Belgian GP Sprint Shootout: Max Verstappen edges out Oscar Piastri and Carlos Sainz to take Sprint pole

Max Verstappen edged out Oscar Piastri and Carlos Sainz to top a dramatic Belgian Grand Prix Sprint Shootout.

After heavy rain delayed the scheduled start of the session by 35 minutes, Red Bull's Verstappen denied McLaren rookie Piastri a maiden Sprint pole by just 0.011s.

In a thrilling finale on the drying surface, Ferrari's Sainz in third was only 0.025s back from world championship leader Verstappen, who has put himself in prime position to win the 15-lap Sprint later on Saturday.

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Charles Leclerc was fourth for Ferrari ahead of Piastri's McLaren team-mate Lando Norris, who the Australian will be pleased to have scored a rare qualifying victory over.

Pierre Gasly was sixth for Alpine, with Lewis Hamilton seventh for Mercedes having appeared to be in contention for pole before being held up on his final flying lap by team-mate George Russell, who finished 10th.

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Verstappen's Red Bull team-mate Sergio Perez, who is 110 points back from the Dutchman as his nearest challenger in the drivers' standings, was eighth.

Esteban Ocon was ninth to ensure both Alpines were in the top 10, with the French team benefitting from a double Aston Martin exit in Q2 as Lance Stroll's crash resulted in his team-mate Fernando Alonso being knocked out.

Verstappen also topped Friday's main qualifying session, but will only start Sunday's race from sixth having incurred a five-place grid penalty for exceeding his allowance of gearbox parts for the season.

"Yeah it was pretty difficult. It was similar to yesterday," Verstappen said. "I think we stayed calm, the gap was not as big as yesterday, but there was also no need to risk it all.

"My second sector was a bit careful but I am still on pole so that is what counts."

The 35-minute delay to the session has resulted in the Sprint being pushed back by the same amount of time - to 4:04pm - to ensure the correct amount of time is available for teams to prepare.

Belgian GP Sprint Shootout Result
1) Max Verstappen, Red Bull
2) Oscar Piastri, McLaren
3) Carlos Sainz, Ferrari
4) Charles Leclerc, Ferrari
5) Lando Norris, McLaren
6) Pierre Gasly, Alpine
7) Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes
8) Sergio Perez, Red Bull
9) Esteban Ocon, Alpine
10) George Russell, Mercedes

Stroll crash knocks out team-mate Alonso amid tyre confusion

As had been the case on Friday, heavy rain led to fears the session might not even be able to take place, before the sun suddenly emerged to enable the FIA to set a delayed start time.

With the track improving throughout the 12-minute part of the session, it was always going to come down to who could extract the most pace from the intermediate tyres being used in the closing moments.

Russell was the closest a big name came to dropping out as the Brit, who struggled on Friday, snuck through in 15th.

Meanwhile Haas were guilty of a major error as they failed to give Nico Hulkenberg enough time to set a flying lap time after waiting until the end of SQ1 to send the German out on track.

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SQ2 appeared to be shaping up for a similar conclusion, but there was a twist as Stroll became the first driver to use slick tyres in the session, with the Canadian taking a gamble for his final flying lap.

He looked to be in with a chance of advancing, but came unstuck at Turn 9 as he lost the rear end of his car and slammed into the barrier, bringing out a red flag and ending the session early.

The incident meant that his team-mate Alonso, along with Williams duo Alex Albon and Logan Sargeant, who had opted to wait until the end of SQ2 to set a flying lap, were also knocked out without a time on the board.

Daniel Ricciardo, who had set a lap earlier in SQ2, was also denied the chance to advance to SQ3, but impressed once more by outperforming AlphaTauri team-mate Yuki Tsunoda, who was 16th.

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There was confusion as to why Stroll used medium dry tyres rather than the grippier soft set, with most assuming that the mandatory requirement to use medium tyres in SQ1 and SQ2 had been waived because the session began in wet conditions.

However, it emerged after Stroll's crash that the FIA had not declared the session wet, and therefore drivers were obliged to stick to the rules of only using medium tyres.

The decision, which some onlookers initially assumed had been an error, seemed strange given theoretically the soft tyres would increase the safety of the drivers on the drying track, but the FIA said the call was a conscious one.

Hamilton denied pole chance by Russell

While the drying circuit created some challenges, it also ensured a thrilling finale to SQ3.

F1's new 2023 Sprint format leaves just eight minutes for the final Sprint pole contest, which leaves drivers likely to complete the whole session on one set of mandatory soft tyres.

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Usually, the life that is taken out of the tyres on a first flying run makes it hard to improve on the second, but the rapidly improving track meant that the second run was always going to be more significant on this occasion.

It came down to the closest of margins, with Piastri going ahead of Sainz, before being denied by Verstappen, who was the last driver to start a flying lap.

Hamilton had led after the first runs and appeared to be in with a genuine chance of pole, but had his flying lap ruined as team-mate Russell ran wide at the first corner and held him up for much of the first sector.

"We're not happy about it obviously," Hamilton said after the session. "It was a really fun session and it was looking great at the end. I had that lap which put me first for the first lap that I'd done and I knew I could go quicker.

"I reckon I could have been first or second on that last lap. Communication was pretty poor, it was difficult to understand - we got to the last corner and there were seven cars trundling around.

"We thought we didn't have any more time left which was why we were pushing but it turns out we had plenty of time.

"With George... it's the way it is. It doesn't really matter."