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Formula 1 Belgian GP

F1 Belgian GP Live Commentary and Updates - Sprint Quali & Race

Saturday's action from the 12th round of the 2023 Formula 1 season

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB19

F1's final sprint race before the summer break will take place on Saturday after qualifying for the grand prix itself took place on Friday. 

Max Verstappen was hampered by a five-place grid penalty for Sunday after changing his gearbox but that penalty will not apply for the sprint. 

The Dutch driver currently leads the standings by 110 points from team-mate Sergio Perez and comes into this weekend off the back of seven consecutive victories.

Sprint qualifying will get underway at 11:00am BST at Spa-Francorchamps, with the sprint race starting at 3:30pm BST.

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SQ3 will begin at 1315 local, 1215 BST. With only eight minutes in which to set a time, slicks may need to be fitted immediately.
It has now been clarified that because the FIA never declared the track as being wet in SQ2, Stroll had to run new medium tyres and not soft rubber. 

Given intermediate tyres were used and were kicking up spray, it's certainly an interesting interpretation of that being a 'dry' track.
In SQ3, we will have two Red Bulls, two Mercedes, two Ferraris, two McLarens and two Alpines.
As was the case in SQ1, Russell was the slowest driver to make the cut and progress. He really is living on the edge in this session!
Ricciardo, Albon, Sargeant, Stroll and Alonso are the five that we lose at this point.
Official confirmation that SQ2 will not be resumed.
That's disastrous for Aston Martin, with Alonso not having completed a lap. The pair are P14 and 15.
Crash
Stroll is off and he destroys the front end of his Aston Martin.
Red flag
RED FLAG
Checkered flag
"It's too early," reports Stroll. But he has no choice but to continue.
This is a true win it or bin it SQ2 effort from Stroll.
Alonso and Albon have finally left the garage but both are on mediums.
Here we go. Stoll has pitted for medium tyres. It's too late for anyone who has not yet pitted to make the switch.
Stopwatch
Hamilton and Gasly leap to the top. A 1m55.823s is the target time.
A spin for Sargeant but he continues and doesn't interrupt anyone's laps.
The track looks borderline for slicks now, so there may be a few drivers bailing on their current efforts in order to switch to slicks.
Stopwatch
Norris immediately topples the time with a 1m56.828s.
Stopwatch
Only Alonso and Albon remain in the garage, as Ricciardo puts in a 1m57.687s to kick things off in SQ2.
Now, the track is getting far busier.
Ricciardo is the first driver to leave the garage for the 10-minute session, with Norris the only other man to join him.
Lights green
SQ2 is go!
With Piastri P11 and Norris P13 in that session, there will be questions as to where McLaren's pace has gone after a strong Friday.
Quote
Replays have shown that Hulkenberg was held up in his pit stop after the front jack broke. 

"Very interesting execution there," says Hulkenberg. 

"Yeah, sorry. We got it wrong there," replies his race engineer.
Tsunoda, Bottas, Magnussen, Zhou and Hulkenberg are the five who end their sessions early.
Russell survives by the skin of his teeth as Bottas pits.
Norris is safe, climbing to P13.
Alonso goes to P2. Norris is still down there as things stand.
Sargeant leaps up to P7 from the drop zone!
Hulkenberg set no time after trying to be clever and gain the best conditions of the session.
Hulkenberg is out. He didn't make the line in time!
Checkered flag
The chequered flag has fallen on SQ1.
At this point, Norris, Stroll, Sargeant, Magnussen and Hulkenberg are the five in the drop zone.
With one minute remaining, there are no real fast times being completed as drivers harvest electrical energy to be ready for one final dash.
Hamilton has been cleared of impeding Verstappen, with no further action required.
Aston Martin appear to be struggling badly in these conditions with Alonso going P13 with his latest effort and dropping Stroll into the bottom five.
Stopwatch
And there goes Verstappen - smashing Sainz's time with a 1m58.958s.
Sainz now goes fastest and is the first driver to drop under the two-minute mark. These times will continue to drop rapidly as the track improves.
A Turn 8 incident for potential impeding between Verstappen and Hamilton has been noted by the FIA stewards. No investigation yet.
Stopwatch
And it's top for Verstappen. 2m.00.352s is the benchmark with Russell and Perez completing the top three.

By: Autosport Staff

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