Two weeks after winning the British Grand Prix, Charles Leclerc will start the Belgian Grand Prix from fifth. Ferrari's qualifying pace, so often the team's strength this season, went missing when it mattered at Spa: Leclerc lapped in 1:44.893, with Lewis Hamilton just 0.002s further back in sixth.
It leaves the Scuderia sandwiched behind both Mercedes, Verstappen's Red Bull and Norris's McLaren, and hands Leclerc a harder road to back up Silverstone than he would have wanted. Ferrari remain second in the constructors' championship on 255 points but trail Mercedes by 78, and starting row three at a track where overtaking is possible but far from guaranteed is not the launchpad they were chasing.
The consolation: Spa's long straights and slipstreaming make fifth and sixth more recoverable than at most circuits. Ferrari will need the race to come to them.