Qualifying Notes
- George Russell qualified 19th with Robert Kubica unable to set a time for the Belgian Grand Prix
- George set his only time due to red flags, a 1:47.548 to finish P19
- Robert suffered an internal combustion engine failure on his out lap
Dave Robson, Senior Race Engineer: FP3 was a quiet session and we completed our planned programme with only a very minor interruption due to the red flag. Both drivers were happier with their cars this morning and only very minor changes were made ahead of qualifying.
The qualifying session was very difficult with two red flags interrupting Q1. Of course, the first was for Robert’s power unit issue, which will mean that we fit a different power unit to his car for tomorrow. The second red flag meant that George, like everyone else apart from Verstappen, was unable to complete his second timed lap.
We always knew that Spa would be a challenge for us and so it has proved. Although we will find ourselves further up the starting grid tomorrow due to a variety of penalties, it will nonetheless be a difficult race for both drivers.
George Russell: We knew before the weekend it was going to be a very different story to Hungary. It was a bizarre qualifying, I was only able to get one lap in due to the red flags in the session. It is how it is, and we will make the most out of it. We will be starting higher up the grid due to penalties, but it will still be a tough race.
Robert Kubica: I felt a lack of power on the back straight, but there was no strange noise. At first, I thought it was a deployment issue, but then I realised in the mirror that there was smoke. Unfortunately, that’s how it is in motorsport, it can happen. It’s a big shame because some other cars are taking grid penalties, so we could maybe have started further up. Now it’s important to evaluate what happened and move forward.
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