McLaren Lines up Another One-Two Victory at GP Belgium Qualifying
With an explosive start to a Grand Prix weekend, McLaren is preparing to take home a third consecutive one-two victory at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit. At the Sprint Qualifying on Friday, Oscar Piastri managed to set a new course record of 1:40.510, beating the previous record of 1:41.252 set by Lewis Hamilton in 2020. Despite being unable to stay ahead of Max Verstappen in the first lap of the Sprint, the two McLarens find themselves in a better position for the main event. Lando Norris starts in pole position with Piastri in second, followed by Ferrari’s Charles LeClerc in third and Verstappen in fourth. This could be the opportunity for Norris to secure a third GP victory in a row, but the fight for first will not be an easy one.
Though the previous grand prix could not have gone better for Team McLaren, Red Bull cannot say the same. With an unfortunate DNF in Austria and a spin-out pushing him back to fifth place in Britain, Max Verstappen is back with a vengeance. Sporting several new performance upgrades to the car, Verstappen took an aggressive lead at the Sprint race, quickly overtaking Piastri in the first lap and holding both McLarens in check all the way to the finish line. Now starting in fourth position, he’ll be pushing for an even faster start as he looks to overtake LeClerc before resuming his battle against the McLarens. Piastri and Norris will no doubt be watching for Verstappen’s approach, but their placement gives them time to pull ahead at the start and avoid an early overtake from team Oracle.
Meanwhile, Ferrari deals with disappointment at qualifying. Though LeClerc was able to take third position, seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton had his fastest qualifying lap deleted, now finding himself starting in 16th position. It’ll be a steep climb for Hamilton if he wants to catch up to his teammate on the track, but it’s another boon for Team McLaren. With the previous Spa-Francorchamps lap record holder starting so far behind, Norris and Piastri are probably feeling relieved right now at another potential threat being out of their line of sight.
Even with their strong starting position, neither Norris nor Piastri can rest easy yet, as the two are sure to fight each other for the top of the podium. While Norris has claimed victory at the past two grand prix, it's unlikely he would have taken the win at Silverstone if not for the controversial 10-second penalty against Piastri. With a more moderate weather forecast than what was seen at Silverstone, Spa-Francorchamps could be a chance to see the two McLaren racers go head-to-head on more even footing. Starting behind Norris, Piastri will be looking for a quick overtake and to demonstrate why he holds the fastest lap at Spa.
