Oscar Piastri will line up on pole position in his McLaren for tomorrow’s Sprint Race. The Australian was quickest in the final phase of Sprint Qualifying in a time of 1’40”510, which is a new record for this layout of the Spa-Francorchamps track. Second placed Max Verstappen (1’40”987, Red Bull) and third placed Lando Norris (1’41”128, McLaren) also beat the previous record of 1’41”252 which secured pole for Lewis Hamilton in 2020. Rounding off the front two rows will be Charles Leclerc in a Ferrari, fourth fastest in 1’41”278.

It’s the third time that Piastri has been quickest in Sprint Qualifying, while its the sixth pole in this discipline for McLaren, the same number as Red Bull, all of them courtesy of Verstappen.

It’s worth noting that eight teams feature in the top ten, with the only ones doing so with both drivers being McLaren and Haas, while Aston Martin and Mercedes are the only ones not to feature. Also, the two drivers who took the two previous Sprint poles this year will start from the penultimate and last rows of the grid, they being Hamilton quickest in Shanghai and Antonelli fastest in Miami.

THE DAY ON TRACK
In the only free practice session, this being a Sprint weekend, only Red Bull and Haas did not run the Hard, opting for a set of Mediums before switching to the Softs as usual. As for the rest of the field, the Mercedes and Racing Bulls drivers never ran the softest compound, alternating the Hard and Medium.

As per the regulations, in Sprint Qualifying, the Medium was used for SQ1 and SQ2 with the Soft coming into play in SQ3.

SIMONE BERRA – PIRELLI CHIEF ENGINEER
“With today’s conditions in FP1, namely track temperatures of between 30 and 35 °C, the C1 performed better than expected, especially on those cars able to develop a high level of aero downforce, making the tyres work well with little sliding.

“The gap to the Medium is obviously very big given that we decided not to bring three consecutive compounds, skipping from the C1 as Hard to the C3 as Medium. In SQ3 we saw a difference of around four tenths between the C3 and C4, close to our simulations prior to the event. Actually, the pole time was much quicker than our simulations which are based on the average of those we receive from the teams. It was about a second faster and it is only Friday!

“The fact that four drivers still have two sets of Hards each could mean that some of them might use one tomorrow in the Sprint, given that the regulations state they must all have one set, as well as a set of Mediums for Sunday’s race. The only hour of free practice on the timetable saw all the teams, with the exception of Haas and Sauber bring updates to Spa. This meant there was very little time for the teams to look at tyre performance over a long run. We will know more tomorrow after the Sprint, where it’s quite possible that all three compounds will put in an appearance. Perhaps those who have nothing to lose because they are starting from the back of the grid, might use the 15 laps to check the behaviour of the compounds other than the Medium, which is the most obvious choice for the short race, with a view to Sunday’s Grand Prix. Unless the weather throws all the plans out of the window!"

FORMULA 2
Alexander Dunne will start Sunday’s Feature Race from pole position. Rodin Motorsport’s Irish driver set a best time of 1’57”151, over four tenths fastest than Ritomo Myata (ART Grand Prix), second in 1’57”570. The second rows features the Czech Roman Stanek (Invicta Racing, 1’57”576) and France’s Victor Martins (ART Grand Prix, 1’57”588). Tenth quickest and therefore on pole for tomorrow’s Sprint is Germany’s Oliver Goethe (MP Motorsport, 1’57”893).

The compound choice is the same as last year’s, with the Soft and Medium centre stage. The softest of the two is viable for tomorrow’s race, although it will have to be managed carefully on a track that exerts particularly severe forces on the tyres. As for the Feature Race, last year’s race when the field was divided equally between those who lined up on the grid on Soft and those who went for the Medium, would indicate that both strategies can be competitive.

FORMULA 3
The American, Brad Benavides secured pole position in this evening’s qualifying setting a time of 2’04”253. The AIX Racing driver will have Rafael Camara (Trident) for company on the front row for Sunday’s Feature Race, as the championship leader was second today in 2’04”359. As Freddie Slater was 12th fastest in 2’04”909, he will start tomorrow’s Sprint from pole position.

Medium is the compound in use this weekend. Much of the Spa-Francorchamps circuit was resurfaced last year and the new asphalt offers improved grip, which could lead to graining on the tyres. Drivers can gain quite a tyre performance advantage if they are able to manage this phenomenon, especially in the many high speed corners in two sectors of the track. If graining is not an issue, then attention turns to managing the tyres’ thermal degradation, which is relatively straightforward as the long straights provide cooling opportunities on both axles.