F1: Hamilton takes 10th pole of the season at Spa Francorchamps

Lewis Hamilton has qualified on pole position for the 2015 Belgian Grand Prix at Spa Francorchamps. He beat his team-mate Nico Rosberg by half a second to take his 10th pole of the season; a tally that now cannot be overhauled in the remaining 8 races.

Ferrari struggled in the session, with Sebastian Vettel qualifying 8th and Kimi Raikkonen 14th after stopping on track in Q2. This opened the door for Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Perez to qualify on the 2nd row of the grid.

Q1:
The Spa Francorchamps circuit remained in it’s sunny state as it had done for the entire weekend so far as qualifying approached. Valtteri Bottas was the first man to venture out onto the track following an electrical problem earlier on in the day. The car looked to be fixed as he was the first to set a time; a 1’50.195 on the slower medium compound of tyre.

The two Mercedes drivers soon made their way to the front on their first flying laps, with Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton taking 1st and 2nd with 1’49’s and separated by under a tenth. The pair looked to have secured their positions in Q2 straight away.

Drivers started to head out on track on the faster soft compound tyre at the halfway point of the session. Sergio Perez capitalized on the performance advantage of the soft tyre to head up to P1 with a time that was only a few tenths shy of the Mercedes duo on the same tyres in practice. Vettel, Raikkonen and Grosjean also pushed the Mercedes drivers down the order a little more, but both Hamilton and Rosberg would regain P1 and P2 at the end of the session; an impressive feat as they remained on the medium compound.

The McLaren and Manor drivers were always the most likely candidates to fill 4 of the 5 elimination spots in Q1; with McLaren almost writing off their grid positions after acculturating 105 position penalties through engine replacements in the run up to the race. Jenson Button, Fernando Alonso, Will Stevens and Roberto Merhi would indeed fill postions 17 to 20, with Felipe Nasr joining them in the Sauber in 16th.

Out in Q1:

Q2:

Valtteri Bottas was once again the first man out on track in the second session of qualifying, closely followed by his team-mate Felipe Massa and Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen. Sadly for Kimi his session wouldn’t last much longer and he would become a major scalp in Q2. His car suffered an oil pressure drop as he approached the final sector of his first flying lap. His car ground to a halt and the red flag was deployed. The 4 time winner of the Belgian Grand Prix was out of qualifying.

Thankfully for the Mercedes duo, they had both completed flying laps before the red flag was deployed. This time it was Rosberg who had the advantage, but the gap between himself in 1st and Hamilton in 2nd remained at under a tenth of a second. They would not return to the track when the green flag was waved.

Max Verstappen wouldn’t turn a wheel in Q2 as Toro Rosso elected to not run him again thanks to a 10 place grid penalty for engine changes. He and Raikkonen would be eliminated in 15th and 14th respectively. Surprisingly, Nico Hulkenberg and Daniil Kvyat would be eliminated in 11th and 12th despite their team-mates showing good pace after qualifying for the top 10 shoot-out. Marcus Ericsson would be the final driver eliminated in 13th for Sauber.

Out in Q2:

Q3:

The margins between the two Mercedes men for pole position looked slim as the final 12 minute session began. The pair had been separated by mere fractions of tenths throughout the previous sessions and it looked as though pole position could still go either way. The battle behind them looked tight too, with Sergio Perez looking to have joined the battle for 3rd along with Sebastian Vettel, Daniel Ricciardo and the Williams drivers.

First blood would go to Lewis Hamilton after the first of the drivers’ two runs as Nico Rosberg had a side-ways moment on the exit of the Paul Frere corner. That cost him 4 tenths to his team-mate. The two Williams of Bottas and Massa followed in 3rd and 4th with Vettel 5th.

The second and final runs soon began, with Hamilton out on track ahead of Rosberg. Hamilton’s final lap was a barnstormer as he improved to a 1’47.197. It looked like it would’ve been tough to beat for Nico Rosberg, but it was made even harder as the German was struggling with his sector times. He wouldn’t be able to better his team-mate and would settle for second as Lewis Hamilton took yet another 2015 pole position. This would be his 10th pole of the season and would secure him the 2015 pole position trophy with 8 races remaining.

Valtteri Bottas held onto 3rd place for Williams ahead of a hugely impressive performance by Romain Grosjean who put his Lotus 4th. Sadly for him he will start 9th after a 5 place grid penalty for a gearbox change. Sergio Perez showed great pace throughout qualifying for Force India. He set the fastest first sector of anybody on his final lap to take 5th place, but he will move up to 4th due to Grosjean’s penalty.

Daniel Ricciardo and Felipe Massa will line-up 5th and 6th ahead of a somewhat surprisingly good result for Pastor Maldonado; who bounced back from his crash in practice yesterday to take 7th on the grid. 8th will be a disappointed Sebastian Vettel, who was surpassed at his lack of pace in the final session. 9th will be the penalized Romain Grosjean; with Carlos Sainz completing the top 10.

2015 Belgian Grand Prix grid:

* – 5 place grid penalty for Romain Grosjean for a gearbox change. ** – 10 place grid penalty for Max Verstappen for an engine change. *** – 50 place grid penalty for Jenson Button for various engine changes. **** – 55 place grid penalty for Fernando Alonso for various engine changes.