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Max Verstappen’s dominance during the 2023 F1 season continues. However, a wet-to-dry qualifying mixed in with the sprint weekend meant a lot of drama. And we did get a lot of drama despite the obvious result. After some unexpected issue in Q2, Max Verstappen could not control himself to have a heated & “rude” outburst on team radio. Although he issued a quick apology that triggered a hilarious response from his partner in crime. Who’s this partner? What did Verstappen say?

Max Verstappen has once again taken pole. This time around at the Belgian GP. However, it wasn’t as simple as it might look just by looking at the timing page. Despite the fact that the Dutchman took pole by more than 8 tenths of a second, Verstappen just scraped through into Q3. With the conditions transitioning from wet to dry in the second half of Q2, Max Verstappen just had one opportunity to make it with everyone around him improving.

via Imago

After Barely making it into Q3, Max Verstappen burst out at his Race Engineer GP (Gianpiero Lambiase) accusing him of a “Sh*t execution” of Q2 during the dry runs. However, GP replied, “And then when the track was two seconds quicker on the final lap and you had no energy left, how would that have gone down?. However, it all ended well with Max on the pole. 

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After the final lap, Max Verstappen apologized to the GP and said “That was quite a gap. Sorry to GP for being so on a rant.” However, his partner in crime sarcastically replied Slowly getting used to it, Max.” Known for its aggressive nature, the earlier radio call could’ve very well been because of the adrenaline pumping.

However, Max Verstappen will not be starting on the pole as he takes a 5-place grid penalty for a gearbox change. Nonetheless, let’s see how things actually panned out in Q2

The Chaotic Q2 at Spa Francorchamps 

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With no rain falling since the start of the session, drivers realized very early into Q2 that the final stages will be on dry tires. Regardless Max Verstappen wasn’t happy with his out lap and the position he was put in. Despite making Q3 he suggested that he doesn’t care about it since GP had a bad execution.

via Reuters

With a dry line appearing, anyone who went offline was wiggling all the way around. Esteban Ocon went into the barrier and lost his front wing as he failed to do a dry run. As a result, there was gravel on the track. Kevin Magnussen had an excursion into the gravel as well.

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Written by

Pranay Bhagi

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Pranay Bhagi is an F1 writer at EssentiallySports, who has always been passionate about sports and writing. With a degree from a prestigious institute, he has channeled his enthusiasm into sports journalism, particularly F1, a sport that has captivated him for over a decade. Pranay's deep-rooted love for the sport began during the Sebastian Vettel era, and he has been following it religiously ever since.
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Edited by

Aishwary Gaonkar