FORMULA 1
Charles Leclerc thrashed Ferrari teammate Sebastian Vettel to claim pole position for today’s Belgian Grand Prix.
Leclerc beat Vettel to the front slot of the grid by a mighty 0.748 seconds as Ferrari locked out the front row.
Lewis Hamilton finished third, just 0.015secs adrift of Vettel, with Valtteri Bottas fourth in the sister Mercedes. Red Bull’s Max Verstappen finished fifth.
Hamilton’s hopes of participating in qualifying hung in the balance for two hours after he crashed out of final practice.
The world champion lost control of his Mercedes through the right-handed turn 12 and slammed into the barriers.
As qualifying started, Hamilton’s mechanics were still working on fixing his machine when they were handed a lifeline after Robert Kubica’s Williams caught fire following an eye-catching engine failure.
The session was suspended for 10 minutes, affording Hamilton’s crew the additional time to complete their repairs. Hamilton left his garage when Kubica’s car was removed from danger before booking his spot in the second phase of qualifying. Drama over.
However, for much of the weekend, he had not been able to match Bottas, but the Englishman found the pace required to beat the Finn and put his Mercedes in a position to threaten Ferrari.
“Final practice was terrible for me because you know how hard the guys work to build those parts and how hard they work to put the car back together,” he said.
“My guys are faultless and I tried to pay them back with a good qualifying session. I am grateful I am third. I am going to give it everything tomorrow and hopefully give these guys a good race.”
It has been 12 months since Vettel last tasted victory, dominating at this venue a year ago. But the four-time world champion will have to usurp his teammate for a much-needed win.
Leclerc has impressed this weekend and, after an engine failure denied him victory in Bahrain, before Verstappen’s fine fightback drive in Austria prevented him from winning in June, the Monegasque will be hoping it is third-time lucky as he bids to open his GP account.
▪ French driver Anthoine Hubert died as a result of injuries sustained in a crash during yesterday’s Formula 2 Sprint Race at Spa.