F1 Belgian GP live commentary and updates - qualifying

Belgian GP qualifying: T-minus 1 hour(ish)

Welcome back - or if you missed the sprint race, welcome! We're spooling up in preparation for F1 qualifying for the Belgian Grand Prix, which will begin at 4pm local time (or 3pm UK time).

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing, Esteban Ocon, Haas F1 Team

Photo by: Mark Sutton / Formula 1 via Getty Images

Sprint race recap

Spoiler alert - if you've not watched it and you plan to, look away now.

Seriously, look away.

Okay, are they gone?

Good. So, Max Verstappen wrested the lead from Oscar Piastri on the first lap and put in a strong defensive drive to keep the Australian behind throughout the 15-lap event. Verstappen's low-drag package offered a huge boost on the straights, especially with the tow from Piastri at the start.

Lando Norris finished third after getting draft-passed by Charles Leclerc on the opening lap, but he reclaimed the place a few laps later.

Sprint race results - 15 laps

Main Information Additional Data Additional Data Driver Info Driver Info

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Main Information Additional Data 1  -  2
Cla	Driver	#		Laps	Time	Interval	km/h	Pits	Points	Retirement	Chassis	Engine
1	M. Verstappen Red Bull Racing	1		15	-				8		Red Bull	Red Bull
2	O. Piastri McLaren	81		15	+0.753 0.753	0.753			7		McLaren	Mercedes
3	L. Norris McLaren	4		15	+1.414 1.414	0.661			6		McLaren	Mercedes
4	C. Leclerc Ferrari	16		15	+10.176 10.176	8.762			5		Ferrari	Ferrari
5	E. Ocon Haas F1 Team	31		15	+13.789 13.789	3.613			4		Haas	Ferrari
6	C. Sainz Williams	55		15	+14.964 14.964	1.175			3		Williams	Mercedes
7	O. Bearman Haas F1 Team	87		15	+18.610 18.610	3.646			2		Haas	Ferrari
8	I. Hadjar RB	6		15	+19.119 19.119	0.509			1		RB	Honda
9	G. Bortoleto Sauber	5		15	+22.183 22.183	3.064					Sauber	Ferrari
10	L. Lawson RB	30		15	+22.897 22.897	0.714					RB	Honda
11	Y. Tsunoda Red Bull Racing	22		15	+24.551 24.551	1.654					Red Bull	Red Bull
12	G. Russell Mercedes	63		15	+25.969 25.969	1.418					Mercedes	Mercedes
13	L. Stroll Aston Martin Racing	18		15	+26.595 26.595	0.626					Aston Martin	Mercedes
14	F. Alonso Aston Martin Racing	14		15	+29.046 29.046	2.451					Aston Martin	Mercedes
15	L. Hamilton Ferrari	44		15	+30.175 30.175	1.129					Ferrari	Ferrari
16	A. Albon Williams	23		15	+30.941 30.941	0.766					Williams	Mercedes
17	A. Antonelli Mercedes	12		15	+31.981 31.981	1.040					Mercedes	Mercedes
18	N. Hulkenberg Sauber	27		15	+32.867 32.867	0.886					Sauber	Ferrari
19	F. Colapinto Alpine	43		15	+38.072 38.072	5.205					Alpine	Renault
dnf	P. Gasly Alpine	10		12				1		Retirement	Alpine	Renault
View full results

Lando Norris, McLaren, Oscar Piastri, McLaren, Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing

Photo by: Sam Bagnall / Sutton Images via Getty Images

Gasly started sprint race after returning to garage

A water leak forced Alpine to take Pierre Gasly's car out of eighth place on the grid, ensuring the Frenchman was unable to take advantage of a potential points-scoring result. 

However, Gasly was sent on track two laps down on the field to gather some valuable data. Presumably, he'll be fine to qualify as normal.

Pierre Gasly, Alpine

Photo by: Zak Mauger / LAT Images via Getty Images

Parc ferme open after sprint - new(er) floor for Tsunoda

With rain expected on Sunday, teams may well take the opportunity to dial in a bit more downforce for qualifying to ensure they're best placed for the race.

Since the rule reopening parc ferme was introduced last year following sprint races, teams have the chance to make those changes, and to change any other parts that may well be more suitable.

For example, Yuki Tsunoda - who has run several specifications behind Max Verstappen - now gets a new(er) floor. Helmut Marko told our man Ronald Vording that the floor is now "nearly" the same spec as that on Verstappen's car.

Yuki Tsunoda, Red Bull Racing

Photo by: Jakub Porzycki / NurPhoto / Getty Images

Bearman's holiday karting lap record falls

Haas' Ollie Bearman went to Sweden after the British Grand Prix and, after admittedly quite a lot of effort, beat the lap record at a rental karting place in Varberg.

But it didn't take long for previous record-holder, Elton Zevenwacht, to reclaim what was once his. Oleg Karpov found out more:

Formula 1

The karting record Bearman grabbed has already been reclaimed

Elton Zevenwacht, who held the record for a local kart track in the small Swedish town of Varberg until F1 driver Oliver Bearman showed up there during his vacation, didn’t shy away from the challenge – and already set the new benchmark

15 minutes to go!

Qualifying is coming up very shortly. The question is: do people actually want pole, given the power of the slipstream at the Kemmel Straight?

Well, you might if it rains on Sunday. Nothing is guaranteed, and you'll probably want the best place available on the grid.

Winging it? Expected Spa weather prompts changes

Max Verstappen's car is currently being pictured in the garage with a much larger rear wing versus that he'd used in the sprint sessions. 

As rain is expected on Sunday, this is generally sensible - and it should help a bit with tyre degradation overall to mitigate sliding. 

But if it doesn't rain? It might hurt a bit.

Just a few more minutes to go now before qualifying - keep your eyes peeled, as we may see a few more bigger rear wings around the grid. 

Can Piastri go two-for-two with poles this weekend, or will someone else find more pace? Let's find out.

So, wing watch at Haas: Ocon has a shallow wing, Bearman has a larger one as the team splits its strategies. Bearman and Alonso almost had a moment in the pitlane, which has been noted - I think Alonso made a bit out of that, as Bearman came out of the pit garage.

The Alpines appear to remain trimmed out, as do the Racing Bulls duo - but we're keeping an eye out.

Everyone else appears to be doing runs and then aborting their efforts with used tyres - both McLaren laps were also done on used softs. 

Verstappen begins his opening run, with fresh boots on his Red Bull.

Russell and Antonelli get laps in - a 1m42.5s for Russell, a 1m42.7s for Antonelli. Purple first and third sectors for Russell, but his middle sector is well off.

Verstappen does a 1m42.066s to split the McLarens - but Lawson does a 1m41.765s to go top. Albon is 0.007s off Lawson's lap, as Bearman does a purple middle sector.

It's looking a bit grey out there, isn't it? 

The Mercedes duo start their laps - having won last year, the team will really want to kickstart a dismal weekend so far. 

Russell starts off well with a session-best opening sector. Last orders approaching.

Verstappen guarantees his progression to Q2 with third place.

Russell goes up to eighth, Antonelli's only 12th at the moment. Stroll and Alonso do not find much in the way of time - that's it for the Astons for now.

Bortoleto fires his way up to 10th, which becomes 11th as Hadjar moves up to fourth. Tsunoda seems to secure safety, but Antonelli has fallen into the bottom five.

Ocon escapes from the bottom five, putting Gasly back into the drop zone...

Verstappen, Sainz, Russell, Tsunoda, and Ocon hit the road for some early lappage in Q2. Fresh tyres for all except Sainz.

Verstappen kicks us off with a 1m40.951s, so that beats Norris' time from Q1. Tsunoda's only 0.294s off, so that's arguably the closest he's been to his team-mate.

Esteban Ocon does a 1m41.675s with his shallow wing. 

The opening laps of Q2 are complete, as Hadjar gets into the top 10. Bearman abandoned his lap after going wide at Pouhon and had to back out of it, after running too far onto the kerb.

Elimination zone after first Q2 laps

11. Hulkenberg
12. Bortoleto
13. Gasly
14. Sainz
15. Bearman

"I don't think there is much more than this lap - it was a really good lap," Leclerc says. 

We're about to find out if he can go quicker, as the final laps begin - typically, everyone leaves the pitlane at the same time.

"Some people need bigger mirrors, apparently," Piastri deadpans as Lawson exits in front of him in the pitlane.

Nice little showing of the splits between the Sauber drivers, with Hulkenberg presumably running with more downforce as he's 0.3s up in the middle sector. Bortoleto had quicker times in S1 and S3.

Gasly's finding a little bit of time on Lawson's on-the-bubble P10 lap, but he needs more to guarantee a Q3 spot. He goes ninth for now.

Hadjar goes sixth, Hulkenberg only goes 11th so cannot progress.

Bortoleto is up to seventh on that lap, which puts Ocon in the bottom five.

Bearman had a snap on the exit of La Source, which hurt his lap; if he matched his best sector one time, he would have made it into Q3. "There was three tenths there," Bearman vents over the radio. "Every time we were easily in..."

Bit of a baulk from Tsunoda as well through the chicane.

Eliminated in Q2

11. Ocon
12. Bearman
13. Gasly
14. Hulkenberg
15. Sainz

New balls, please. Time for the final flourish of runs on fresh softs - can Verstappen beat the McLarens?

Bortoleto is seen going a bit wide at Pouhon, hence the deletion of his lap.