Lewis Hamilton blew away his rivals to claim his sixth straight pole position for today’s Belgian Grand Prix.
The world champion yesterday posted a best lap of one minute 47.197 seconds to leave Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg trailing in his wake by almost half-a-second.
It marked Hamilton’s 10th pole from 11 races this season, and with it, an unassailable lead in the race for the pole position trophy – a title which Rosberg won last year.
Valtteri Bottas was third for Williams with Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel, winner last time out in Hungary, only ninth.
Hamilton’s brilliant lap around the four-mile track in Spa bordered on genius, and the gap to Rosberg will be a hammer blow to the man who is set to become a father for the first time this week.
“I am really happy today with the performance of the car and so far this weekend,” said Hamilton, who is now just two shy of a half-century of pole positions.
“The car has been feeling great and this is a circuit where if you can get the right balance, it is fun to drive.”
McLaren fell at the first hurdle 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.
The pair have taken on an eighth Honda engine of the campaign – their second of the weekend – and following a raft of replacement components, were subjected to an unprecedented 105-place grid drop.
One of McLaren’s former drivers Kimi Raikkonen is enduring an equally frustrating season.
The 2007 world champion was surprisingly signed up by Ferrari for the 2016 campaign last week, but that is where his luck ran out.
Midway through Q2, Raik-konen stopped at turn 14.
“Something broke,” he said.
His qualifying over, and with no time under his belt, he placed 14th. It was a bad afternoon for Ferrari in their 900th grand prix weekend.
Spa-Francorchamps qualifying
| 1. Lewis Hamilton (Britain) | Mercedes | 1:47.197 |
| 2. Nico Rosberg (Germany) | Mercedes | 1:47.655 |
| 3. Valtteri Bottas (Finland) | Williams-Mercedes | 1:48.537 |
| 4. Romain Grosjean (France) | Lotus – Mercedes | 1:48.561 |
| 5. Sergio Perez (Mexico) | Force India – Mercedes | 1:48.599 |
| 6. Daniel Ricciardo (Australia) | RedBull – Renault | 1:48.639 |
| 7. Felipe Massa (Brazil) | Williams-Mercedes | 1:48.685 |
| 8. Pastor Maldonado (Venezuela) | Lotus – Mercedes | 1:48.754 |
| 9. Sebastian Vettel (Germany) | Ferrari | 1:48.825 |
| 10. Carlos Sainz Jr (Spain) | Toro Rosso – Renault | 1:49.771 |
| 11. Nico Huelkenberg (Germany) | Force India – Mercedes | 1:49.121 |
| 12. Daniil Kvyat (Russia) | RedBull – Renault | 1:49.228 |
| 13. Marcus Ericsson (Sweden) | Sauber – Ferrari | 1:49.586 |
| 14. Kimi Raikkonen (Finland) | Ferrari | |
| 15. Max Verstappen (Netherlands) | Toro Rosso - Renault | |
| 16. Felipe Nasr (Brazil) | Sauber – Ferrari | 1:49.952 |
| 17. Jenson Button (Britain)* | McLaren | 1:50.978 |
| 18. Fernando Alonso (Spain)* | McLaren | 1:51.420 |
| 19. Will Stevens (Britain) | Marussia – Ferrari | 1:52.948 |
| 20. Roberto Merhi (Spain) | Marussia – Ferrari | 1:53.099 |
Note: McLaren drivers Jenson Button and Fernando Alonso to start at back of the grid after penalties for engine changes.