Lewis Hamilton qualifies on pole for a 93rd time ahead of the 2020 F1 Belgian Grand Prix

Mercedes lockout the front-row with Lewis Hamilton qualifying on pole for the sixth time at Spa-Francorchamps with Valtteri Bottas in second and Max Verstappen in third.

Q1

The Haas pair of Kevin Magnussen and Romain Grosjean were out on track first with the Haas drivers not having much running in the free practice sessions as they looked to get out of Q1.

Magnussen set the first time lap time with a 1.45.377, but his Haas teammate going three-tenths faster and putting himself first for the time being.

The Haas pair pitted after their first lap, with most of the drivers coming out together as they prepared themselves for their first flying laps

With five minutes left in the first qualifying session, Lewis Hamilton posted a 1:42.323 lap which put him into first with Valtteri Bottas two-tenths behind his teammate and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen in third, nine-tenths behind Hamilton.

The drivers at risk of being eliminated out of Q1 were out on track with three minutes to go in the session. Charles Leclerc was followed by a train of cars which included his Ferrari teammate Sebastian Vettel.

Hamilton was able to stay first with his fantastic first lap with Bottas in second and Verstappen in third.

Kimi Raikkonen, Romain Grosjean, Antonio Giovinazzi, Nicholas Latifi and Kevin Magnussen were the five slowest drivers in the first qualifying session and out of Q1.

Q2

The two Mercedes drivers we first out on the track with the McLaren pair of Carlos Sainz and Lando Norris following them closely behind.

Two minutes into the session, all of the drivers were out on track to set their first competitive timed laps with a few drivers opting for the medium tyres instead of the softs.

The Championship leader set the first time of the second qualifying session with a time of 1:42.014 with Bottas a tenth behind his teammate.

With five minutes to go, Hamilton was first with Bottas one-tenth behind his teammate and Verstappen in third, again four and a half tenths behind Hamilton.

With two and a half minutes left in Q2, all drivers apart from Ricciardo were out on track to set their best times to get into Q3.

The Belgian Grand Prix has been won by a Ferrari car in the last two years, but this year the Scarlet Red car will be nowhere near the top end of the grid. The team’s drivers, Charles Leclerc and Sebastian Vettel, as well as Daniil Kvyat, Pierre Gasly, and George Russell were knocked out of Q2 with Hamilton remaining at the top of the timings.

Q3

Hamilton was the first driver out of the pit-lane as the rest of the nine drivers followed the Brit looking to gain some slipstream from the incredibly fast Mercedes car.

The Brit was the first driver to complete a timed lap and set a time of 1:41.451, setting a new track record. Bottas was five-tenths slower than his teammate and Ricciardo was able to get out onto the track and put his car into third early on only six-tenths behind Hamilton.

The top seven were separated by one second with Ricciardo separating the Mercedes and the Red Bull’s.

But the Championship leader smashed the whole field with a lap of 1:41.252 which is another track record with Bottas five-tenths back and no-where near to be seen.

Final Grid For The Race

Lewis Hamilton qualifies on pole for a sixth time at the Belgian Grand Prix with Valtteri Bottas completing a front-row lockout for Mercedes. Max Verstappen was joined by his ex-Red Bull teammate Daniel Ricciardo with the pair qualifying third and fourth respectively. Alex Albon and Esteban Ocon made up the third-row of the grid. Carlos Sainz was seventh with Racing Point’s Sergio Perez and Lance Stroll in eighth and ninth and Lando Norris rounded off the top ten.

Daniil Kvyat was joined by his teammate Pierre Gasly with the AlphaTauri’s qualifying P11 and P12. Charles Leclerc and Sebastian Vettel qualified P13 and P14 with George Russell in P15. Kimi Raikkonen qualified P16 for Alfa Romeo with Romain Grosjean the better Haas in P17. Antonio Giovinazzi in P18, Nicholas Latifi in P19 and Kevin Magnussen was the slowest driver in qualifying and will start at the back of the grid.

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