Max Verstappen put in a stunning performance in Belgian Grand Prix qualifying – but Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz will start the race from pole position.
Red Bull’s Verstappen was a remarkable 0.632 seconds clear of the field but a grid penalty for using too many engine parts means he starts towards the back.
Sainz won a battle with Red Bull’s Sergio Perez to take pole by 0.165secs.
Alpine’s Fernando Alonso will start third ahead of Mercedes drivers Lewis Hamilton and George Russell.
Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Alpine’s Esteban Ocon qualified fourth and fifth but both also have engine penalties, along with four further drivers.
Verstappen looks set to start 15th, one place ahead of Leclerc.
The Dutchman, who heads Leclerc by 80 points in the championship with nine races to go, has been in imperious form all weekend and his pace suggests he could even win the race from three-quarters back on the grid on Sunday.
Verstappen said: “It was amazing qualifying but the whole weekend we’ve been on it. The car has been working well and it all came together in qualifying.
“Of course I had to be careful with the tyres I was using and starting at the back.
“We need to move forward, especially a car like this – it will be a shame not to be on the podium.”
Sainz was pleased to be on pole – and he did his job of winning the battle with Perez as the two drivers from the top teams without penalties – but the Spaniard expressed concern about Verstappen’s pace.
Sainz: “The lap was OK. Happy to be starting on pole but not so happy to see the gap to Max this weekend and the gap Red Bull has on us.
“I am a bit puzzled to see this big gap to Max and Red Bull which makes me wonder what will happen during the race – there is something there to find.
“We need to keep digging to see why Red Bull are so fast around this track and why we are trailing them, but starting from pole is a good place to start and we will try and win from there.”
Mercedes all at sea
The penalties in front of them mean that Hamilton and Russell have one of their best collective starting positions of the season, but both drivers were concerned about the car’s lack of pace.
Hamilton was 1.838secs off pole position, by far Mercedes’ least competitive performance in terms of relative pace to the front all season, and he said the “sole focus” for the rest of the season had to be on learning the lessons from the 2022 car and making sure next year’s car “is not like this one”.
“All you can do now is laugh about it,” he said, while acknowledging that his starting position, with only Sainz, Perez and Alonso ahead of him, meant a podium was a real possibility.
But both said they were aware that Verstappen and Leclerc would probably come back into the fight for the podium before the end of the race.
A starring performance from Albon
Williams driver Alex Albon will start right behind the Mercedes drivers in sixth place, having qualified a superb ninth in the Williams.
The British-born Thai said he and the team had got “everything right” in qualifying, although he acknowledged that the decision to go out for a run on his own in the final part of qualifying rather than try to get a tow from another car was probably not the best.
McLaren’s Lando Norris was the final driver in the top 10, but he is one of the other drivers to have a penalty, along with both Alfa Romeo drivers Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu and Haas’ Mick Schumacher.
That promotes McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo to seventh on the grid, ahead of Alpha Tauri’s Pierre Gasly.