REPORT: Best Sprint Result Precedes Best Quali Result of 2025

It was a busy Saturday for the team at Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, with two competitive sessions delivering a pair of season bests.

The day began with the 15-lap Sprint, and both Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon enjoyed clean getaways.

Carlos spent much of the race sandwiched between a pair of slippery Haas cars, holding off Ollie Bearman before turning his attention to Esteban Ocon in the closing stages.

He held firm to secure P6 – our best-ever Sprint result since its introduction in 2021 – adding three more points to our tally.

For Alex, he gained a place immediately thanks to Pierre Gasly’s late start, but found himself stuck behind a pair of Aston Martins. On the final lap, he engaged in a wheel-to-wheel scrap with Lewis Hamilton, eventually crossing the line in P16.

With data gathered from both Sprint Qualifying and the earlier Sprint, our duo headed into full Qualifying with confidence. They sailed through Q1, with Carlos in P7 and Alex in P9.

In Q2, Carlos improved on his final run, but his 1:41.758 was only enough for P15. Alex didn’t improve on his last push, but his earlier banker lap of 1:41.505 secured P10 and a spot in the top-10 shootout.

Alex’s first flying lap in Q3 put him P8, before one final effort on fresh Softs. He was the last to cross the line – and when he did, he rocketed up the order.

A 1:41.201 sealed P5 on the grid: our best Qualifying result of the year, and Alex’s best since August 2023.

"What a fantastic day all-round," James Vowles shared. "This morning, with Carlos finishing P6 in the Sprint Race, demonstrating good performance across the two days, and this afternoon with Alex securing P5.

"We made some improvements to the car since yesterday, working mostly well. I think with Carlos, there’s an interesting quirk with Sprint Qualifying sessions in that you must use a set of Soft tyres in SQ3. This meant that in Q2 today, we had to use one used and one new set of tyres. Then, as the track warmed up, he struggled to find the same lap time as we had previously.

"I’m optimistic for tomorrow and look forward to it. I think the weather conditions could play a part but we’re in a strong position with two strong drivers."

"I’m really happy," Alex reflected. "We fixed the issue we had on Friday, which made the biggest difference. The lap felt tricky, and it was difficult to see where I could find the lap time, so I wasn’t expecting to make such a big step forward in Q3.

"The working window for the tyres is very narrow and we did a good job to find that sweet spot to pull it all together. Our race pace feels strong, so I’m hoping for a relatively straightforward race tomorrow."

"Disappointed with this result," Carlos commented. "I had a strong lap in Q1 but didn’t manage to go any faster in Q2, as I didn’t manage to find grip. We’ve tried different directions with car balance and experimented a bit with set-up throughout the weekend, but obviously today didn’t go our way and we need to analyse it.

"Hopefully tomorrow there will be opportunities as it could be wet, so let’s keep focused as the weekend is not over yet."