Rain cannot stop Hamilton in Belgium

Lewis Hamilton reinforced his status as one of the better poor-weather drivers by taking the pole position for the Belgian Grand Prix on Saturday at the Hungaroring in Mogyorod, northeast of Budapest.

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 af- fected 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.”

The rain only came down for the third and final part of qualifying, known as Q3, and shook up the field considerably.

Two days after the team came out of administration, the re-named Racing Point Force India took third and fourth with Frenchman Esteban Ocon ahead of Sergio Perez.

“It’s always closer between the cars when it rains like that,” said Ocon, who matched his career best.

LASZLO BALOGH — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE In this Sunday file photo Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton of Britain celebrates atop his car after winning the Hungarian Formula One Grand Prix, at the Hungaroring racetrack in Mogyorod, northeast of Budapest. Sebastian Vettel needs to start closing the gap quickly on Lewis Hamilton, or he risks the Formula One title race slipping out of his grasp once again.