LEWIS HAMILTON STUNNING POLE IN BELGIUM GRAND PRIX

Lewis Hamilton snatched pole position for the Belgium Grand Prix from championship rival Sebastian Vettel by over 7/10ths of a second, but is was the new Racing Point Force India team that grabbed the headlines and the second row of the grid with a shock result.

Qualifying commenced in overcast conditions though no rain was expected until the latter half of Q3. The session proved to be a disaster for Renault with only the Red Bull cars safely through to Q2. Daniel Ricciardo was somewhat fortunate to make it through after troubles in FP1 still has the Australian searching for the fast package. While Nico Hulkenberg did progress grid penalties will see him drop to the rear of the grid, close to the McLarens pair of Vandoorne and Alonso who finished 16th and 20th respectively.

The Torro Rosso team progressed to Q2 which some may say shows that the Honda engine has progressed, perhaps closer on par with Renault than before, though neither driver made it through to Q3. Hartley had a spin at turn 1 with the replay suggesting something other than driver error for the incident. Sebastian Vettel underlined Ferrari’s pace at Spa with a new record lap of 1.41.501, with Raikkonen close behind. The two Sauber cars were the others to miss out on a run in Q3 as rain began to fall in the pitlane.

By the time the green flag waved for Q3 the track was quite damp. While Ocon and Perez looked to bank an early lap as the conditions slowly worsened on supersoft tyres. It didn’t take long for Perez to slow and cruise back to the pits for intermediate tyres, as did Ocon. The delay in changing to the wet tyre proved to be a master stroke for the struggling team as the track began to  dry late in the session. Red Bull were the biggest losers in Q3 when they sent their drivers out early then sat out the final moments in the garage as conditions improved.

Such was the improvement in track conditions that Hamilton’s pole time of 1.58.179 was 4.5 seconds faster than Verstappen, who had held 3rd place when called into the pits. Vettel recovered to claim 2nd, with Esteban Ocon in 3rd, almost 3.7 seconds off pole. Sergio Perez, Romain Grosjean and Kimi Raikkonen all ended up faster than the Red Bull cars that dropped down to 7th and 8th. Valtteri Bottas didn’t even set a time in Q3 as engine penalties will see the second Mercedes towards the rear of the grid come race time tomorrow.

Photo: Lewis Hamilton Facebook Page

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