Hamilton masters rain to take pole position for Belgian GP
SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS, BELGIUM again driver ing Belgian urday. The pole » showed in Mercedes Grand Lewis position the rain he’s Prix Hamilton the for by on driver best tak- Sat- the saved lap tian to Vettel’s his easily best leading beat for the Sebas- time last for and Ferrari secure a by Formula 0.7 seconds One record- pole. extending 78th
“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, der .” here gained 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 orhis 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.