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Qualifying report: Lewis Hamilton qualifies on pole for the Belgium Grand Prix

Qualifying report: Lewis Hamilton qualifies on pole for the Belgium Grand Prix

29-08-2020 15:00 Last update: 15:08
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Matt Gretton

Editor-in-Chief

Lewis Hamilton has qualified on pole for the Belgian Grand Prix. The Brit records his fifth pole position of the 2020 F1 season and will once again line-up next to his Mercedes teammate Valteri Bottas. Max Verstappen maintains his usual place behind the Mercedes front-row lockout to round out the top three. 

Hamilton records his sixth pole position in Belgium, extending his record at the venue. The six-time World Championship managed to beat his teammate by half-a-second, but Max Verstappen proved that Red Bull are getting much closer to Mercedes. 

Daniel Ricciardo threatened to beat his former team after the first run in Q3. The Australian recorded the fastest time in the final sector and almost beat Bottas' fastest time after one lap. In the end, Ricciardo split the two Red Bull drivers. 

But Verstappen managed to bounce back and beat his former teammate in the second run. The Dutch Red Bull Racing driver finished just 0.015 behind Bottas. 

Q1

After a troublesome Friday, the two Haas drivers posted the first two laps of qualifying. But those laps tumbled down the timesheets leaving Gunther Steiner with more troubles.

Six of the bottom seven cars were Ferrari powered after the first run in Q1. A track which showcases their engine troubles more than ever with 60% of the lap around Spa under full throttle.

After the second run, Charles Leclerc managed to escape the drop zone by eight one-hundredths of a second.

Out
Raikkonen
Grosjean
Giovinazzi
Latifi
Magnussen

Q2

Both Mercedes, Racing Point and Max Verstappen put on the medium tyres. But Lance Stroll and Sergio Perez were forced to try the softs after failing to challenge the top 10.

For the third race weekend running, Sebastian Vettel failed to escape from Q2. This time he was joined by his teammate Charles Leclerc, who will start from P13.

Albon will start the race on the soft tyres. The midfield battle continued to heat up with McLaren, Renault and Racing Point mixed inside the top 10.

Out

Kvyat
Gasly
Leclerc
Vettel
Russell