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Formula 1 Belgian GP

F1 Belgian GP Live Commentary and Updates - FP3 & Qualifying

Updates from the Saturday practice and qualifying sessions at Spa-Francorchamps for the Formula 1 Belgian Grand Prix

Carlos Sainz, Ferrari F1-75

F1 returns after its summer break with major developments off the track taking focus, headlined by Audi’s announcement it will join the championship as a power unit supplier in 2026.

It followed a shake-up in the F1 driver market, as Daniel Ricciardo’s early split from McLaren at the end of the season was confirmed earlier this week. With Fernando Alonso heading to Aston Martin to replace the retiring Sebastian Vettel in 2023, attention turns to Oscar Piastri and whether he will end up at Alpine or McLaren.

On the track, Max Verstappen leads the F1 world drivers’ championship by 80 points over Charles Leclerc thanks to back-to-back wins in France and Hungary before the summer break.

But both will start the Belgian GP from the back of the grid due to engine penalties, along with a handful of other F1 drivers.

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...and Albon makes it into Q2. He popped up to sixth place with a 1m45.672s, which pushes Vettel down to 16th and out of qualifying in Q1 again.
But Zhou and Stroll both improve to see Latifi pushed back into the Q1 exit area. Albon also dips into the danger zone but he's on a quicker lap...
Latifi leaps up to 13th to move out of the Q1 drop zone and pushes Tsunoda down the order.
Both Ferraris and Red Bulls won't be going out in the final Q1 run - they are the top four and look comfortably into Q2.
Final runs in Q1 coming up, here are the five drivers in the drop zone: Stroll, Latifi, Schumacher, Zhou and Bottas.
Verstappen's Q1-leading lap is almost half a second quicker than nearest challenger Sainz. That's a serious margin even around the long lap that is Spa, but he won't be getting pole today whatever happens due to his grid penalty.
Russell doesn't improve and stays 10th, while Hamilton only manages 11th place, within a tenth of a second of his team-mate.
Both Mercedes drivers are going for a second push lap on the first Q1 outing while the rest pit. They've been struggling with tyre temperatures this weekend, so this could be a way to remedy that.
Quote
"Super dangerous from Tsunoda," Russell says over team radio as he's held up by the AlphaTauri and has to back out of it. The Mercedes driver is currently 10th.
Stopwatch
Lap times are ticking in, with Verstappen going top with a 1m44.581s ahead of Sainz, Perez, Leclerc and Norris.
Spa looks packed to the rafters which is a glorious view for a historic old circuit. How did its place on the F1 calendar ever get into a questionable position?
Stopwatch
Schumacher puts in a 1m47.929s for the first time on the board. Every driver is on the track now.
There we are, plenty more takers now. So qualifying, properly, gets going now. Schumacher will be the first to provide a timed lap as Latifi pitted.
Schumacher gives the Williams driver some company, but the rest remain tucked up inside the garages. Wasn't the 25-minute delay long enough to be ready to go?
Latifi, ever the crowd pleaser, heads out on to get things going. No other early takers, meaning the Williams driver has Spa all to himself.
Green flag
Q1, here we go!
The crowd seem rather happy despite the delay as they patiently wait the start of Q1. All the drivers are in their cars and ready to go.
There has been five different polesitters in F1 so far this season and none of them are Hamilton. Given his qualifying prowess that's rather surprising, no?
If you think this delay is bad, spare a thought for those at DTM this weekend, where today's action is delayed indefinitely due to fog. Here's the full story: https://www.autosport.com/dtm/news/dtm-nurburgring-race-delayed-indefinitely-by-fog/10358938/

Race control car on track

Race control car on track

Photo by: DTM

Breaking news
There we go, the start of qualifying will be 16:25 local time - so in 15 minutes.
The track maintenance crews are putting the finishing touches on the barrier repairs so the start of qualifying won't be too far away.
What's more, counting back all the way to 2007, the polesitter has always finished on the podium. So it is a track you can overtake at but it helps to start at the front. That's the level of insight we can provide so far.
To fill the delay, how about some qualifying stats? 38% of Spa polesitters have gone on to win the F1 race, while the last seven race winners have all started on the front row.
The weather system puts the risk of rain for qualifying at 30%, which was the same as final practice earlier today, when a few spots of the wet stuff arrived at the end of the session.
The words 'Spa' and 'session delays' are providing scary flashbacks to last year but thankfully a repeat of that is very unlikely. Weather-wise it is looking fine - well, Spa's equivalent of fine. Air temperature at 15c, track temperature at 20.7c and no rain.

No word on the length of this delay, but it gives us time to point to this F1 driver market development fresh from Spa: Alpine eyes Gasly as Marko lines-up Herta for AlphaTauri F1 role

Full story: https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/alpine-eyes-gasly-as-marko-lines-up-herta-for-alphatauri-f1-role/10358913/

Breaking news
The start of qualifying will be delayed due to barrier repairs, after a crash during the earlier Porsche Supercup qualifying session.
...for the rest of the drivers who don't have penalties (at present) they will be ordered by good, old fashioned qualifying. The slowest driver in Q1 without a penalty to take will actually start from 13th on the grid, ahead of the seven with penalties.
...then there's Valtteri Bottas, who has a 20-place grid penalty, but because 15 places are power unit changes and the other five are for a gearbox change, it doesn't equate to a 'back of the grid' drop so he'll start ahead of the other six...
...Max Verstappen, Charles Leclerc, Lando Norris, Esteban Ocon, Zhou Guanyu and Mick Schumacher all carry a 'back of the grid' penalty into qualifying. That means they have a private qualifying battle to order the final three rows...

To start, a confession. Qualifying is going to get complicated due to the numerous grid penalties already set to shake up the order. But here's how things stand going into qualifying...

Good afternoon one and all! Who is ready for a bit of F1 qualifying action from Spa?
That's all from us for now, but we'll be back shortly before 3pm for qualifying!
Read the full FP3 report here: https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/f1-belgian-gp-perez-tops-final-practice-as-leclerc-crashes/10358835/
Vettel reporting an issue with his power unit and says he's losing drive as he heads back to the pits
Perez topped the session, with Verstappen in second and Sainz in third
Checkered flag
There's the chequered flag, bringing an end to FP3
Reports of light rain at Turn 10 as the session draws to a close
No further investigation for Verstappen for failing to slow under yellow flags

By: autosport.com

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