed to Q2 while the other was out in Q1.
For the seventh time in his eight Belgian Grand Prix appearances, Lance Stroll was out-qualified by his team-mate.
OUT IN Q1
For the first time since the 2023 Monaco Grand Prix, both Haas drivers were eliminated in Q1 at the 2024 Belgian Grand Prix.
For both Haas and Sauber, 2024 is the fifth consecutive season in which at least one of their drivers has exited in Q1 at the Belgian Grand Prix.
Nico Hulkenberg recorded his third Q1 elimination of the 2024 season, after the Australian and Canadian Grands Prix.
Yuki Tsunoda, who carries a 60-place grid penalty for this race, recorded his third Q1 exit of the 2024 season at the Belgian Grand Prix, having also exited in Q1 in China and Spain. 18th is his worst qualifying result since qualifying on the back row for the Chinese Grand Prix.
Tsunoda made this the fourth consecutive season in which a driver for the Red Bull junior team has been out in Q1 at the Belgian Grand Prix.
This was the third time from his four appearances at Spa-Francorchamps that Tsunoda has been eliminated in Q1.
Setting the 19th fastest lap time in Q1 at the 2024 Belgian Grand Prix, Logan Sargeant qualified on the back row for the first time since the Austrian Grand Prix.
Zhou Guanyu set the slowest lap time in qualifying for the seventh time this season. This was the second successive season in which Zhou has exited in Q1 at the Belgian Grand Prix.
Nico Hulkenberg, Kevin Magnussen and Yuki Tsunoda equalled the record for the most Q1 exits at the Belgian Grand Prix. For all three drivers, this was their third Q1 exit at the track – equalling the record which was already shared between Fernando Alonso, Daniel Ricciardo, Daniil Kvyat and Marcus Ericsson.