Germany’s Nico Rosberg has taken pole position for the Belgian Formula 1 Grand Prix while his Mercedes teammate and championship rival Lewis Hamilton will start from the back of the grid.
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Rosberg outstripped his opponents on soft tyres in Q2 and was fastest again in the final round after switching to the supersoft compound, setting a time of one minute 46.744 seconds.
An eventful race saw Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and the Ferraris of Kimi Raikkonen and Sebastian Vettel come together on the first turn, and continued with Magnussen’s crash and several overtaking incidents.
Hamilton had been set to start from the last row of the grid for the Spa F1 race anyway, after incurring a 55-place grid penalty for multiple tactical engine changes throughout the weekend. He sat out most of the qualifying laps.
“Obviously I ran wide on my first try of the final [part of] qualifying, but the second run was pretty good”, Raikkonen explained.
Verstappen could only recover to 11th, missing out on points, as he struggled for pace with his damaged auto. “It may have seen me through the race, but it might not have, and we didn’t want to take that risk”. They’re buckling, blistering and not lasting so tomorrow is the hardest day to come through.
Sunday’s race will be the third in a row that Rosberg will start from pole. “I’m happy to be on pole”.
“The key for me is making sure I come out of tomorrow having lost the fewest points possible – and that meant having as many fresh sets of tires available as possible and making sure the auto was set up well”. Having preserved all his rubber by sitting out of qualifying, Hamilton will be able to exploit the extra grip in the race. Both drivers were out of the race, and they were soon joined by Carlos Sainz who suffered a right-rear tyre blow-out before coming to a stop with his auto in pieces. The key for me is making sure I come out of tomorrow having lost the fewest points possible – and that meant having as many fresh sets of tyres available as possible and making sure the vehicle was set up well.
“This is the best result I could have hoped for, ” said Hamilton, who said on Saturday that he was aiming for a top-10 finish.
Hamilton came in for new tires on lap 22, switching to softs, and was down in ninth when he came back out after a slow pit stop. “To be so close to Mercedes on a track with long straights, we can be very pleased with that. To see so many fans around the track and feel their support is incredible and I’ve been enjoying the whole week a lot, so to be second on the grid is fantastic”.
Over the course of the weekend Mercedes has fitted an updated power unit to Hamilton’s auto ahead of each practice session, creating a pool of new components to be used over the remaining nine races of the season.
Daniel Ricciardo claimed an “away” victory, by finishing P2, in Max Verstappen’s backyard, on a troubled afternoon for the teenager.
“It’s all (in) the last corner”, an unhappy Vettel said after qualifying.
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“It is fantastic what we have to do to get the tyres in the working window”, said Button, who starts ninth.
