Hamilton claims 93rd F1 pole with new Spa track record; both Ferraris suffer Q2 exit

Ian Parkes
Saturday 29 August 2020 15:07 - Updated: 17:37

Lewis Hamilton set a new track record at Spa Francorchamps en route to securing the 93rd pole position of his Formula 1 career on a day when neither Ferrari failed to reach the top 10.

Hamilton was again in a class of his own as Valtteri Bottas was unable to get near his Mercedes team-mate across the three sessions, finishing a staggering half-a-second behind the six-time F1 champion.

The Briton posted a time of one minute 41.252secs on his final run in Q3, comfortably beating the previous best at Spa of 1:41.501 set by Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel in 2018.

Red Bull's Max Verstappen missed out on a front-row place by just 0.015s, and expressed his disappointment over the team radio at the close.

Renault's Daniel Ricciardo produced his best qualifying performance since joining Renault with fourth, finishing shy of Verstappen by just over two-tenths of a second.

As for Ferrari, following its dismal performance throughout practice, it at least avoided the ignominy of failing to get a car out of Q1 - but only just.

Charles Leclerc, on pole at this track a year ago before claiming his maiden win, was only 15th quickest in Q1, eliminating Alfa Romeo's Kimi Raikkonen by 0.087s.

But Q3 was firmly beyond the Scuderia as Leclerc and Sebastian Vettel, that last year formed the front row, will start a wretched 13th and 14th ahead of Williams' George Russell.

Immediately in front of the Ferrari pair are AlphaTauri duo Daniil Kvyat and Pierre Gasly, running what Red Bull team principal Christian Horner suggested was a Monza wing, albeit it failed to get either driver into the top 10.

The remainder of the top 10 was completed by Red Bull's Alex Albon, followed by the second Renault of Esteban Ocon, then McLaren's Carlos Sainz and Racing Point's Sergio Perez, with team-mates Lance Stroll and Lando Norris ninth and 10th.

Raikkonen will line up 16th ahead of Haas' Romain Grosjean and Alfa Romeo team-mate Antonio Giovinazzi, followed by Williams' Nicholas Latifi, who finished half-a-second slower than Russell.

Kevin Magnussen who, like team-mate Grosjean sat out most of Friday practice due to changes of power unit elements, ruined his final run with a trip across the gravel at one stage and will start last.

Before you go...

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