Belgium – Qualifications: Charles Leclerc resumes his forward march
The series resumed with even more intensity for Charles Leclerc, once again imperious during the tumultuous qualifiers at Spa-Francorchamps. He leads the two DAMS drivers, with Nicholas Latifi managing to outperform Oliver Rowland.
No matter the conditions, no one seems to find the solution to beat Charles Leclerc in qualifying. Yet, the Belgian weather tried to shake things up, but it wasn’t enough, and he secured his 7th pole position of the year. It should have been the 8th in as many sessions, but his car was deemed non-compliant in Budapest.
Moreover, the Monegasque driver encountered a mishap during the first free practice session as his fire extinguisher went off while he was going through Eau Rouge’s Raidillon. By the end of the day, the team had not yet identified the cause of this problem, which prevented him from completing more than six laps in that first session: « The conditions were quite tricky. I wasn’t fully confident before starting the qualifying. »
This was not evident on the timesheet as he posted a lap six-tenths faster than his closest competitor, Nicholas Latifi. The Canadian was pleased to finally outperform his teammate and start for the first time on the front row. He thus welcomed the internal competition at Dams, which pits him against Oliver Rowland: “We push each other, which is a good thing. It’s also a good thing for the team to have two drivers at the top.”
In contrast, Oliver Rowland, second in the championship, was mixed about his performance: “I got into traffic and made so many mistakes. I was frustrated after the red flag.” After a brief engine-related stoppage in the pit lane, the Briton attacked right from Eau Rouge, trying to climb the hierarchy and create space before his final lap. But it didn’t necessarily work: “Given the conditions, third is a miracle.”
For his first weekend with Racing Engineering, Nyck de Vries secured a nice 6th place but was outperformed by his teammate, Gustav Malja (4th).
1. Charles Leclerc
2. Nicholas Latifi
3. Oliver Rowland
4. Gustav Malja
5. Antonio Fuoco
6. Nyck de Vries
7. Luca Ghiotto
8. Roberto Merhi
9. Artem Markelov
10. Alexander Albon
11. Sergio Sette Camara
12. Santino Ferrucci
13. Louis Delétraz
14. Ralph Boschung
15. Nobuharu Matsushita
16. King of Jordan
17. Robert Visoiu
18. Norman Nato
19. Sean Gelael
20. Nabil Jeffri
From our special correspondent at Spa-Francorchamps
