Spa Qualifying: Hamilton beats Vettel in the wet

The final stanza of the session descended into sudden chaos as rain pelted down and the track became very wet very fast, even on inters there were treacherous places that caught just about everybody out at some point.

With the track drying, it was down to every driver's last effort and the one who stood tallest was Hamilton who powered around in a best lap of 1:58.179, seven-tenths faster than Vettel in second but a massive 17 seconds slower than the dry lap times a few minutes earlier in Q2.

The Mercedes driver again turned the tables on his title rival when it mattered. After spending all three practices, Q1 and Q2 trailing the pace-setting Ferrari, Hamilton found a little bit extra as he tends to do when the going gets tough.

Hamilton said immediately after the race, "It was one of the toughest qualifying sessions I can remember, we were very close, I was hopeful, Ferrari were very quick on the straights, then the rain came and I can't stress how difficult it was."

"The track looked dry in some places, but it was actually wet. It was so hard, I went off twice, but so glad I managed to keep it together. Everyone is on the edge of their seats," added the Englishman.

Vettel who was the man to beat got beaten, he simply did not have the firepower in the conditions that turned so rapidly during the afternoon session.

The Ferrari driver looking downbeat, lamented afterwards, "There was confusion. And maybe I wasn't as calm as l could have been in the car, but I'm happy with second on the grid."

"It wasn't a nice ending to a great qualifying up to that point. It's great fun but obviously not very rewarding when you know you could have done a bit better."

"It was just not as calm as I think it could have been. It didn't feel as if I got everything out for various reasons, therefore it was a bit of a scrappy session, but it can be a lot worse."

The story of qualifying must be the impressive performance of the beleaguered (but now saved) Force India team with Esteban Ocon and Sergio Perez seizing the opportunity to remarkably claim third and fourth on the grid.

Ocon was a mere 0.043 of a second faster than his teammate, ensuring an all pink second row for the team that is now owned by a consortium led by billionaire Lawrence Stroll.

The young Frenchman, whose future of the team is in doubt, was delighted with the result, "Thanks for all the support. Awesome to be in P3 now we are starting fresh and we were not expecting that. The guys did a fantastic job, they changed the tyres very quickly and I managed to get third."

Perez was equally fired up by the performance, "A great result for the team with all the problems we have had. It's been a tough couple of months, and it was a very chaotic qualifying session. I nearly crashed at Eau Rouge and I'm lucky to be here. I hope we have some rain tomorrow."

Using the conditions to his advantage, Romain Grosjean who also had an Eau Rouge moment, managed his best starting position of the season in the Haas by qualifying fifth ahead of Kimi Raikkonen in the Ferrari, the veteran Finn at one stage looked a contender for pole position but instead will start sixth.

Red Bull were caught out by the conditions, as a result never got their cars out on time and paid the price with Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo seventh and eighth respectively.

Although both Haas drivers made it through to Q3, Kevin Magnussen could not match his teammate and will start from ninth.

Mercedes' Valtteri Bottas was classified tenth but the Finn did not do a lap in the final stanza as he is facing engine penalties that have demoted him to the back of the grid for the race.

Notably, both the Honda-powered Toro Rosso drivers Pierre Gasly (11th) and Brendon Hartley (12th) made it into Q2 when the track was still bone dry while neither McLaren made it beyond Q1. Fernando Alonso was 17th and Stoffel Vandoorne slowest of all.

Renault were also well off the pace throughout the session, with Carlos Sainz eliminated after Q1 while Nico Hulkenberg managed to get through but was only good for 15th. he too will drop down the grid due to engine penalties incurred.

In the early stages of Q1, Raikkonen led the way using soft tyres to set a time 1:42.585. He was joined on the yellow-banded rubber by team-mate Vettel, who slotted into P2, and the Mercedes drivers. Verstappen then briefly split the red and silver cars, however, using supersofts to take P3 ahead of Hamilton.

The championship leader soon moved to second spot, though, with a lap of 1:42.99 and with five minutes remaining Räikkönen sat in P1 ahead of Hamilton, Vettel and Verstappen.

In the second Mercedes, Valtteri Bottas, who is set to start at the back of tomorrow’s grid due to engine penalties, was late to the action, only emerging in the final minutes of the session. Using supersoft tyres he jumped to P2 ahead of Hamilton with a lap of 1:42.805. The top five drivers, Räikkönen, Bottas, Hamilton, Vettel and Verstappen then stayed in the garages as the clock counted down.

Bottas’ vault up the order left Ericsson, the McLarens of Alonso and Vandoorne, and the Williams cars of Stroll and Sirotkin in the drop zone.

And it was Ericsson who made the big jump in the final moments, with the Swede putting in a good lap of 1:43.846 to vault to tenth place.

Elsewhere, Sainz was complaining of a lack of grip and it was the Renault driver who slipped down into the P16 slot vacated by Ericsson. Sainz was thus eliminated ahead of Alonso, Sirotkin, Stroll and Vandoorne.

Raikkonen again set the pace early in Q2, posting a time of 1:41.627 to sit just under two-tenths of a second clear of Hamilton, with Vettel a further three-tenths of a second back.

Vettel climbed to the top of the order in the final runs, with a lap of 1:41.501, while Raikkonen held on to second place ahead of Hamilton and Bottas.

Verstappen went through to Q3 with a lap of 1:42.554 ahead of Perez and Grosjean, while Ricciardo was eighth in the second Red Bull ahead of Ocon and Magnussen.

That meant that out went 11th-placed Gasly and 12th-placed Hartley, while Leclerc qualified in P13 ahead of Ericsson and Hulkenberg.

The rain that had been threatening for some time eventually began to fall just as the field took to the track for the start of Q3, on slick tyres.

The wet weather quickly intensified and by the end of opening laps the conditions were proving treacherous and as a slew of cars spun and rejoined all the drivers headed for the pit lane to move to intermediate tyres.

Verstappen and Ricciardo were first out on track again and Verstappen quickly moved into provisional pole position with a time of 2:02.849, while Ricciardo took P2, two seconds adrift of his team-mate thanks to a mid-lap off.

Räikkönen then moved to P1 with a lap of 2:02.671, while Ricciardo improved to apparently consolidate his hold on P3. Vettel then dropped the Red Bulls to P3 and P4 as he bypassed Raikkonen to take provisional pole with a lap of 2:02.446.

The rain was now easing off, track conditions were rapidly improving and timing would be crucial. Raikkonen, along with the Red Bull drivers missed out on getting in a final lap and they were quickly eclipsed by Perez and Grosjean who jumped ahead of them.

Hamilton then made the biggest improvement, vaulting to pole position with a lap of 1:58.179. Esteban Ocon also improved and the Frenchman scored a career-best qualifying result with third behind Hamilton and Vettel.

Perez took fourth ahead of Grosjean and Raikkonen, while Verstappen was forced to settle for seventh place, with Ricciardo in eighth position ahead of the second of Magnussen and Bottas, who is set to take an engine-related grid penalty didn’t set a time in Q3.