Belgium GP Quali: Lewis Pole, Wakanda forever
Lewis Hamilton pulled off a scintillating lap to take the Pole. He was more than half a second ahead of his team mate Valtteri Bottas. Max narrowly missed beating Bottas and came in 3rd.
An emotional Lewis dedicated his pole to Chadwick Boseman who passed away today after a long tryst with Cancer.
“I woke up to the sad news of Chadwick passing away. That news really, really broke me. “He was such a shining light. Wakanda Forever. I just wanted to come out today and drive to perfection.” – Lewis Hamilton
Lewis and Mercedes on fire!
While the practice sessions did not show their power, especially FP2, the combination of Lewis and Mercedes was just sublime. Everything went as per their plan and Mercedes locked the front row. Valtteri just couldn’t catch up with his 6 time World Champion team mate but did enough to be P2. He lost it on turn 1 in his final Q3 run and just couldn’t make up for the time lost. Lewis meanwhile did exactly what the doctor ordered, didn’t bother about the tow, kept it clean and got the pole, smoothly.
Good pace by Max
Max could not believe it that the missed being on the front row by one hundredth of a second! He looked in good touch too and will give a tough competition to the Mercedes boys, especially to Valtteri. Albon did a decent job too, coming in 5th. He got a good tow by Max in the final Q3 lap which propelled him to the P5 position.
Renault in very good form
Renault looked in very good touch all through the practice sessions and did not disappoint in Quali. While Ricciardo had a problem in FP2, it was good in the Quali. He pulled off a P4 which is the best grid position he has had at Spa. A second row lined with Max and Ricciardo would be a delight to watch. Esteban did a pretty good job too, coming in a P6.
Both McLarens in Q3
McLaren will be satisfied with their Renault Engine today. Both Carlos and Lando managed to come in Q3. Carlos looked better in all the practice session and finished P7. Lando got a P10.
Racing Point slightly disappointing
Everyone expected Racing Point to do much better on this power intensive Spa track but they seemed to lacked the pace, despite their superior Mercedes engine. They were also very good in the practice sessions. However, Sergio and Lance just managed P8 and P9 respectively. Expect better results tomorrow.
Alpha Tauri would be a bit disappointed too. Gasly did not make it through to Q3, which he did in the last 5 races. Moreover he got beaten by team mate Kvyat for the first time in 2020.
Ferrari in deep trouble
Nobody expected such a result from Ferrari. Calling it a disappointing result would be an understatement. Last year at Spa, Ferrari was 1-2 in all the practice sessions and in Quali. Today they barely scraped through Q1 with Vettel and Charles coming in at P13 and P14 respectively. It is surprising that no heads have rolled over yet despite such a bad performance in 2020. They have to do something about their engine and do something fast. Else they will be stuck with this one for not just 2020 but also 2021.
George Russell squeezed out everything from his sub-par Williams, managed to get into Q2 and will be P15 on the grid tomorrow.
The back-markers are the usual suspects, Kimi, Romain, Antonio, Nicholas and Kevin.
Expect Lewis to win the race again tomorrow in his Mercedes. But there is rain forecast too and you never know how things will turn out when it is wet. A race at Spa is always something to look forward too 🙂
Final Quali classification.
