Max Verstappen finishes on pole at his home Grand Prix. The Dutchman - Belgian by mother - managed to clock the fastest lap time overall, ahead of an incredible George Russell, and Lewis Hamilton in third. 

During all stages of quali it felt like Lando Norris could be in the game to clinch pole, but unfortunately the Briton crashed at Eau Rouge at the start of Q3. It was then a challenge between Hamilton, Russell the outsider and Max, who outperformed everyone putting himself ahead of both Britons by three tenths. 

The Dutchman gets his ninth career pole position, the first in Spa for Red Bull after ten years: in 2011 Sebastian Vettel took pole and won the Grand Prix on Sunday. The goal is the same for Max who, in front of his loyal fans, expects to recover the gap in the drivers' standings, as Hamilton currently sits first with eight points of advantage on the Red Bull driver.

Pole Position at your favourite track ⏱ @Max33Verstappen 👏 #BelgianGP 🇧🇪pic.twitter.com/Ktsi3fvW2A

— Red Bull Racing Honda (@redbullracing) August 28, 2021

“I am very happy with pole position here at a home Grand Prix, but it was not easy out there. It was very hard to nail a lap, I was just trying to find the right lines at the right times and judging how fast to go into corners after such a long red flag was tricky" Max explained.

"It was so important to get the tyres up to temperature because that could give you a few seconds of lap time around a long track like this. Tomorrow we don’t know if it will be a dry or wet start, I think if it’s wet I don’t mind if I start first because at least I should have clear vision but I just hope that we have a good and clean start.

"I also hope that Lando is feeling okay - he added - and that he doesn’t have any serious injuries because that didn’t look like a good impact at all, he’s a good friend of mine so I hope he can race tomorrow.”