Hamilton takes pole

Lewis Hamilton again showed he’s the best driver in the rain by taking pole position for the Belgian Grand Prix on Saturday.

The Mercedes driver saved his best for the last lap to easily beat Sebastian Vettel’s leading time for Ferrari by 0.7 seconds and secure a Formula One record-extending 78th pole.

“The rain is always a friend of mine,” Hamilton said. “I think that was one of the hardest sessions I can remember. We only had a few laps to find the grip (in the rain), to find where the track was dry and wet.”

On his penultimate lap, Hamilton swerved off track momentarily. But as usual in the wet, he regained his composure when it counted.

“I went off in Turn 1 and then into Turn 12,” the British driver said. “I only had one lap left or I would have been further down the order.”

Hamilton has won the last two races — both affected by rain — to take the championship lead and move 24 points in front of Vettel.

Vettel was second in another disappointment for Ferrari, which topped all three practice sessions. But like in previous races, the rain seemed to affect Vettel’s confidence and boost Hamilton’s.

“Obviously (the rain) didn’t help. It was a bit strange, not easy to get your eye in,” Vettel said. “Maybe I wasn’t as calm as I could be. There is confusion when all of a sudden it starts to rain. (Teammate) Kimi (Raikkonen) was rushing to get back out. I had a bit of traffic.” /