World champion wraps up 2015 pole position trophy; Mercedes lock out front-row; Sebastian Vettel only ninth
Tuesday 25 August 2015 14:10, UK
Lewis Hamilton took a sixth consecutive pole position as Mercedes power dominated proceedings in Belgium.
It is the first time since Michael Schumacher in 2000-2001 that a driver has topped qualifying six times in a row and Hamilton's 10th pole of the season was enough to wrap up the pole trophy with a further eight sessions remaining.
But there was more misery for McLaren-Honda with both of the team's cars eliminated in Q1 even before their grid demotions were factored in.
Meanwhile, Rosberg will line-up alongside Hamilton on the front-row once again. It was in the middle sector where the German lost out as his team-mate finished four tenths clear. "Rosberg was thrashed today," declared Sky F1's Martin Brundle.
"Really happy today with the performance of the car and, so far this weekend, the performance of the team," Hamilton said. "Pole position is great to have, but it's a long race and it's a long stretch down to Turn Five. But I'm just happy with today. My goal was to get pole position,
"Nico was very close but my last two laps were the best laps I had all weekend."
Indeed, as Hamilton alludes, the long-run to Les Combes along the Kemmel Straight will give Rosberg a great opportunity to get into his slip-stream and fight for the lead on Sunday.
"With the new starts situation [where we] are having to do everything ourselves now, there's a lot more opportunity tomorrow - even at the start - and the run down to turn five it's possible to overtake," said Rosberg.
"We've seen that many, many times so my hopes are still high."
Valtteri Bottas made full use of his Mercedes-powered Williams to take third on the grid. Romain Grosjean bounced back from a difficult Friday to take fourth for Lotus - his best qualifying of the season - but he will drop back due to a five-place penalty for a gearbox change.
That will therefore promote Force India's Sergio Perez, yet another Mercedes-powered runner, who was fifth quickest, with Red Bull's middle-sector grip allowing Daniel Ricciardo to take sixth, despite Renault's horsepower deficit.
The surprise of the session, though, was Sebastian Vettel who was only ninth quickest for Ferrari. The German needed a strong qualifying as he sought to keep alive his outside hopes of a title push and has left himself a lot of work to do on Sunday as the Scuderia celebrate their 900th race weekend.
"I didn't go off, it was a normal lap," a shocked Vettel told Sky Sports F1. "I was a little bit deep into the final corner, but I was surprised it was only good enough for ninth. We just couldn't make the step from Q2 to Q3, it was a tight pack and we just went from in front to behind."
Things weren't any better on the other side of the Ferrari garage as Kimi Raikkonen was an unexpected casualty in Q2 after his car ground to a rather noisy halt on his out-lap. The Finn appeared to be stuck in fifth gear as his car made rather worrying grinding noises.
Raikkonen will line-up ahead of Max Verstappen, however, who opted not to take part in Q2 due to a 10-place grid penalty he will take for taking a sixth power unit. Instead the Dutchman saved tyres as he looks to come through the field on Sunday.
Nico Hulkenberg also missed the cut after making a mistake at La Source and running wide. Daniil Kvyat and Marcus Ericsson were the others to drop out.
Despite Honda spending engine tokens over the summer break and promising an increase in performance that could potentially see them match Ferrari, both McLarens made an early exit once again.
Jenson Button lined up 17th and over a second away from the cut-off point of Verstappen who was 15th quickest in Q1, despite battling a loss of engine power at the time.
"That's the best lap I've done for a long time," said Jenson Button told the team over the radio when told he had qualified ahead of Fernando Alonso.
To underline just how difficult the situation is at McLaren, Button later told Sky Sports F1: "That lap I did was equal to my pole position lap here three years ago."
Not that out-qualifying his team-mate will make too much of a difference as with Button issued with a 50-place grid penalty and Alonso a 55-place drop for changing engines during the weekend, both cars will be lining up on the back row.
"The worrying thing for McLaren is if Jenson Button wanted to move up just one more place to 16th he needs to go a second quicker. It just goes from bad to worse," said Martin Brundle.
The only good news for McLaren is they won't have to serve any in-race penalties for not being able to take all of their grid demotions after a recent rule change.
Belgian GP qualifying
Q3
1) Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, 1:47.197
2) Nico Rosberg, Mercedes, 1:47.655
3) Valtteri Bottas, Williams, 1:48.537
4) Romain Grosjean, Lotus, 1:48.561
5) Sergio Perez, Force India, 1:48.599
6) Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull, 1:48.639
7) Felipe Massa, Williams, 1:48.685
8) Pastor Maldonado, Lotus, 1:48.754
9) Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari, 1:48.825
10) Carlos Sainz, Toro Rosso, 1:49.771
Q2
11) Nico Hulkenberg, Force India, 1:49.121
12) Daniil Kvyat, Toro Rosso, 1:49.228
13) Marcus Ericsson, Sauber, 1:49.586
14) Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari, No time
15) Max Verstappen, Toro Rosso, No time
Q1
16) Felipe Nasr, Sauber, 1:49.952
17) Jenson Button, McLaren, 1:50.978
18) Fernando Alonso, McLaren, 1:51.420
19) Will Stevens, Manor, 1:52.948
20) Roberto Merhi, Manor, 1:53.099
