As Hamilton excels, Ferrari disappoints, and Ricciardo surprises.
SPA-FRANCHORCHAMPS, Belgium—August 29th—Breaking the track qualifying record twice in one session in addition to grabbing his sixth pole at this event, Lewis Hamilton recorded a 1:42:014 fastest lap to line up on the front row for Sunday’s Belgian Grand Prix. Mercedes teammate Valterri Bottas was second, while Red Bull’s Max Verstappen took third.
Lewis Hamilton: Very clean session. Every lap was getting better and better. It is a really important pole to me.
Hamilton was dominant throughout as the Briton finished the opening two sessions with the fastest time. Hamilton dialed up the power to dominate the last session, breaking the lap record once. Minutes later, he did it a second time, to easily take the pole.
But the big story of the weekend was the surprising loss of power by both Ferrari’s of Sebastian Vettel and Charles Leclerc, both of whom were eliminated in the second session.
They weren’t alone. American Haas F1 drivers, Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen, never got going in the opening session, and were also eliminated from going any further. Also in that category were Kimi Raikkonen and his Alfa Romeo teammate Antonio Giovinazzi, Williams’ Nicholas Latifi and his teammate George Russell, and Alpha Tauri drivers Dani Kvyat and Pierre Gasly.
Daniel Ricciardo, a surprise so far this weekend, led the best of the rest in fourth in his Renault, while Alex Albon was fifth in the Red Bull. Ricciardo’s teammate, Esteban Ocon, was sixth. Both McLaren’s and Racing Point entries finished in the top ten. Carlos Sainz Jr. and Lando Norris took seventh and tenth, while Sergio Perez and Lance Stroll finished eighth and ninth, respectively.
Even with rain expected immediately before Sunday’s race, Hamilton hopes that he can maintain his qualifying form. “Q3 first lap was ace, and I thought I was not going to be able to beat that. But I have been struggling in Turn One all weekend, I got that, and then eked it out for the rest of the lap. That was a very, very good lap.”
