Verstappen wins Belgium qualifying but Leclerc takes pole

Max Verstappen won Formula 1 Qualifying at the Belgian Grand Prix, but Charles Leclerc will start on pole position at Spa-Francorchamps.

In wet/dry conditions, Verstappen stormed to a 1:46.168 to out-qualify the Ferrari by 0.820s, but owing to a five-place gearbox penalty, Leclerc will be promoted to a 20th career pole.

Sergio Perez joins Leclerc on the front-row with Lewis Hamilton fourth fastest but set for third.

Carlos Sainz and Oscar Piastri will both shuffle forward to fourth and fifth with Verstappen slotting into P6.

Verstappen's pole

After the first runs in Q3, it was Leclerc who held the advantage with a 1:47.931 effort on the Soft tyres with Verstappen just a tenth behind in second.

The Monegasque found 0.938s on his second flying lap, but Verstappen pumped in a time considerably faster than his previous best to win qualifying for the third-straight year at Spa.

Last year, he started 14th after also going fastest in the session.

Perez was third for Red Bull with Hamilton following pole in Hungary with fourth on the road but third once Verstappen's penalty is applied.

Sainz, Piastri, Norris and Russell all found time on their second laps but slipped back with Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll rounding out the top 10 in the Aston Martin.

Verstappen squeaks through Q2

After some initial laps on Intermediate tyres, the field quickly switched to the red-marked Soft Pirellis, with Valtteri Bottas and Esteban Ocon the first to do so.

However, both failed to advance through, ending 14th and 15th quickest, with Ocon hitting the outside wall of Turn 9 and breaking the nose and front-wing of the Alpine.

Teammate Pierre Gasly also failed to advance through, taking 12th place, just behind Yuki Tsunoda's AlphaTauri, who had actually gone quickest in the rush of late laps, but was ultimately eliminated.

The other Q2 eliminee was Kevin Magnussen in 13th for Haas, as Verstappen was on the cut-off bubble, squeaking through to the pole shootout in P10.

Up front, Piastri topped the segment for McLaren.

Ricciardo dumped for track limits

In the final late flurry of laps, Daniel Ricciardo set a time which vaulted him up to sixth on the times and secured passage through to Q2.

However, the time was deleted for track limits, which the AlphaTauri exceeded at the top of Eau Rouge-Raidillon. He fell back to 19th on the grid, which will be an all-2019-Renault affair as Nico Hulkenberg could not complete a final flying lap in the Haas due to a hydraulic problem.

Alex Albon fell for Williams with Zhou Guanyu and Logan Sargeant also not advancing through to the second segment.

Sargeant was late onto the track as repairs continued following his practice crash, but kept up his record of not out-qualifying Albon.

Leclerc topped the segment for Ferrari, his final lap dumping Albon into the dropzone.