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FACTS AND STATS: Ferrari set new record in Belgian GP qualifying as Leclerc maintains Sprint front-row streak

Virtual Statman

Sean Kelly

28 July 2023

SPA, BELGIUM - JULY 28: Charles Leclerc of Monaco driving the (16) Ferrari SF-23 on track during

Spa threw up a dramatic qualifying session on Friday, with a wet track rapidly drying and the teams scrambling to work out when to change to slicks. Max Verstappen wound up fastest by a huge margin, but he won’t start on pole on Sunday thanks to a pesky grid penalty after needing a new gearbox. Here are all the best facts and stats from Belgium…

Charles Leclerc will claim the 20th pole position of his career, as he ties Valtteri Bottas for the most poles without winning the championship.
The only other occasion Leclerc started from pole here, he won the race back in 2019.

Leclerc scored Ferrari’s 12th pole at Spa, which is the most by any constructor at the track, surpassing McLaren.
All of Leclerc’s front row starts this year have come in Sprint weekends.

SPA, BELGIUM - JULY 28: Pole position qualifier Max Verstappen of the Netherlands and Oracle Red — Verstappen was fastest, but won't start on pole on Sunday

Sergio Perez has his first front row start since he grabbed pole in Miami nearly three months ago.
The Mexican starts second here for the second year in a row.
Lewis Hamilton has 12 top-three starts at this track from 17 visits.
Last year’s pole sitter Carlos Sainz starts fourth – but no one has won from P4 on the grid here in 55 previous championship F1 races.

Oscar Piastri is fifth, the third consecutive race he’s started in the top five as he out-qualified his team mate for the second time this year.
Verstappen was fastest in Q3 by 0.632s last year and by 0.820s this year without getting pole on either occasion.

SPA, BELGIUM - JULY 28: Oscar Piastri of Australia driving the (81) McLaren MCL60 Mercedes on track — Piastri out-qualified his team mate for just the second time this season

The gap in Q3 from Verstappen back to Leclerc was the largest leading margin at Spa since Juan Pablo Montoya took pole by 0.887s in 2001.
Verstappen starts sixth, and has never won from that position. If he does so on Sunday, he will equal Fernando Alonso’s career record of winning from nine different grid positions.
Lando Norris starts P7, his career-best qualifying at Spa in his fifth visit.
George Russell was eighth, so will start 10 places higher than he did in Hungary, where he finished sixth.

Alonso was ninth, maintaining his record of being the only driver to reach Q3 at every race this year.
His team mate Lance Stroll reached Q3 at Spa for just the second time in his career.