Lewis Hamilton snatched his fourth pole position in a row for Mercedes on Saturday with a last-gasp flying lap after a dramatic rain-hit qualifying session at the Belgian Formula One Grand Prix. The 2008 world champion, the last man across the line on a drying track after running the gamut of Spa’s fickle weather, will be joined on the front row by Red Bull’s championship leader Sebastian Vettel.
Australian Mark Webber, preparing for the final Belgian Grand Prix of his career, qualified third for Red Bull with Mercedes’ Nico Rosberg fourth. Ferrari’s title contender Fernando Alonso could qualify only ninth.
Vettel is 38 points clear of Lotus’s Kimi Raikkonen at the top of the standings with nine races remaining but Hamilton, a further 10 adrift, showed why many believe he is the German’s biggest rival. The Briton had not figured in the top 10 in any of the three practice sessions and scraped into the final phase of qualifying in 10th place by just 0.21 of a second and with his hopes of success looking forlorn.
Hamilton celebrated his 31st career pole with a wild whoop of delight over the radio and seemed as surprised as anyone after crossing the line with a fastest time of two minutes 01.012 seconds compared to Vettel’s 2:01.200.
‘I went wide in Turn One and my dashboard told me I was three seconds down and then it was four seconds and then six so I didn’t know what was going on but I kept pushing,’ he said. ‘It’s a blessing I am up here. Generally I feel comfortable in changing conditions. I can find the limit and I pushed through the middle sector and really caned it.’ Team principal Ross Brawn let out a sigh of relief. ‘We were just on the limit of being the last car.’