2008 Belgian Grand Prix, Qualifying: Lewis Hamilton takes the pole at Spa
During the qualifying session for the Grand Prix of Belgium at the historic Spa Francorchamps circuit, Lewis Hamilton took a dominant pole position (1:47.338) for Sunday’s race. The Briton, on his fifth seasonal pole position, managed to beat his main rival for this season’s championship Felipe Massa (1:47.678), who will start from the second spot.
Second row on tomorrow’s grid for two Finns: McLaren’s Heikki Kovalainen finished third (1:47.815), 0.177 seconds faster than his compatriot and rival at Ferrari Kimi Raikkonen (1:47.992). BMW’s Nick Heidfeld made it surprisingly up to P5 (1:48.315) ahead of Renault’s Fernando Alonso (1:48.504), Red Bull’s Mark Webber (1:48.736) and teammate Robert Kubica (1:48.763).
Toro Rosso has proved again that the team and its drivers made huge improvements lately by placing for the second consecutive Grand Prix both cars in top ten, with Sebastien Bourdais (1:48.951) on P9 and Sebastian Vettel (1:50.319) on P10.
2008 Belgian Grand Prix, Qualifying Session results:
Pos | No | Driver | Team | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | Laps |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 22 | Lewis Hamilton | McLaren-Mercedes | 1:46.887 | 1:46.088 | 1:47.338 | 12 |
2 | 2 | Felipe Massa | Ferrari | 1:46.873 | 1:46.391 | 1:47.678 | 16 |
3 | 23 | Heikki Kovalainen | McLaren-Mercedes | 1:46.812 | 1:46.037 | 1:47.815 | 16 |
4 | 1 | Kimi Räikkönen | Ferrari | 1:46.960 | 1:46.298 | 1:47.992 | 14 |
5 | 3 | Nick Heidfeld | BMW Sauber | 1:47.419 | 1:46.311 | 1:48.315 | 18 |
6 | 5 | Fernando Alonso | Renault | 1:47.154 | 1:46.491 | 1:48.504 | 18 |
7 | 10 | Mark Webber | Red Bull-Renault | 1:47.270 | 1:46.814 | 1:48.736 | 19 |
8 | 4 | Robert Kubica | BMW Sauber | 1:47.093 | 1:46.494 | 1:48.763 | 20 |
9 | 14 | Sebastien Bourdais | STR-Ferrari | 1:46.777 | 1:46.544 | 1:48.951 | 19 |
10 | 15 | Sebastian Vettel | STR-Ferrari | 1:47.152 | 1:46.804 | 1:50.319 | 16 |
11 | 11 | Jarno Trulli | Toyota | 1:47.400 | 1:46.949 | 13 | |
12 | 6 | Nelsinho Piquet | Renault | 1:47.052 | 1:46.965 | 15 | |
13 | 12 | Timo Glock | Toyota | 1:47.359 | 1:46.995 | 13 | |
14 | 9 | David Coulthard | Red Bull-Renault | 1:47.132 | 1:47.018 | 15 | |
15 | 7 | Nico Rosberg | Williams-Toyota | 1:47.503 | 1:47.429 | 12 | |
16 | 17 | Rubens Barrichello | Honda | 1:48.153 | 9 | ||
17 | 16 | Jenson Button | Honda | 1:48.211 | 9 | ||
18 | 20 | Adrian Sutil | Force India-Ferrari | 1:48.226 | 9 | ||
19 | 8 | Kazuki Nakajima | Williams-Toyota | 1:48.268 | 9 | ||
20 | 21 | Giancarlo Fisichella | Force India-Ferrari | 1:48.447 | 9 |