Reigning World Champion Max Verstappen stormed to a sensational pole position at the Belgian Grand Prix, but he was caught on the edge of his seat in Q2.
Whilst the two-time World Champion did claim pole by over eight-tenths of a second at Spa-Francorchamps, it was by no means a simple session for the Dutchman.
Following a rain shower ahead of qualifying, the circuit was wet in Q1, before a small dry line began to appear in Q2.
The track ramped up considerably in the closing minutes of Q2, with Verstappen having been in the bottom five whilst he started his final lap.
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Verstappen narrowly made it into Q3 after finishing the second part of the session in 10th; however, he was absolutely furious with the strategy the team used.
Verstappen went on an explicit rant to his team as he was pushed back into the pits, with him having insisted that it was “s*** execution”.
“We should have just f****** pushed two laps in a row like I said,” Verstappen said angrily over the radio.
“You are through, Max,” replied race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase.
“I don’t give a f*** if I’m through in P10. It was s*** execution,” insisted Verstappen.
“OK, and then when the track was 2s quicker for your final lap and you didn’t have any energy left, how would that have gone down?” Lambiase asked Verstappen.
“But you tell me what you want to do in Q3, and we’ll do it. Sets, fuel, run plan.”
To his credit, Verstappen did later apologise to his race engineer, who admitted that he was “getting used” to the 25-year-old’s occasional anger.
“Sorry to GP for being so on a rant,” said Verstappen.
“Slowly getting used to it, Max,” said Lambiase in response.
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Despite having claimed pole position, Verstappen won’t be lining up in P1 on Sunday.
The Dutch driver will start from sixth due to having a five-place grid penalty, after his RB19 was fitted with a fifth gearbox of the season (only four can be legally used).
Despite this, he’s the clear favourite for victory once again.