F1 Belgian GP Live commentary and updates - FP3 & Qualifying | Live text

By: James Newbold, Jake Boxall-Legge

Summary

Verstappen secures pole for Belgian GP by beating stunning lap by Russell who takes second place
Hamilton qualifies in third with Ricciardo in fourth and Vettel in fifth
Q3 red flagged for Norris crash at Eau Rouge in heavy rain
Leclerc, Latifi, Sainz, Alonso and Stroll out in Q2
Giovinazzi, Tsunoda, Schumacher, Raikkonen and Mazepin out in Q1
Q2 incident between Sainz and Ocon to be investigated

Leaderboard

Verstappen, Red Bull
Russell, Williams
Hamilton, Mercedes
Ricciardo, McLaren
Vettel, Aston Martin
Gasly, AlphaTauri
Perez, Red Bull
Bottas, Mercedes
Ocon, Alpine
Norris, McLaren

Status: Stopped

17:13 And that's all from us! Keep checking out Autosport and Motorsport.com for all the news as it unravels, and we'll see you tomorrow for the race!

17:12 Here's the report from a wet and wild Belgian GP qualifying session: https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/belgian-gp-qualifying-report/6655588/

17:06 Seems like it's raining even harder at this point - it'll be a struggle to get the junior series out on track.

17:01 Russell: "I thought we did a good job to get out of Q1, and now we're here on the front row. Car was great, I had so much confidence. Now, on to tomorrow."

17:01 Russell getting plenty of congratulations from the other drivers, great performance in the Williams.

16:57 Top 10 in qualifying: Verstappen, Russell, Hamilton, Ricciardo, Vettel, Gasly, Perez, Bottas, Ocon, Norris.

16:56 Ricciardo moves up to fourth, ahead of Vettel, and that's it!

16:55 Verstappen snatches pole away from Russell! It's a 1m59.765s for the Red Bull!

16:55 Hamilton can't beat Russell's time! Hamilton is P2 at the moment!

16:54 And Russell goes P1 with a 2m00.086!

16:54 Russell's on an absolute flyer at the moment...

16:53 Perez went up to second there, 0.4s faster than Verstappen.

16:51 Gasly and Perez now occupy fifth and sixth, the French driver half a second off Vettel's fastest in this final part of qualifying.

16:50 Bottas and Vettel set times in the 2m03s, as Verstappen can't capitalise on his fastest first sector and goes second.

16:50 It's a 2m01.552s for Hamilton this time, setting the benchmark so far.

16:48 It's a 52m53.387s for Hamilton at this stage, you wouldn't even go that slow on the old circuit...

16:48 Ocon came back in, and switched wets for inters. Russell is now doing the same.

16:46 Inters for the Mercedes duo, the Red Bulls and Vettel.

16:46 And we're back - Ocon's out first on the full wet.

16:43 The track seems to be dry enough at the majority of places, although there's a few puddles hanging about in Sector 2.

F1 Belgian GP Live commentary and updates - FP3 & Qualifying

Live updates from Saturday practice and qualifying for the Belgian GP at Spa-Francorchamps.

Summary

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