Max Verstappen claimed a thrilling pole position for Sunday’s Belgian Grand Prix, but a five-place grid penalty sees him drop down the order with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc set to start P1.

With limited running in the lone practice session earlier at Spa in the day due to heavy rain, there were plenty of unknowns regarding the pecking order heading into qualifying – but it was Verstappen who eventually shone the brightest.

On the first runs in Q3, it was Leclerc who went fastest with a time of 1m 47.931s, leading Verstappen in second by over a tenth. His Ferrari team mate, Carlos Sainz completed the top three, albeit over four-tenths behind the Monegasque.

Last week’s pole-sitter in Budapest, Lewis Hamilton, pulled out a brilliant final sector to go up to fourth, pushing the Ferrari of Sainz down to fifth.

Fresh from back-to-back podium outings, it was not the position McLaren have become accustomed to with Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris sixth and seventh, respectively, ahead of the Mercedes of George Russell.