Belgium: pre-sprint nonsense 2023

 

As punishment for our sins we have another sprint race this weekend. Unfortunately, Spa is the contaminated race.

Qualifying was on a damp then drying track, so evolution was very rapid. This may or may not be of any use for judging race pace, as it’s hard to say how much cars were set up for the mixed conditions and how much for a perhaps dry race.

Q1 was clear intermediate weather, and a few drivers had times deleted for slithering off track. This included Ricciardo, set to start 19th, despite having the pace to make it through but for that. Hulkenberg had a hydraulic problem which meant the latter half of the session was in the pits, putting him last. Another slight surprise was Albon’s departure as fastest eliminated driver, while Zhou Guanyu and Sargeant also left at this stage.

Q2 saw things start to improve, to the extent that slicks were on towards the end of the session. Tsunoda was the fastest chap to exit here (not bad given the AlphaTauri is perhaps the most consistently slow car on the grid). Gasly and Ocon were 12th and 15th, with Magnussen and Bottas between them.

Heading into Q3 the Ferraris had looked competitive, with Mercedes and McLaren not to be dismissed entirely (Piastri was looking the better for McLaren, as Norris had taken his car through the gravel roughly).

In the end, on a rapidly improving track, it was Verstappen who was fastest, but not on pole as he has a five place grid penalty for a gearbox. Leclerc, therefore, inherits pole ahead of Perez, who had a good qualifying in tricky conditions and will be hoping his previous woes are behind him.

Row two is Hamilton and Sainz, making this a very nice result for the Prancing Horse (though we’ll see if they can maintain the pace in the race). Behind them we have Piastri and Verstappen, then Norris and Russell (the McLaren’s form dipping somewhat). Alonso and Stroll round out the top 10, perhaps fittingly given they now seem to be the fifth fastest team having started the season so strongly.

 

Anyway, the sprint nonsense is today. *sighs*

 

Morris Dancer

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