Mercedes AMG Petronas was able to get back in the groove with another front-row lockout in qualifying for the 2015 Belgian Grand Prix. Today’s Grand Prix takes place from Spa-Francorchamps and has a start time of 8 a.m. ET, and can be watched online through free live stream via the link below.
It marked Hamilton’s 10th pole from 11 races this season, and with it, an unassailable lead in the race for the pole position trophy – a title which Rosberg won previous year.
With Ricciardo and Perez both pitting for new tyres after eight laps, Rosberg climbed into second place, eight seconds behind team-mate Hamilton, with Sebastian Vettel third for Ferrari.
It sent out an emphatic message to his Mercedes team-mate who left the track on Friday night believing he was “one step ahead” of Hamilton after dominating practice.
Hamilton set a new personal best time of 1m 54.315s on lap 25 to extend his advantage over Rosberg to more than five seconds.
Rosberg, who had led the championship at the same stage previous year, is 21 points behind Hamilton with nine races remaining including Sunday’s. “But as I said coming in to this weekend I want to get those pole positions and translate them in to wins, so hopefully today is the beginning of that”.
He added: “I have been working really hard on the starts to make sure I understood all the facts”. Hamilton ended the qualifying session yesterday in pole, “satisfied” with his performance, but admitted the gap between him and 2nd-placed teammate Nico had been ‘very, very small’.
They said the failure was caused by a puncture created by unidentified external debris.
“The car’s been feeling great on the circuit…”
“The problem is that we don’t really understand it. There are theories, but there is no real evidence”.
“I was never in position where I felt nervous”.
Ferrari suffered a nightmare session with Hungary Grand Prix victor Sebastian Vettel in ninth whileKimi Raikkonen’s auto came to a stop on the edge of the track in Q2.
Instead, Frenchman Romain Grosjean completed the podium for troubled Lotus.
Russian Red Bull driver Daniil Kvyat mounted an incredible comeback, ending in fourth place after being in seventh place going into the ultimate laps.
Bottas started third but also messed up his start and then had a drive-thru penalty when his team put the wrong tire on one of the wheels.
The McLaren duo Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button moved up from the back of the grid to take 13th and 14th, after massive starting penalties for engine changes, ahead of Manor pair Roberto Merhi and Will Stevens.
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