Lewis Hamilton has secured his fourth consecutive pole position after a fine performance in changeable conditions at Spa-Francorchamps during a qualifying session that turned into a day for the underdog.
Force India’s Paul di Resta had gambled on strategy in Q3 and looked poised to claim his first ever pole position as the rain grew heavier and heavier, only for the weather to change once again and allow Hamilton, Vettel, Webber and Rosberg all to trump the Scottish driver on the intermediate tire.
Having been forecast all weekend, rain eventually began to fall around twenty minutes before qualifying got underway, forcing some last-minute changes to the setup of the cars and of course the use of appropriate tires. Q1 began with a rush to put in an early lap just in case conditions worsened with Pastor Maldonado leading the train of cars out of the pits on intermediate tires. All twenty-two cars were quick to put in a time and Nico Rosberg was the early pace-setter ahead of Lewis Hamilton and Romain Grosjean. However, with conditions improving, it was largely a case of staying out and slowly speeding up. Max Chilton was the first driver to brave slicks along with Giedo van der Garde, but the Caterham’s first attempt was over three seconds slower than his previous best on inters. The times began to tumble as the track continued to dry with Hamilton going quickest as the checkered flag fell. He was eventually beaten by Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso, but the biggest shock was van der Garde’s stunning lap on slicks to finish P3 for Caterham. Equally impressive were Marussia who got both of their drivers through to Q2 whilst Maldonado, Vergne, Ricciardo, Bottas, Gutierrez and Pic fell foul of the weather and were eliminated at the end of Q1.
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