Second for Verstappen in Belgium GP qualifying for Red Bull F1
Max Verstappen will start the Belgium Grand Prix second after a strong qualifying performance.
By qualifying second, Verstappen’s first ever second row start means he has become the youngest ever driver to start an F1 race on the front row of a grid, beating a 55-year-old record set by Ricardo Rodriguez in 1961. He will start behind Nico Rosberg. The finish even came after the driver missed final practice with gearbox problems.
After the race, Verstappen said, “It’s a great feeling. As soon as I crossed the line in Q3 on my fastest lap, I could see the fans going really wild so I knew it was a good lap. It’s been already an amazing weekend. To see so many fans around the track and feel their support is incredible and I’ve been enjoying the whole week a lot, so to be second on the grid is fantastic.
“Tomorrow will be very interesting with the different strategies between us, Mercedes and Ferrari so I think it’ll be a good fight. Hopefully the supersofts will give me a bit more grip in the first few laps and then for sure I will drop off a bit but that’s my strategy. I will probably have to pit a bit earlier but we have to wait and see how the race goes. Big thanks to the team for such a quick turnaround and working so hard on getting me out on time in Qualifying.”
Meanwhile, Daniel Riccciardo qualified in fifth, with late runs by the Ferrari duo pushing him out of an initial top 3 finish.
He said, “In Q3 I would have loved to have got a bit more out of it, but I’m not too disappointed looking at the race tomorrow. I’m really pleased I got through on the softs in Q2, that was our objective, whether it works tomorrow or not let’s see, but that’s what I wanted to get out of it. I’d be less happy with P5 on some tracks, but I’m not disappointed for two reasons: you can overtake here and with the tyres we’ve got this weekend, you can do a lot during the race tomorrow. If you can have a faster car or if you can be a bit more intelligent, then it can pay off.
“I’m happy; it’s close enough to the front and I’m on the softs, sure a few cars in front have them too, but it’s going to be a good race. Two years ago I started in P5 and won! Max did really well to get on the front row.”