Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton set pole position for the Belgian Grand Prix with the fastest-ever lap of the Spa-Francorchamps circuit using the ultrasoft compound tyres, making their first appearance at the Belgian Grand Prix. The previous record, dating back to 2009, was already broken at the end of FP3 this morning – where championship protagonists Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton were separated by just one thousandth of a second. Conditions for qualifying were completely dry, peaking at 37 degrees of track temperature: the warmest conditions seen all weekend so far. Ferrari and Mercedes were the only team to get through Q1 using the supersoft only, with all the competitors then using ultrasoft to the finish.

MARIO ISOLA - HEAD OF CAR RACING
“From this morning, it was clear that we were in for a very close qualifying session, with little to separate the leaders. As Spa is the longest circuit of the calendar with the ultrasoft being run for the first time here, we also saw the biggest improvement compared to last year’s pole, more than four seconds. A wide number of strategies involving all three different tyre compounds are possible for the race tomorrow, meaning that tactics could really make the difference with the competition so tightly balanced. However, as we saw this morning at the beginning of FP3, the weather will always be a random factor at Spa, so this is something that could certainly play a big part.”

HOW THE TYRES BEHAVED TODAY
ULTRA SOFT - The tyre mostly seen in qualifying: top 10 will start on this tomorrow (if dry).
SUPER SOFT - Only Mercedes and Ferrari got through Q1 using supersoft only.
SOFT = Used only by Force India at the beginning of Q1 but could become an important race tyre.