Lewis Hamilton once again showed his and Mercedes’ wet-weather prowess as rain intervened to give him pole position for the Belgian Grand Prix.
A thrilling battle was on the cards between the Briton and the two Ferraris as less than a tenth of a second covering the top three in Q2, but a downpour in the early minutes of the top 10 shoot-out forced all the drivers back to the pits for intermediate tyres.
With Ferrari’s power advantage proving the difference, Mercedes would look to use Valtteri Bottas, who’s final qualifying position was irrelevant due to engine penalties, to create a slipstream for Hamilton along the Kemmel Straight.
Proving how quickly the conditions changed though, the Finn would spin in front of his teammate through the high-speed Blanchimont corner on the slicks though avoided any contact with the barrier.
Once on the right tyres, the two Red Bulls made a quick turnaround work to go 1-2 before Kimi Raikkonen and Sebastian Vettel both moved ahead as lap times increased to over two minutes.
As the rain eased and conditions improved though, Hamilton, who was fifth and ran off the track at Fagner at one point, produced another incredible lap to lower the benchmark by three seconds.
Despite being behind on the track, Vettel had no response finishing seven-tenths back from his championship rival though did consolidate second.
Force India’s rollercoaster few weeks were repeated just within the 12-minute Q3 segment as their drivers would attempt a flying lap on the slick tyres only for Sergio Perez to almost hit the barriers at Raidillon.
A quick switch onto intermediates allowed the Mexican to jump upto third with his final effort but teammate Esteban Ocon would set the fastest first sector of anyone on his last lap and would jump up into third, securing the second row for the newly re-entered team.
The result marks their best ever collective qualifying result, with Giancarlo Fisichella claiming pole in 2009, and gives them a great platform to score points having had their 52 from the first 12 races wiped clean.
Haas’ problems from practice appeared to disappear in qualifying and Romain Grosjean made the most of the tricky conditions to claim fifth.
Raikkonen’s hpes were dashed as, in the confusion, Ferrari didn’t put enough fuel in his car and he returned to the pits for the final minutes, missing out on the best conditions and having to settle for sixth.
Also big losers were Red Bull as they too under-fuelled their cars expected the weather to worsen but predominantly the decision to run less downforce left them unable to find enough grip in the wet.
Max Verstappen was seventh ahead of teammate Daniel Ricciardo in eighth with only Kevin Magnussen behind them in ninth.
Bottas returned to the pits after his spin and decided not to run again meaning he officially finished P10 but will start from the back of the grid.
Just missing out on Q3 were the two Toro Rosso’s in a better-than-expected showing. Red Bull-bound Pierre Gasly will move up to 10th with teammate Brendon Hartley enjoying a more competitive session to finish 12th fastest.
Particularly notable was the Honda-powered team beating both Saubers as Charles Leclerc and Marcus Ericsson dropped to 13th and 14th, after looking strong contenders to make Q3.
The Monegasque later revealed brake problems had hampered his performance while Ericsson also appeared to return to the pits early with an issue.
Nico Hulkenberg was 15th but will join Bottas in starting from the back of the grid after taking new engine components and therefore elected not to run in Q2.
Renault’s day was not made any better by Carlos Sainz becoming a surprise casualty in Q1 as he struggled with the rear of his car and ended up 16th fastest.
Ironically the Spaniard was just in front of Fernando Alonso’s McLaren in 17th, the car he will be driving in 2019, as they and Williams completed the grid.
Sergey Sirotkin would finish ahead of Lance Stroll as Stoffel Vandoorne’s miserable home race weekend continued as the Belgian finished slowest overall.
Those from Sainz downward will all gain two places on the grid, however, with Hulkenberg and Bottas taking the engine penalties.
A full look at the results from a remarkable qualifying can be seen below:
