F1 Grand Prix of Belgium– Qualifying Results

One expects the excitement of changeable weather conditions at Spa and today’s 3 rounds of Qualifying for the pole did not disappoint. Full results and F1’s official recap below the fold… 

Looks like the Mercedes were sandbagging in practice.

Hamilton grabs 4th consecutive Pole, nips Vettel in wet conditions at Spa (excerpt from official Formula One site):

The rain came back with a vengeance in the final sector as Q3 began, spicing things up as all bar Force India’s Paul di Resta left the pits on mediums. At the end of a tiptoe lap they all came in for intermediates again even though the final sector was still wet and it had started to rain in the first sector, too. With the long lap, a fast turnaround was essential.

For a long time it seemed that Force India’s Paul di Resta was about to enjoy his first pole after the team got him out before conditions deteriorated further, the Scot lapping in 2m 02.332s. But then as others lapped two seconds slower Rosberg somehow found a great lap of 2m 02.873s to go second. Things were improving out on the track, however, and a rash of improvements saw the positions behind these two changing by the second. Crucially, however, Webber, Vettel and Hamilton just beat the flag by seconds. Just after Button had moved to third, Webber completed his final lap on 2m 01.325s. Pole! But then Vettel completed his: 2m 01.200s. Pole! And then Hamilton completed his: 2m 01.012s. Pole! Phew!

Top 10:

Pos No Driver Team Q1 Q2 Q3 Laps
1 10 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 2:00.368 1:49.067 2:01.012 22
2 1 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing-Renault 2:01.863 1:48.646 2:01.200 19
3 2 Mark Webber Red Bull Racing-Renault 2:01.597 1:48.641 2:01.325 20
4 9 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 2:01.099 1:48.552 2:02.251 20
5 14 Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 2:02.338 1:48.925 2:02.332 22
6 5 Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 2:01.301 1:48.641 2:03.075 21
7 8 Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 2:02.476 1:48.649 2:03.081 22
8 7 Kimi Räikkönen Lotus-Renault 2:01.151 1:48.296 2:03.390 22
9 3 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 2:00.190 1:48.309 2:03.482 21
10 4 Felipe Massa Ferrari 2:01.462 1:49.020 2:04.059 21

Full results here: Qualifying at Spa.

And if you sign up for a free account at formula1.com you can wet your whistle for tomorrow’s action with race edit videos from past Grands Prix: http://www.formula1.com/video/race_edits/

Race time tomorrow is at 2PM local Belgian time and 8AM Eastern, broadcast live in the States on NBCSports.