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Qualifying report

Rosberg secures Belgian GP pole in treacherous conditions

It's another Mercedes front row lock-out a Spa.

Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull Racing, Nico Rosberg, Mercedes AMG F1 Team and Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes AMG F1 Team

Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull Racing, Nico Rosberg, Mercedes AMG F1 Team and Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes AMG F1 Team

XPB Images

Nico Rosberg, Mercedes AMG F1 W05
Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes AMG F1 W05
Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes AMG F1 W05
Nico Rosberg, Mercedes AMG F1 Team
Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari F14-T leads team mate Fernando Alonso, Ferrari F14-T
Fernando Alonso, Ferrari F14-T
Andre Lotterer, Caterham CT05
Nico Hulkenberg, Sahara Force India F1 VJM07
Max Chilton, Marussia F1 Team MR03
Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull Racing RB10

Mercedes’ driver, Nico Rosberg has resumed his reign at the top after today’s qualifying session following the Summer break, as he pipped team mate, Lewis Hamilton to the post and secured his first pole position at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit ahead of tomorrow’s FIA Formula One 2014 Belgian Grand Prix.

Fastest three

Rosberg fought against the tricky track conditions and his closest Championship rivals on his way to taking the most desirable spot on the grid for the race start.  The German driver topped the timesheets with a final lap time of 2:05.591secs, which meant that Hamilton trailed him as Q3 was coming to a close and the 2008 World Champion will line up in second place alongside Rosberg.

Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel accompanied his fellow countryman, Rosberg, in the top three at the end of qualifying as the reigning World Champion secured third place on the grid ahead of the race.

Ferrari decent in qualifying

Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso beat his team mate, Kimi Raikkonen to a higher grid slot as the Spaniard qualified in fourth place and will join Vettel on the second row for the race start tomorrow.  Raikkonen will be a few places behind Alonso when the race gets underway as the Finnish driver completed Q3 in eighth place.

Alonso will find himself in a Red Bull sandwich as the lights go out to mark the start of the action tomorrow though as Vettel’s team mate, Daniel Ricciardo qualified in fifth place.  The Australian driver will share the third row of the grid with Williams’ driver, Valtteri Bottas who has showed good form in previous race weekends this season and ended Q3 in sixth place today.

McLaren gets both drivers in Q3

McLaren’s Kevin Magnussen was another driver who made it through to Q3 and the all-important top 10 shootout.  The Danish driver will join Raikkonen on the fourth row of the grid as he finished the final session in seventh place.

Magnussen’s team mate, Jenson Button also secured a place in the last stage of qualifying today.  The 2009 World Champion will begin the race from the 10th and final possible point scoring position tomorrow.  Button will have Bottas’ team mate, Felipe Massa alongside him for the race start as the Brazilian driver secured ninth place on the grid.

Beyond the top 10, the rest of the field were left to battle over 11th to 22nd place during the Q1 and Q2 sessions as the rain came down on the track.  

Qualifying as a whole was fairly problem free for the field with the exception of Sauber’s Esteban Gutierrez.  The Mexican driver suddenly came to a standstill at the side of the track in Q1 and it was reportedly due to a technical problem with his car.  Gutierrez bowed out of qualifying at the end of Q1 as a result and will line up in 20th place.

Following today’s qualifying session ahead of the race tomorrow, Rosberg picked up where he left off before the summer break and he has now secured his fourth consecutive pole position to date.  It remains to be seen though whether Rosberg will convert his pole position into race victory tomorrow, of which his last race weekend to do so this season was at his home Grand Prix in Germany.

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