McLaren driver Lando Norris was shocked to hear that Max Verstappen qualified on pole after just one Q3 run.
Verstappen has been absolutely unstoppable this season. He won the 2021 World Championship after an intense tussle with seven-time Champion Lewis Hamilton. This campaign, meanwhile, has been a walk in the park for him compared to that.
Red Bull and Verstappen went off to a slow start with two engine-related retirements in the opening three races. Since then, their own boost in performance along with Ferrari’s blunders have seen them become clear Title favorites. With just six races to go, Verstappen is currently 116 points clear at the top. It’s highly unlikely that any driver will be able to overturn the deficit and dethrone the Dutchman.
In spite of Ferrari’s woes, they have been fairly good in qualifying. The F1-75 shows great pace over the course of one lap and Leclerc has been on pole more times than Verstappen. That, however, does not discount the blistering pole laps which Verstappen himself has put in.
On one occasion, the 24-year-old was so good that even Lando Norris was baffled.
Max Verstappen gets pole position after just one Q3 lap
At the Belgian GP, Verstappen was set to start from the back due to engine penalties. However, that did not stop him demolishing the rest of the field in Qualifying. He comfortably took pole position by a margin of six tenths!
What’s even more surprising is that the Red Bull ace managed to do that in just one flying lap. When McLaren’s Norris got to know about this, he looked absolutely shocked.
Verstappen ended up having one of his most comfortable races despite starting P14. He zoomed past the rest of the field with ease, and by lap 10 it was clear that he would win his second Belgian GP in a row.
This year’s Title battle was set for more excitement in the initial stages. That is because Ferrari had a car that could challenge Red Bull for the Title. In spite of that, they failed to capitalize on it, and are now fighting to hold on to P2 in the Championship fight.
