Ferrari's Carlos Sainz will start on pole position for the Belgian Grand Prix despite trailing in the wake of Max Verstappen in qualifying, while Charles Leclerc had to deal with another clanger from his team.
Verstappen is one of six drivers forced to start near the back of the grid for exceeding power unit changes, but showed enough to suggest he won't be out the running for a podium finish from 15th place. Verstappen's Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez will join Sainz on the front row.
Fernando Alonso will start third, with Lewis Hamilton also benefiting from the demotions of Verstappen, Esteban Ocon and Leclerc as he rose from seventh to fourth. George Russell will start just one place behind him.
However, the flashpoint of the session happened over the radio as Leclerc was meant to be out at one point in Q3 on used tyres, but Ferrari put him out on new tyres by mistake. "Mate, what are these tyres?" Leclerc was heard saying before his engineer responded "Sorry, it was a mistake."
For Verstappen, the sanction against him didn't stop him going off at full tilt in qualifying, finishing quickest in Q1 ahead of Sainz. And despite arriving at Spa with hopes high of a first Grand Prix win of 2022, Mercedes were notably off the pace in the early going.
Hamilton eventually finished seventh, two places off teammate Russell, but much of the opening session centred around who didn't make it through. Sebastian Vettel, who was on pole in Spa back in 2011, was eliminated after only being good enough for 16th in his Aston Martin.
Nicholas Latifi (Williams), Kevin Magnussen (Haas), and Yuki Tsunoda (Alpha Tauri) also went, whilst Valtteri Bottas was forced to return to the pits early on. It brought the Finn's remarkable qualifying run to an end, with the Alfa Romeo driver having not failed to make it to Q2 since the 2015 Monaco Grand Prix.
Leclerc meanwhile, appeared to be struggling early on in Q2, complaining over team radio that he was having difficulty controlling his car: "The car is jumping like crazy in the apex of slow corners. It's very very strange," he said.
However, having been a second slower than Verstappen, the Monegasque man went quickest at the death. Hamilton, who spent much of the session hovering dangerously in 10th place, also produced a quicker final lap.
The British driver rose to fifth, while McLaren's Daniel Ricciardo agonisingly missed out on a second successive Q3 as he finished 11th. . Pierre Gasly (Alpha Tauri), Zhou Guanyu (Alfa Romeo), Lance Stroll (Aston Martin), and Mick Schumacher (Haas) exited with him.
Verstappen again sent an ominous warning to his rivals tomorrow by going quickest midway through Q3, but it was Sainz who crucially finished second. Perez launches a last-ditch attempt to overhaul him but produced a scruffy final lap.
"It was a fantastic qualifying but it has been all weekend," said Verstappen afterwards. "It's great to be here, amazing fans and amazing track. With our pace we can still push for a podium."
Sainz meanwhile, had mixed emotions about his 'net' win: "I'm happy be on pole but obviously not so happy with the gap in pace to Max. Or the gap between Red Bull and us."
