Rain arrives at right time for Mercedes and Hamilton outpaces Vettel for Belgium pole; New-look Force India sensationally lock out second row; Fresh misery for McLaren and Williams in Q1
Thursday 6 December 2018 11:23, UK
Lewis Hamilton brilliantly mastered wet conditions again to beat title rival Sebastian Vettel to pole position for the Belgian GP.
Vettel and Ferrari had once more appeared to have an edge in the dry, but a rain shower at the start of Q3 was perfectly timed for Mercedes and, as the track dried in the closing minutes, Hamilton came to the fore to beat Vettel to pole by seven tenths of a second.
And, in the shock story of the day, Force India kicked off the new era at the rescued team with a second-row lockout as Esteban Ocon and Sergio Perez surged to third and fourth places respectively.
Romain Grosjean also starred late on to take fifth for Haas, leaving Kimi Raikkonen only sixth as the Finn's hugely-promising weekend went awry in Q3. The second Ferrari was crucially not on track for the closing minutes as the track dried after being underfuelled.
On a power circuit, Red Bull were already adrift of usual rivals Mercedes and Ferrari but slipped even further back to row four with seventh-placed Max Verstappen and eighth-placed Daniel Ricciardo also not having sufficient fuel for more laps.
Valtteri Bottas already knew he would start Sunday's race from the back row after engine change penalties, but the second Mercedes made it through to Q3 - although did not ultimately set a final time after spinning as the rain started to fall in Q3.
But, long before the rain came, there was fresh consternation for two of the sport's once all-dominant teams - McLaren and Williams - whose interest in qualifying ended in Q1.
Hamilton denies Ferrari again
Ferrari went into the summer break rung missed chances at the previous two rounds in Germany and Hungary when the weekends turned on rain showers just when they appeared in control at the front of the field.
After topping all three practice sessions for the first time this year at Spa, Raikkonen and then Vettel led the way in the first two dry phases of qualifying - although their advantage over Hamilton's Mercedes at the end of Q2 was a mere 0.052s.
One of Spa's notorious rain bursts at the start of the pole shootout then opened the battle up further, with Hamilton leaving his best to the final lap.
"That was one of the hardest qualifying sessions l can remember," said Hamilton, as he jubilantly celebrated a record fifth Spa pole and the 78th of his career.
"None of us have been driving in the rain this weekend so l cannot even express to you how difficult that was."
Vettel also posted his quickest lap on his final attempt, but came up 0.726s short on the championship leader and was ultimately left disappointed to qualify only second.
"I knew all of the laps don't matter apart from the last one," rued Vettel. "It was a bit chaotic and not great from a management point of view. I don't feel we put everything together in the last lap, we ran out of battery.
"It wasn't a nice ending to a great qualifying up to that point. It's great fun but obviously not very rewarding when you know you could have done a bit better."
Nonetheless, Vettel, who trails Hamilton by 24 points, will start Sunday's race alongside the title leader for what is often one of the most dramatic opening laps of the season.
Joy for reborn Force India...but misery for McLaren and Williams
With their points reset to zero following the recent takeover of the team, Force India were already looking a strong bet to get back up and running in the championship immediately as their cars ran consistently in the top 10 all through practice.
But starting positions up on the second row would still have been barely believable - particularly when the team's drivers were the only ones not to pit immediately for intermediate tyres as the heavens opened in Q3.
"Not bad for a new entrant," quipped new team boss Otmar Szafnauer to Sky F1.
Third and fourth positions are certainly the stuff of dreams of struggling former champions McLaren and Williams at the moment, whose cars were the only ones to lap more than two seconds off the pace in Q1.
McLaren's second double Q1 elimination of the year was particularly painful for Stoffel Vandoorne, who qualified slowest of all with his home race weekend doing little to alleviate the pressure on his shoulders to secure his F1 future beyond this season.
A combined of car problems and a spin had compromised his build-up and left him last in all three practice sessions, yet a problem-free qualifying failed to offer any improvement despite the McLaren team-mates helping each other with a tow down Spa's long straights.
However, Vandoorne will at least be spared a back-row start courtesy of grid penalties for Bottas and Renault's Nico Hulkenberg, who sat out Q2.
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