The Sunday News
Nico Rosberg beat Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton to pole position at the Belgian Grand Prix in treacherous wet conditions. The two Mercedes were in a league of their own, more than two seconds faster than Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel in third. Hamilton said he struggled with his brakes during the session and lost a lot of time slowing for Turn One.
Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso was fourth, ahead of Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo.
The Australian was fifth ahead of Williams’ Valtteri Bottas despite running wide at the high-speed Blanchimont bend.
Rosberg’s pole sets up a fascinating race as the two Mercedes drivers head into the next chapter of their increasingly tense title battle.
The German leads his team-mate by 11 points going into the weekend, and in out-qualifying Hamilton in immensely difficult conditions on one of the most challenging circuits on the calendar, will have landed a major psychological blow on the Englishman.
Hamilton had a scrappy session, making mistakes on all of his flying laps in the top 10 shoot-out, while Rosberg was steadier and ultimately delivered a faster time, beating Hamilton by 0.228 seconds.
“It’s awesome to be on pole,” Rosberg said, “especially at this track. But it’s only qualifying and there is a long race tomorrow.”
Hamilton said: “I had a glazed front brake, so I was struggling under braking. I was losing massive amounts, especially into Turn One.”
BBC F1 co-commentator David Coulthard said: “Hamilton certainly looked out of sorts. It wasn’t comfortable out there. But a disc doesn’t glaze itself. The driver will have been involved in that process, too, so in the debriefs he will want to work out how that happened.”
This weekend’s race is the first after F1’s four-week summer break and the magnificent Spa track in the Ardennes mountains is a fitting stage for Rosberg and Hamilton’s battle. — BBC.
