2024 Belgian Grand Prix qualifying report and highlights: Verstappen claims P1 in Belgium qualifying ahead of grid penalty with Leclerc to start race from pole

Q2 – Verstappen sets a benchmark and Perez just makes it through

Intermediates remained the tyre of choice as Q2 began. Verstappen questioned whether rain had arrived again just a few minutes into the session, before being informed by his engineer that it was “very fine drizzle”.

The track looked to be quickly drying out, with Norris pumping in a lap time one second up on his Q1 effort. Verstappen then went even faster on a lap of 1m 53.857s, putting him six tenths ahead of Norris.

As the segment entered its final five minutes, the rain looked to have increased and there were again some notable names at risk, including Sainz and Leclerc. The Ferrari duo improved to go into the top five, before Perez then ended up in the drop zone in P11.

While replays showed Piastri having a bit of a moment, the Australian still managed to put himself into second behind Verstappen. Perez, meanwhile, improved enough to secure a Q3 appearance – but, with others bettering their times, the Mexican was pushed down the order and eventually just made it in P10.

This meant that Albon missed out by only three thousandths of a second, while Gasly also failed to make it through in P12. Also exiting were Ricciardo, Bottas and Stroll in 13th, 14th and 15th places.

Knocked out: Albon, Gasly, Ricciardo, Bottas, Stroll