China News Service, August 30. On the 29th, Beijing time, the F1 Belgian qualifying race came to an end at Spa Circuit. In the end, Hamilton made the fastest lap time of 1:41.252 at the last moment, won pole position and set a new track record. After the game, Hamilton made a representative gesture to pay tribute to the recently deceased "Black Panther" film actor Chadwick Bosman. Both Bottas and Verstappen were ranked second and third, and neither of the Ferrari drivers made it into the final qualifying session.
Image source: F1 Grand Prix official WeChat account
In the first qualifying session, when the two drivers of the Mercedes-Benz team made a lap in succession, most of the drivers completed the first round of the speeding lap, and Vettel of the Ferrari team was in the elimination zone. In the last three and a half minutes, the drivers drove onto the track again and began the second round of sprints. In the end, the first quarter qualifying ended, Hamilton, Bottas, and Verstappen ranked the top three. Vettel reached thirteenth at the last minute, Leclerc ranked fifteenth, thrilled to advance, Raikkonen was eliminated.
At the start of the second quarter qualifying, the two drivers of the Mercedes team took the lead on the track with neutral tires. At the end of the first speeding lap, Ferrari's two cars ranked 13th and 14th; slow-motion playback showed that Ferrari's cars were struggling on this track and were difficult to control. At the same time, something seemed to fly out of Leclerc's car.
In the last 3 minutes, the drivers put on brand new soft tires and returned to the track to start the last speeding lap of Q2. In the end, Hamilton, Bottas, and Alben occupy the top three; Kvyat, Gasly, Leclerc, Vettel and Russell were eliminated, and Ferrari failed to enter Q3 with "double insurance".
The final result of qualifying in Belgium. Image source: F1 Grand Prix official WeChat account
Entering the third quarter qualifying, the pole position is fierce. Hamilton's first speeding lap broke the track record of 1:41.451, the result was perfect. Renault's Ricardo also made a perfect lap, temporarily finishing third, but his lap time was only 0.019 seconds faster than the fourth Verstappen. Afterwards, the drivers all returned to the pit lane, put on brand new soft tires, and prepared for the final sprint.
At the last moment of the third quarter, Hamilton slapped the fastest lap again, 1:41.252. He also won the 93rd pole position of his career. Bottas is second, Verstappen is third, Renault’s Ricardo is fourth, his teammate Aokang is sixth, and Alben is fifth; seventh to tenth: Sainz, Perret Now, Stoll, Norris.
On the 28th local time, the actor Chadwick Bosman in the movie "Black Panther" died of colon cancer at the age of 43. And his death also made the world sad. When talking about his tribute gesture after the game, Hamilton said: "I woke up to see the news of Chadwick's death. I was really very sad. He was so dazzling. I only hope that I can bring perfection today. Driving." (End)