Posted on 22nd August 2015
In Qualifying in Belgium this afternoon, Lewis Hamilton with an astonishing lap beat Nico Rosberg and Valtteri Bottas to take his tenth Pole Position of the season and becoming the first driver since Michael Schumacher in 2001 to claim six consecutive Pole Positions in a season.
During Q2, we saw Kimi Raikkonen stopping on the entrance to the Stavelot corner unexpectedly with suspected transmission failure. This then brought out the red flags while the marshals moved his car off the track.
But it was Lewis Hamilton who topped the timesheets with a brilliant lap time of 1.47.197 ahead of his team mate Nico Rosberg in second place who was 0.698 seconds behind him but was ahead of Valtteri Bottas who finished in third place who was 1.340 seconds behind the Mercedes of Hamilton.
Romain Grosjean finished the session in a fantastic fourth place but will have to take a five place grid penalty for changing his gearbox yesterday. But he was ahead of Sergio Perez in a credible fifth place, Daniel Ricciardo in sixth place ahead of Felipe Massa in seventh place. Pastor Maldonado ended the session in eighth place ahead of Sebastian Vettel in a disappointing ninth place and Carlos Sainz Jr who rounds off the top ten finishers.
Nico Hulkenberg ended the session in eleventh place after being knocked out at the last second by Sainz Jr at the end of Q2 ahead of Daniil Kvyat in twelfth place (which is the first time since Bahrain he has failed to get to Q3), Marcus Ericsson in thirteenth place, Kimi Raikkonen in fourteenth place and Max Verstappen in fifteenth place.
As we head into the latter stages of the grid, Felipe Nasr finished the session in sixteenth place ahead of Jenson Button in seventeenth place, Fernando Alonso in eighteenth place and the two Manor drivers of Will Stevens and Roberto Merhi in nineteenth and twentieth places.
But bear in mind that both McLaren-Honda drivers will start at the back of the grid due to the combined 105 grid place penalties between them; so as a result the Manor drivers will move up the grid.
The classification of Qualifying for the Belgian GP is as follows:-
1. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, 1.47.197
2. Nico Rosberg, Mercedes, 0.698s
3. Valtteri Bottas, Williams-Mercedes, 1.340s
4. Romain Grosjean, Lotus-Mercedes, 1.364s*
5. Sergio Perez, Force India-Mercedes, 1.442s
6. Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull-Renault, 1.442s
7. Felipe Massa, Williams-Mercedes, 1.488s
8. Pastor Maldonado, Lotus-Mercedes, 1.557s
9. Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari, 1.628s
10. Carlos Sainz Jr, Toro Rosso, 2.574s
11. Nico Hulkenberg, Force India-Mercedes, 1.49.121
12. Daniil Kvyat, Red Bull Renault, 1.49.228
13. Marcus Ericsson, Sauber-Ferrari, 1.49.586
14. Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari,
15. Max Verstappen, Toro Rosso,**
16. Felipe Nasr, Sauber-Ferrari, 1.49.952
17. Jenson Button, McLaren-Honda, 1.50.978
18. Fernando Alonso, McLaren-Honda, 1.51.420
19. Will Stevens, Manor, 1.52.948
20. Roberto Merhi, Manor, 1.53.099
*- Romain Grosjean will receive a five place grid penalty for changing his gearbox after it failed at the end of FP2 yesterday.
**- Max Verstappen will receive a ten place grid penalty for changing his ICE unit after it failed in FP2 yesterday.
[NB:- Jenson Button and Fernando Alonso will start the race from the back of the grid due to their 105 grid place penalties between them so Will Stevens and Roberto Merhi will be moved further up the grid as a result.]
Sarah Jones- @jonesy_laaa
