Zendeli takes advantage of red flag and rain to claim F3 Belgium pole

Lirim Zendeli will start Saturday’s Formula 3 feature race at Spa-Francorchamps from pole position.

Zendeli was one of nine drivers to set lap times before the initial red flag period 10 minutes into the session.

The session was halted after F3 debutant Michael Belov crashed at Pouhon.

The Russian lost the rear of his Charouz Racing car into the high-speed Pouhon corner, ending the session in the barriers and causing the red flag period.

The red flag stoppage meant only nine drivers were able to set a lap time after the initial runs with Zendeli leading Aleksandr Smolyar in the early stages.

Once Belov’s car was cleared, the field took to the circuit again on used tyres as they looked to improve their fortunes.

Zendeli remained at the top of the time-sheets with Théo Pourchaire nicking ahead of ART Grand Prix team-mate Smolyar.

The order remained unchanged after the opening runs as the rain began to fall meaning drivers couldn’t improve their times.

This secured Zendeli with his first pole position of the season, sharing the front row with Pourchaire

Smolyar starts third ahead of F3 points leader Logan Sargeant lines up fourth, ending qualifying 0.686s down on Zendeli. 

David Beckmann was fifth, just ahead of Richard Verschoor - who was one of the nine drivers to get a lap in before the red flag period.

Liam Lawson, Oscar Piastri - who currently sits one point off the lead in the championship, Frederik Vesti and Alex Peroni completed the top ten positions.

Olli Caldwell narrowly missed out on a top ten starting place, ending qualifying just over a second off Zendeli's pole time.

Jake Hughes was audibly frustrated over team radio in qualifying and lines up 12th.

Jack Doohan was unable to capitalise on his strong practice form and only managed 13th ahead of Matteo Nannini and Enzo Fittipaldi.