BREAKING: Leclerc leads Ferrari front row lockout in Belgium!

Breaking News

31 August 2019 at 15:15
Last update 31 August 2019 at 15:23
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  • Adam Newton
  • Editor

Charles Leclerc took a brilliant pole position at Spa-Francorchamps after topping all three qualifying sessions in a dominant display.

Sebastian Vettel qualified second to make it an all Ferrari front row, ahead of Hamilton, Bottas and Verstappen.

Ferrari had been on top all weekend, leading every practice session, and it proved to be crucial in qualifying as they secured their first front row lockout since the Bahrain Grand Prix earlier in the season.

It was a good performance in qualifying for Renault, who have a great opportunity to pick up some points as they qualified sixth and seventh with Daniel Ricciardo and Nico Hulkenberg.

Kimi Raikkonen fought off a leg injury to grab eighth, ahead of Sergio Perez and Kevin Magnussen rounding off the top ten.

At the start of Q1, Robert Kubica’s new Mercedes engine went up in smoke, with big clouds coming out of the back of his car, bringing out the red flag.

Mercedes may be worried about the problem, as Lance Stroll and Sergio Perez both suffered issues yesterday in FP2.

Max Verstappen was struggling in the first part of Q1 with an engine issue but managed to go out again and improve to third, just before Antonio Giovinazzi stopped on track, bringing out the red flag and preventing the final lap times of the session being set, to the disappointment of Pierre Gasly, Carlos Sainz and Daniil Kvyat, who had to abandon their final laps.

Alex Albon, in his debut race for Red Bull failed to make Q3 but that was planned, as the Thai driver was set to start almost at the back anyway due to grid penalties.