New to Kayo? Join now and get your first month for just $1.<\/a><\/p>\n\u201cIt was a weird qualifying because in Q1 I felt a bit lost, because the wind picked up a little bit and the balance was a bit more on the edge,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut then obviously the session came to us, and Q3 was good because we did a decent first lap and then, on the second lap, found a lot of time.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just tried to carry a bit more speed everywhere, and the car stuck, so I\u2019m happy with that.\u201d<\/p>\n
It was Antonelli\u2019s sixth pole of the season and extended Mercedes\u2019s qualifying record to a perfect 10 poles from 10 grands prix.<\/p>\n
Despite being headed by Lando Norris after the first runs and despite some clever Red Bull Racing tactics to boost Max Verstappen\u2019s chances of success, his 0.317-second pole margin suggested the result was never really in doubt.<\/p>\n
George Russell didn\u2019t get near Antonelli again after Q1 and was left to rue a lack of straight-line speed \u2014 not for the first time this season \u2014 as his foremost enemy in generating momentum for his championship campaign.<\/p>\n
Hamilton smashes the wall in P3! | 01:08<\/p>\n
RUSSELL DOESN\u2019T LOVE THIS CAR, DOESN\u2019T LOVE THIS ENGINE<\/p>\n
Russell\u2019s proclamation of adoration for his car and engine after controlling the Australian Grand Prix feels like they were around a million years ago.<\/p>\n
The preseason title favourite has scrapped and scraped to find a solution to his missing pace ever since.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s been willing to accept that his driving style is playing a role.<\/p>\n
On the one hand, his smooth driving inputs don\u2019t seem to get the most from a Mercedes car that appears to respond better to Antonelli\u2019s more scruff-of-the-neck approach.<\/p>\n
On the other hand, his style also doesn\u2019t gel with the requirements of this year\u2019s hybrid engine, which wants to be driven in a very specific way in the corners to maximise recharge opportunities down the straights.<\/p>\n
This effect is magnified at Spa-Francorchamps, where there are very few opportunities to recharge. Missing any one of them is massively detrimental down the track\u2019s long power-thirsty straights.<\/p>\n
Certainly that was Russell\u2019s biggest issue during practice. He\u2019s less confident in the way the car behaves, which means he loses more speed through the corners and recharges less. That in turn means he uses more battery power to get back up to speed, which means he then has less battery power to deploy down the straights.<\/p>\n
Electrical power gives its best bang for buck overcoming drag at the start of the straights, so tiny mistakes in the corners are punished by potentially massive speed differences down the straights.<\/p>\n
But Russell believes he cracked the required driving style before qualifying, yet the speed deficit, especially in the last sector, remained undiminished.<\/p>\n
He was only 0.17 seconds down on Antonelli at Curve Paul Fr\u00e8re, the last real corner before the long back straight.<\/p>\n
When he reaches Bus Stop, he\u2019s 0.508 seconds behind.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s pretty infuriating,\u201d he said, per the BBC, pinning the blame on an undiagnosed car issue.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy whole focus for the last 36 hours has been on straight-line speed. It hasn\u2019t been focused on the set-up, the tyres or anything, because we\u2019re all trying to solve what is going on.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re watching [the display] on your steering wheel just losing speed when you\u2019re full gas in the straight. You feel powerless. We don\u2019t know what\u2019s going on.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think it\u2019s the power unit, to be honest, but there\u2019s something slowing us down in the straights, and the team are really, really on it now to try and solve it.<\/p>\n
\u201cBattling against Kimi is very tough in a fair fight. When we are in this situation it\u2019s impossible.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mercedes trackside engineering director Andrew Shovline said \u201cthere is a clear loss that we cannot explain by driving style\u201d, but team boss Toto Wolff said at least some of it was explained by Russell not being as on top of the car as his teammate.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe will see on the next tracks because they will be less energy-starved, so it doesn\u2019t make a big difference, and then there\u2019s a few tenths that George needs to find,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cLots of it he has already found, but over a few corners there\u2019s still 0.2 or 0.25 seconds, so overall he has recovered well, but at the moment he doesn\u2019t gel with the car, and he hasn\u2019t for the last two weekends.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s probably not his fault, but we just need to bring it together.\u201d<\/p>\n
The good news for Russell is that he\u2019ll move up to third on the grid after Norris serves his 10-place penalty for taking new engine parts.<\/p>\n
He might also be heartened by the fact the pole-getter has won only eight of the last 20 grands prix at Spa-Francorchamps. Of the 12 non-pole winners, five have come from beyond the first row.<\/p>\n
\u201cI pray I\u2019m going to try and endure the pain of this issue tomorrow and hope for a great result and try and find a solution for next week,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Gasly suffers wild crash in Belgium | 00:27<\/p>\n
PIASTRI DEFICIT \u2018NOTHING TO DO WITH OSCAR\u2019S DRIVING\u2019<\/p>\n
Russell wasn\u2019t the only driver lamenting what he perceived to be anomalous power delivery characteristics in qualifying.<\/p>\n
Oscar Piastri found himself battling a similar problem in Q3.<\/p>\n
The Australian couldn\u2019t match Norris\u2019s pace on either run in Q3 despite the Briton abandoning his second lap.<\/p>\n
His first attempt had him more than 0.6 seconds off his teammate\u2019s pace but was easily explainable by a mistake through Les Combes and a bigger lift through Speaker Corner.<\/p>\n
His second attempt, though, had him marginally ahead of Norris out of Pouhon, a traditionally strong Piastri corner, before making what looks like a tiny mistake in the middle of Les Fagnes chicane.<\/p>\n
The error \u2014 if we can call it that \u2014 was so small that it cost him at most 0.01 seconds.<\/p>\n
But that then appears to leave him out of battery power far earlier than Norris, and he\u2019s nearly 0.4 seconds down by the time he reaches Bus Stop. He reduces the gap to 0.215 seconds over the line.<\/p>\n
It left him seventh in the order, effectively last of the frontrunners, though he\u2019ll move up to sixth thanks to his teammate\u2019s penalty.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf I compare Lando and Oscar in their best lap in Q3, Oscar is losing time in the final straight and Blanchimont for reasons that have nothing to do with Oscar\u2019s driving,\u201d McLaren boss Andrea Stella said, per the BBC. \u201cThey are just a minor deviation in how the power unit was operated.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think this seems to be pretty much the same across the two Mercedes cars \u2014 when you overlay Antonelli and Russell, it looks like Lando and Oscar.\u201d<\/p>\n
Piastri gave little away after the session other than to say it had been \u201ca pretty big grid to get any lap time\u201d out of his car.<\/p>\n
He was optimistic, though, that he could move forwards in the race at a track he\u2019s traditionally suited.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think we\u2019re probably third or fourth quickest, but I think the order is very, very tight, so we can make a difference somehow,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Piastri responds to rumours | 01:14<\/p>\n
VERSTAPPEN PRAISES TEAMMATE, CAR IN MOOD TURNAROUND<\/p>\n
If there\u2019s one thing less predictable than the F1 form guide, it\u2019s Max Verstappen\u2019s mood.<\/p>\n
After weeks of speculation he was about to pull the plug on his Red Bull Racing team and maybe even quit the sport, he cut a much more mellow, comfortable figure after qualifying an improbable second in Belgium.<\/p>\n
The key to his success was his team \u2014 or specifically his teammate, Isack Hadjar.<\/p>\n
Hadjar is carrying a back-of-the-grid penalty for changing a variety of engine parts, so his appearance in Q3 was largely meaningless.<\/p>\n
Red Bull Racing therefore deployed him to give Verstappen a slipstream on both of his pole attempts.<\/p>\n
The first slipstream was well managed. The second one was right on the limit, with Verstappen almost nosing into the Frenchman\u2019s gearbox through Blanchimont before pulling out on the run to Bus Stop.<\/p>\n
It looked like a mistake, but it was in fact perfect. Verstappen never lifted off, and it gained him around 0.15 seconds on his previous best lap.<\/p>\n
That second super-close slipstream was the difference between second and third, but he figured having the slipstream at all was worth more than just a couple of positions.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think otherwise you are P6 or something,\u201d he said. \u201c[Hadjar] is why we\u2019re standing right here.\u201d<\/p>\n
But even accounting for the somewhat distorted result, Verstappen spoke in practically glowing terms about his car \u2014 equipped, notably, with an old rear wing after the previous specification had caused two crashes in as many weekends.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe whole weekend the balance of the car has been quite decent,\u201d he said. \u201cI think we\u2019re just a bit slow on the straight, but the car has been in the window, just trying to fine-tune it a little bit.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Dutchman is arguably in the preferred starting position on the front row given how powerful the slipstream is out of La Source and then down Kemmel.<\/p>\n
He\u2019ll surely be thinking of his P2 start in last year\u2019s sprint, from where he easily passed pole-getter Piastri into Les Combes.<\/p>\n
Piastri then did the same to pole-getter Norris in the grand prix.<\/p>\n
But even if he gets into the lead, his straight-line speed deficit to Antonelli may leave him vulnerable to a pass sooner or later.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe gap, even in qualifying with a massive tow, is still over 0.3 seconds, so I don\u2019t really expect to race [Mercedes] tomorrow,\u201d he said. \u201cI think it\u2019s more for me looking in the mirrors and fighting them or trying to fight them, but mainly just trying to do my own race and see where we end up.\u201d<\/p>\n
The hybrid engine\u2019s boost button could change that dynamic somewhat, however \u2014 and as much as Verstappen hates these engines, you\u2019d be brave to bet against him getting the most out of them at one of his favourite circuits.<\/p>\n
Kostecki DOMINATES in Townsville | 01:11<\/p>\n
FERRARI STILL DREAMING OF A PODIUM<\/p>\n
The mood at Ferrari was mixed on Saturday night.<\/p>\n
On the one hand, being half a second off the pace in the fourth-quickest car was the team\u2019s worst qualifying result since the Japanese Grand Prix.<\/p>\n
It was what the team feared at Silverstone too before unexpectedly scoring a two-three start only just being pole-getter Antonelli \u2014 and before Leclerc rocketed into a lead he\u2019d never meaningfully relinquish.<\/p>\n
On the other hand, despite the qualifying walloping, the team is optimistic that Sunday will be better from fourth and fifth on the grid.<\/p>\n
For one, Leclerc believes he could have qualified ahead of Russell had he not mistakenly lifted off in the final chicane in Q3 owing to a yellow flag light he thought applied to the track but actually to the pit entry. It\u2019s something he\u2019s called for circuit organisers to change for next year.<\/p>\n
Hamilton also said his car didn\u2019t feel as strong in qualifying as it had before his crash in FP3, forcing an extensive rebuild.<\/p>\n
The team is also optimistic that it has the race pace to back that up. Given Verstappen\u2019s concerns about straight-line speed and Russell\u2019s ongoing struggles, at least one podium position could be on the cards if Ferrari executes well.<\/p>\n
\u201cStill optimistic for tomorrow. I think there\u2019s a chance, there\u2019s all sorts of chances tomorrow to try and see if we can get on the podium. That\u2019d be awesome.\u201d<\/p>\n
There\u2019s a realistic proposition that it could neutralise points damage done by Mercedes and walk away from Belgium no worse off. At what should be one of Ferrari\u2019s worst tracks, that would be a decent result.<\/p>\n
But as is the case for everyone else on track this weekend, it seems like a case of damage limitation at best when it comes to Antonelli\u2019s championship lead, which seems sure to grow again on Sunday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Andrea Kimi Antonelli started qualifying feeling \u201ca bit lost\u201d. He ended it with the most dominant pole position…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":809528,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[573],"tags":[64,63,817,813,816,85],"class_list":["post-809527","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-formula-1","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-f1","tag-formula-1","tag-formula1","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/809527","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=809527"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/809527\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/809528"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=809527"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=809527"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=809527"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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