Spa Qualifying – Verstappen on pole, but will face penalties

So we just finished the qualifying session at the Formula 1 Belgian Grand Prix. And once again Max Verstappen has taken pole position. But, he might start the 15th tomorrow. Why?
Stick around and ill tell you why.

Verstappen breaks new ground

I’ve said it before and say it again. This year Max Verstappen looks like a different driver than last year. He’s much more confident and The world championship gave him some super Saiyan level-up powers. The bottom line is that he’s just been making no mistakes. And this was one of those weekends. He set the fastest time and then waited in his garage while there were 4 mins left and everyone else was out on track. His time was untouchable.

Now when I said Verstappen might start 15th, it’s because of Engine penalties. He and a couple of other drivers are opting to change their engines. 

And since they’ve crossed the number of engines that they can use in a season, they have to take a grid penalty. This means that they start from the back of the grid usually. For smaller engine components it’s usually like a 5 or 10-place grid penalty.

The drivers along with Verstappen who will take Penalties are Charles Leclerc, Lando Norris, Esteban Ocon, Zhou Guanyu, Mick Schumacher and Valtteri Bottas.

Why this weekend?

That’s a lot of cars and why have they decided to take a penalty this weekend? Well, the circuit of spa Francoshamps is one where it’s easier to overtake. The next circuits are Zandvoort and Monza aren’t really the best for it. And many teams felt that this is a well-calculated gamble.

So after you into account all the penalties, this is what the grid looks like.

Sainz will start on the pole, and starting second will be Perez. This will be an interesting battle to watch out for. He’ll be followed by Alonso and the two Mercedes. Alex Albon qualified 9th, at Spa, in a Williams. He put in an impressive lap and he could start as high as 6th tomorrow. The Aston Martin also gets pushed up the order as did all the other other slower cars.

So it’s gonna be a pretty interesting race. Why? Well because the guys who qualified fastest will be starting lower down the order, it’s gonna be a mix-up of car charging around the circuit. And if there is rain, it might just be chaos.

An interesting trend

is that there are 7 cars taking penalties

Out of that, there is:

1 car that has a Redbull engine –  Max Verstappen

1 car that has an Alpine engine – Esteban Ocon

1 car that has a Mercedes Engine –  Lando Norris

4 cars that have Ferrari Engines-
Charles Leclerc
Zhou Guanyu
Mick Schumacher
Valtteri Bottas.

This also goes to show you that with the entry of Audi into Formula 1, teams are definitely gonna reconsider a Ferrari engine and maybe try an Audi engine.

So anyways, there’s a whole lot to race for on sunday, so stay tuned as we cover it all right here on fervent mootrosports.