Sawt Falasteen - Perez aims to banish the blues and keep his Red Bull seat with a win

Perez finished qualifying in third place but as his team-mate Max Verstappen had received a 10-place grid penalty for an engine change prior to topping the times, the 34-year-old Mexican was promoted to second place alongside pole-sitter Charles Leclerc of Ferrari.

It meant the front row repeated the scenario from last year when Perez started second and passed Leclerc on the opening lap. His performance was part of a success for the team as Verstappen stormed through from sixth on the grid to win.

On Saturday, he ended a run of nightmare qualifying sessions dating back three months to the Miami Grand Prix which had led to reports that he would be replaced if he failed again.

"It was very tricky at times," said a relieved Perez. "In these conditions, it's easy for it to go wrong -- just as it's been going wrong in the last few qualifyings in these conditions.

"So, for me, it was good to finally put it together. Unfortunately, we didn't have any new tyres for Q3… we were a bit out of sync in Q2 so we were also quite lucky to make it in P10 then.

"I think P2 is probably the best position you can wish for at Spa. It was the same with Charles last year so I'm going to try to do the same. We know it's a long race ahead of us and it looks like it's going to be dry, so we'll see…"

Perez added that he had good feeling about his prospects for the race as he seeks to become the eighth different race winner in 2024.

"Like I've always said, every weekend is a new opportunity to do better and so this is an opportunity for us to do even better and go for that win. It's a very long race ahead of us.

"I think degradation will be quite tricky and graining too on this newly-resurfaced asphalt. I think there are a lot of unknowns still, but I've got a good feeling –- so, let's see."

M.Qasim--SF-PST