Mercedes’ Nico Rosberg has taken pole position for the Belgian Grand Prix.
The German driver set a lap time of 1m46.744s which couldn’t be beaten, although Red Bull’s Max Verstappen came with 0.149 seconds of him to get a place on the front row.
It is his second pole position at the circuit and third pole position in the last three races after being fastest in qualifying in Germany and Hungary.
Verstappen’s front row appearance will be the first of his career and he will break another record to become the youngest driver to start a race on the front row at 18 years, 10 months and 30 days old.
The Dutch driver, who was born in Belgium and has been well-supported at the track, went fastest before Rosberg found more time.
Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen was third fastest ahead of teammate Sebastian Vettel, outqualifying him for the fifth time this year. Both drivers found time on a last lap in the session to demote Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo to fifth on the grid.
Vettel lost out to his teammate after a mistake at the Bus Stop chicane.
Both Ferraris, Ricciardo and Rosberg will start on soft tyres after lapping on them in Q2, while Verstappen set his fastest time in that session on the supersofts. The soft tyre is deemed to be the best tyre for the race.
Force India’s Sergio Perez and Nico Hulkenberg comfortably got into the top ten in sixth and seventh. Williams’ Valtteri Bottas outqualified McLaren’s Jenson Button by 0.502 seconds.
Felipe Massa completed the top ten after making a mistake on his flying lap, locking up at La Source, to finish 1.519 seconds behind Rosberg.
Haas’ Romain Grosjean just missed out on a first appearance in Q3 this season in Q2, with Kevin Magnussen having a good session for Renault to qualifying alongside Grosjean on the sixth row of the grid.
Grosjean’s teammate Esteban Gutierrez was 13th fastest ahead of Renault’s Jolyon Palmer and Carlos Sainz. Manor’s Pascal Wehrlein once again shone and got out of Q1 for the second time this season.
Sauber’s Felipe Nasr was the fastest driver to be in the drop zone in Q1 ahead of Manor’s Esteban Ocon on his qualifying debut in the sport.
Gutierrez will start in 18th after getting a five-place grid penalty after free practice three, promoting Palmer, Sainz, Wehrlein, Nasr and Ocon up one place.
Toro Rosso’s Daniil Kvyat qualified 19th for the second successive race as his poor run of form continues.
Sauber’s Marcus Ericsson and Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton qualified in 20th and 21st with both already having penalties. Fernando Alonso, another driver with a penalty to take, stopped on track and did not set a time.
Hamilton was due to start behind Alonso but may be promoted as the Spaniard did not set a lap time and may have to start from the pit lane.
