F1 starting grid: Charles Leclerc claims pole in qualifying for Belgian Grand Prix

Final Update: Max Verstappen has won the pole position for the 2023 Belgian Grand Prix, but due to his five-spot penalty, it will be Charles Leclerc starting on the pole. He is followed by Sergio Perez and Lewis Hamilton. Verstappen will drop down to the sixth starting position. The rest of the starting grid can be found below.

11:54 a.m. ET Update: Ocon, Bottas, Magnussen, Gasly and Tsunoda were all eliminated during Q2. Oscar Piastri finds himself atop the leaderboard as the drivers head into Q3 with an impressive 1:51.534 lap time.

11:31 a.m. ET Update: Hulkenberg, Ricciardo, Sargeant, Zhou and Albon are eliminated from the first round of qualifying. Ricciardo looked like he was going to make Q2 but exceeded track limits on his fastest lap, so it wasn’t counted. Charles Leclerc has the current fastest lap at 1:58.300.

11 a.m. ET Update: The start of qualifying will be delayed by 10 minutes. The weather has been bad for the early practice sessions, but there is hope that they will still be able to get qualifying in today. Also, it is worth noting that Max Verstappen has been hit with a 5-place penalty for qualifying, so the best he can start for the race is sixth.

Formula One racing has arrived in Stavelot, Belgium this weekend for the Belgian Grand Prix. The race will take place on Sunday at Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, getting underway at 9:00 a.m. ET on ESPN. It will be available for live stream at WatchESPN.

Normally, the F1 weekend features two practices on Friday and one on Saturday, followed by Saturday qualifying. This year, the Belgian Grand Prix features the new sprint race format for the weekend. There will be one practice on Friday and then qualifying for Sunday’s race will also run on Friday. Saturday’s schedule will be the separate sprint race that has no bearing on Sunday’s race.

F1 qualifying features three periods. Q1 is 18 minutes and will feature the full 20-driver field. The five slowest are eliminated and slotted in P16-20 in the starting grid. Q2 is 15 minutes and features the remaining 15 drivers. The five slowest of that group are slotted into P11-15 and the final ten run for 12 minutes in Q3 to determine the pole-sitter and the rest of the top ten in the starting grid.

Max Verstappen heads into Friday as the favorite to win Sunday’s race at DraftKings Sportsbook. He’s installed at -360 and it’s a sizable drop from there to Lando Norris at +900.

Here is the full entry list for the Belgian Grand Prix as qualifying gets underway. We’ll provide updates with each driver’s time and how the starting lineup settles.