Red Bull's Sergio Perez felt he should have been able to out-qualify Charles Leclerc at the Belgian Grand Prix and inherit pole position. Although Max Verstappen was fastest in qualifying, he will drop to sixth on the grid by virtue of a gearbox penalty and allowing second and third fastest Leclerc and Perez to shuffle forward onto the front row. Ferrari driver Leclerc pipped Perez by 0.057secs to take pole for Sunday's race but the Mexican - who secured his best grid spot since pole in Miami - felt he should have done better.
Perez's regret
"It was very tricky qualifying out there," Perez explained. "The Intermediate conditions were very tricky and initially we thought the track was going to get a lot drier quicker but it took a long time. "Even at the end of Q3, it was quite tricky in few places like Turn 9, but it is a good result. "It is a bit of a shame I didn't get Charles there, but in these conditions, it was good that we had a good [result]."
Most read
Never miss a thing from the Formula 1 season! Add the 2026 F1 schedule to your calendar at the touch of a button. Subscribe below and put the dates and times of every race directly on your PC or smartphone, so you don't miss a second from the new season.
Download the F1 calendar Download the F1 calendar
A variant with just the race and qualifying is also available.
Click here to download it..










