Zoom A perfect time to go to the top of the timesheets

Proving that the nothing can ever be taken for granted in Formula One, Lewis Hamilton scorched to pole position this afternoon at Spa Francorchamps by some margin over his nearest rival.

Making it a level playing field, the rains held off in qualifying for the Belgian Grand Prix and as ever it was the final lap right at the end of qualifying that determined the grid order. Hamilton claimed the pole with an excellent lap in 1:47.338s, over three-tenths clear of Felipe Massa.

The Ferrari driver’s penultimate lap of the session left him just fifth provisionally on the grid after an error under braking at the final chicane. Massa’s final effort was a solid clean lap that puts him on the front-row of the grid alongside his McLaren Mercedes rival.

While Hamilton celebrates an important 11th career pole, Heikki Kovalainen qualified the second McLaren in third position, albeit nearly half a second off the ultimate pace and perhaps indicating slightly varying fuel strategies.

Kimi Raikkonen starts from fourth position as he chases his fourth straight win at the Belgian Grand Prix circuit. The Finn has not shown good pace in qualifying this year, but starting from the second-row is not a disaster, but does make life more difficult than he would have liked.

Nick Heidfeld led the way at BMW Sauber today with fifth position on the grid. It is a timely result for the German veteran as he fights to retain his position within the team next season. Team-mate Robert Kubica has looked off-form all weekend and starts a low-key eighth in the second F1.08, four-tenths off Heidfeld’s pace.

Fernando Alonso was again strong for Renault as he lines up in sixth position ahead of the similarly-powered Red Bull of Mark Webber who once again did a fine job with a car that has proven difficult in recent races.

Both Toro Rosso Ferrari drivers made the top ten and went on to qualify ninth and tenth with Vettel opting to compete just one run in final qualifying while Bourdais completed the traditional two runs.

After showing so well in recent races, qualifying was a disappointment for Toyota with Jarno Trulli and Timo Glock setting the 11th and 13th fastest times respectively with Nelson Piquet splitting the two in the second Renault. For Piquet, he remains the only driver to be out-qualified by his team-mate in every race so far this year and that’s not something for the CV.