The Aston Martins are beautiful and the AMR23 was the revelation of the season, but the team is not always able to hide the ‘Force India’ vein, that past from the lower-middle zone of the grid. The occurrence of Q2 in the sprint classification is the best example: Alonso was eliminated without even being able to start his round because, at the front, someone decided that it was a good idea for Stroll to go out on a wet track with medium tires. Everyone else wore the rain tires. As the Canadian led the group, what could happen happened to him: he crashed as soon as he stepped out of the dry lane and the red flag came out. There was no time to resume the session and Fernando will start 15th in the 15-lap sprint this afternoon. Right behind Lance, because the Canadian did start the lap. There are few chances to score.
On the contrary, Sainz could well have taken the minipole in the sprint at the Belgian GP. He stayed at 25 thousandths in a complex session. It rained before Q1, but he finished Q3 on soft tires on asphalt that got better with every lap. It was not easy for Carlos, who was one of the first in the group in the decisive attempt and even so, he scored a more than competitive lap. He was third only behind Verstappen and Piastri (0.011). The Australian has had a couple of spectacular weekends with a McLaren to match. There’s a pilot there too. Leclerc and Norris completed the top-5 on a strange day for Mercedes, with Hamilton 7th and Russell 10th. Although it was worse for his rivals, the Aston Martins.
The sprint is delayed at 17:05
The start of the sprint will be delayed to 17:05 this afternoon so that the minimum time can elapse between qualifying and the race. The forecast anticipates a storm with an 80% probability. Spa does not deceive, here it always rains. More or less, but always. It is one of the most complex weekends for the teams because the lack of free practice (only one, and under the deluge) is compounded by the adverse weather and the demanding sprint format. Some feel good, it seems that the Ferrari is faster the less time they have to break it. Others put stones on the way.
