LeClerc to start on pole after Verstappen Penalty

(BBC) - Max Verstappen set the fastest time in Belgian Grand Prix qualifying but a grid penalty means Ferrari's Charles Leclerc will start from pole position.

The Red Bull driver beat Leclerc by 0.820 seconds on a drying track but has a fiveplace grid drop for using too many gearbox components this season.

Leclerc edged the second Red Bull of Sergio Perez by 0.057secs with Lewis Hamilton's Mercedes fourth fastest.

Carlos Sainz was fifth from McLaren's Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris.

It was a day defined by the weather, but the rain that some felt might threaten qualifying because of re - duced visibility from spray in wet conditions stopped in the hour before qualifying and the track progressively dried through the session.

Verstappen is expected to win the race from sixth on the grid, regardless of the weather, so superior has his and Red Bull's performance been so far this season.

But a second pole of 2023 for Leclerc is a major boost for the Monaco-born driver, who was Verstappen's closest title rival last year