Belgian Grand Prix 2019: Charles Leclerc blitzes his way to pole as Lewis Hamilton salvages third
Sebastian Vettel had no answer against his younger teammate as he finishes nearly three-quarters of a second behind in a Ferrari front-row lockout
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Your support makes all the difference.Charles Leclerc blitzed the rest of the field to take pole position for Sunday’s Belgian Grand Prix, lapping nearly three-quarters of a second faster than teammate Sebastian Vettel to give Ferrari a front-row lockout at Spa-Francorchamps.
Championship leader Lewis Hamilton could only manage third position, but he will be relieved to have qualified as high as that after his Mercedes mechanics completed a rapid rebuild of his car following a heavy crash at the end of third practice.
In truth, Hamilton has been unable to match the pace of Leclerc and Vettel all weekend, but the final lap was still a major statement from Leclerc as he clinched his third pole position of the season in his efforts to claim his maiden victory.
The opening runs of the final shootout saw drivers jockeying for position in order to gain a slipstream, which almost caused Hamilton to pile into the back of his Mercedes teammate Bottas and the Finn doing the same to the Renault of Nico Hulkenberg, with both locking up to avoid contact.
But when the first runs were finally delivered, Leclerc once again set the pace, with Ferrari having topped all three practice sessions this weekend. The Monegasque clocked a 1:42.644, more than half-a-second faster than Hamilton, but Vettel’s error at La Source ruined his opening lap as he could only manage third ahead of Bottas.
But Leclerc still had more up his sleeve, and while Vettel could only improve to overtake Hamilton and move onto the front row, Leclerc posted a 1:42.519 to finish 0.748s faster than his Ferrari teammate with a stunning lap time, as Vettel was punished for a messy second sector.
"We were very strong and it felt amazing," said the 21-year-old pole-sitter. "We have struggled with the race pace so we need to work on that."
Vettel, who swore in frustration as he reacted to missing out on pole position, said: "It is good that we secured the front row, but I have no excuses."
Hamilton unsurprisingly paid tribute to his Mercedes team for repairing his car. "Final practice was terrible for me because you know how hard the guys work to build those parts and how hard they work to put the car back together.
"My guys are faultless and I tried to pay them back with a good qualifying session. I am grateful I am third. I am going to give it everything tomorrow and hopefully give these guys a good race."
Bottas followed home in fourth ahead of Max Verstappen, while Daniel Ricciardo edged the battle between the two Renaults to take sixth ahead of Nico Hulkenberg, although both will serve five-place grid penalties.
Kimi Raikkonen qualified eighth, with Sergio Perez and Kevin Magnussen rounding out the top 10.
While Magnussen made it into the top 10 shootout, his Haas teammate Romain Grosjean was just edged out in Q2. He was joined in elimination by McLaren’s Lando Norris, who was just over a tenth away from making it into Q3, along with Lance Stroll and Alexander Albon in his debut outing in the Red Bull – though he is destined to start from the rear of the field regardless due to engine penalties.
A disrupted Q1 saw Robert Kubica’s Williams engine let go in a big way early on, causing the first of two red flags. Once the session got going again with just under 13 minutes remaining, a dash to put in a strong lap time paid off when the Alfa Romeo of Antonio Giovinazzi suffered a similar engine failure, bringing a premature end to the session in the final minute.
The red flag caught out Pierre Gasly, who is in his first weekend back with Toro Rosso after being demoted this weekend in favour of Albon, as well as the second McLaren of Carlos Sainz despite the Spaniard looking the faster of their drivers this weekend. Daniil Kvyat and George Russell joined them in early elimination, and although Giovinazzi made it through to Q2, he was unable to take part.
Albon, Kvyat and Stroll will all have penalties applied, as will Sainz and Renault duo Ricciardo and Hulkenberg even though they decided to switch back to the ‘spec B’ engines.
Final Qualifying positions:
1 Charles Leclerc (Mon) Ferrari 1min 42.519secs
2 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Ferrari 1:43.267
3 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) Mercedes GP 1:43.282
4 Valtteri Bottas (Fin) Mercedes GP 1:43.415
5 Max Verstappen (Ned) Red Bull 1:43.690
6 Daniel Ricciardo (Aus) Renault 1:44.257
7 Nico Hulkenberg (Ger) Renault 1:44.542
8 Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) Alfa Romeo Racing 1:44.557
9 Sergio Perez (Mex) Racing Point 1:44.706
10 Kevin Magnussen (Den) Haas F1 1:45.086
11 Romain Grosjean (Fra) Haas F1 1:44.797
12 Lando Norris (Gbr) McLaren 1:44.847
13 Lance Stroll (Can) Racing Point 1:45.047
14 Alexander Albon (Tha) Red Bull 1:45.799
15 Antonio Giovinazzi (Ita) Alfa Romeo Racing no time set
16 Pierre Gasly (Fra) Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:46.435
17 Carlos Sainz (Spa) McLaren 1:46.507
18 Daniil Kvyat (Rus) Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:46.518
19 George Russell (Gbr) Williams 1:47.548
20 Robert Kubica (Pol) Williams no time set
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