Hamilton takes pole
Lewis Hamilton will start the Belgian Grand Prix from pole position, having qualified just a tenth of a second ahead of Jenson button for a McLaren one-two at Monza.
Championship leader Fernando Alonso had been fastest in the first and second qualifying sessions, but it all went wrong in Q3. A mechanical failure on his car indicated that he was 1.4 seconds slower in the final top 10 shoot-out than in the previous sessions, and he will start a disappointing 10th on the grid.
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It wasn’t all bad news for Ferrari, though, as Felipe Massa pulled off his best qualifying performance of the year. The Brazilian motorist will start Ferrari’s home race from third, alongside his former teammate Michael Schumacher.
Reigning world champion Sebastian Vettel will start fifth, ahead of Nico Rosberg. Kimi Raikkonen managed seventh for Lotus, and will start alongside Sauber’s Kamui Kobayashi.
Also excellent was Paul di Resta, who managed a couple of sensational laps to finish the session fourth fastest. He will start the race alongside Alonso, following a five-place grid penalty for a gearbox change.
Red Bull’s mark Webber narrowly missed out on a spot in the top 10, and will start from 11th on the grid.