Verstappen had entered the qualifying session at Spa having had a fifth gearbox of the season fitted, which triggers a five-place grid penalty for the GP, but does not impact his starting spot for Saturday’s sprint race.
The Dutchman had trailed Leclerc after the first runs in Q3 – having only just scraped through in 10th in Q2 following the switch from wet to dry tyres in that session, and as he disagreed with Red Bull’s run plan, that led to a terse exchange with his engineer Gianpiero Lambiase.
