Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton has equaled Michael Schumacher’s run of six consecutive pole positions, after going fastest in qualifying at Spa on the Pirelli P Zero Yellow soft tire.
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Lewis Hamilton turned his impressive qualifying for the 2015 Belgian Grand Prix in to a convincing win, keeping Nico Rosberg firmly in second place.
Hamilton’s closest challenger for the race win was Mercedes teammate and title rival Nico Rosberg, who finished two seconds down at the checkered flag.
“It is definitely way too early for that”, Hamilton said, following his sixth victory of the season and the 39th of his career.
Hamilton was in a different league here.
Rosberg, set to become a father for the first time next week, made his move on the Finnish driver at the chicane towards the end of lap one to take fourth.
Hamilton, who has lost the lead at the start in the last three races, said: “The team have prepared me as well as possible to get good starts”.
“The car’s been feeling great on the circuit…” The last two laps were the best I have had all weekend.
“Unfortunately I messed up the start,” said Rosberg. I am hoping we are able to maximise tomorrow. We had to do another formation lap and that always puts more temperature [into the car] and then things change and that caught me out.
McLaren fell at the first hurdle in qualifying but such is their demise this season it came as little surprise.
As has been the theme this weekend, only the Manor pair of Will Stevens and Roberto Merhi were slower, but both Button and Alonso will be demoted to the final row.
Button and Alonso are using their eighth Honda engine of the campaign here in Spa, a track which relies heavily on power.
With only 20 cars on the entry list, their punishment is confined to propping up the pack when the lights turn green on Sunday.
Hamilton ramped up the speed to lead by almost five seconds after 26 laps before pitting for the second and final time on lap 30.
Eau Rouge, the exhilarating, flat-out left-right-left, down-up-over-a-crest, stomach-in-mouth swerves at the start of the lap, defines the place. Having pitted on Lap 13, Vettel ran nearly 30 laps on the Medium tyres – running in P3 in the closing stages as Grosjean chased him armed with fresher tyres.
“As we saw with Nico’s issue yesterday anything can happen in this race”. “There is a long way to go before we’re competitive”. Under a regulation introduced at this race, teams weren’t allowed to coach their drivers through the start procedure over the radio, leaving drivers to find the optimal clutch setup themselves.
The result, especially impressive as Grosjean had to fight up from ninth on the grid following a five-place gearbox penalty, was a welcome boost for troubled Lotus, fighting off financial legal challenges as they try to keep the outfit afloat.
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A late push from Valtteri Bottas ensured another points finish for the Finn, his Williams team-mate Felipe Massa also scoring as they strengthened their grip on third place in the constructors’ championship behind Mercedes and Ferrari.
