Red Bull star Max Verstappen clinched pole position during qualifying for the Belgian Grand Prix, but the Dutchman will not be starting from the front of the grid as the Dutchman takes an untimely penalty.

The three-time world champion, who was born in Belgium, was head and shoulders above the rest of the field by qualifying half a second clear of his nearest challenger, Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, with team-mate Sergio Perez in third. Lewis Hamilton was fourth-fastest for Mercedes.

But Verstappen’s 10-place grid penalty means he will start from 11th place on the grid, promoting Perez to the front row of the grid behind Leclerc, which is probably the best-case scenario for the Austrian team.

There was a frantic dash to get out of the pits in Q1 after the drivers were informed that ‘Class 2’ rain was due to arrive early in the session. A significant amount of rain had already fallen on Saturday morning, meaning the drivers were forced to start on intermediate or full wet tyres anyway.

Verstappen set the early pace with a seventh-tenth gap to the next quickest driver Pierre Gasly. But as the track began to dry, times began to tumble on the timing sheet as drivers fitted a new set of intermediates.

With seconds to go before the end of the session, George Russell hooked up a decent lap to haul himself out of the elimination zone. Despite putting in some below-par laps, Lando Norris and Lewis Hamilton escaped a humiliating Q1 exit in P12 and P13 respectively as Oscar Piastri continued his fine form to lead the timings at the end of Q1.

Both Haas drivers Nico Hulkenberg and Kevin Magnussen were knocked out along with Yuki Tsunoda, Logan Sargeant and Zhou Guanyu. However, Sargeant and Zhou would move up on place as Tsunoda’s penalty puts him at the back of the grid.

Verstappen, whose incident involving Zhou for impeding will be investigated after the session, fumed at the Sauber driver after he refused to move aside for him at 130R: “Hello?! What the f***”, the Dutchman raged.

But the Red Bull star continued to pump in laps far quicker than anyone else on the track, with both Mercedes and Ferrari drivers flirting dangerously with the elimination zone in Q2, before Charles Leclerc, Carlos Sainz, Russell and Hamilton all produced the laps they needed under pressure.