Summary

  • Hamilton on pole, Vettel 2nd, Force Indias 3rd and 4th

  • Ferrari fastest in Q1 & Q2

  • McLarens and Sainz out in Q1, Saubers out in Q2

  1. The season so far...published at 16:41 British Summer Time 25 August 2018

    I have to admit I'm very much looking forward to this qualifying session. Sebastian Vettel was fastest in practice sessions one and three, but is currently 24 points behind championship leader Lewis Hamilton.

    A Vettel pole with Hamilton alongside him on the front row would be a very tasty scenario for tomorrow.

    Hamilton v Vettel
  2. Thanks and goodbyepublished at 16:11 British Summer Time 25 August 2018

    We will end the live page there and we will be back tomorrow at 12:30 BST for the race. Hope to see you then. Bye for now.

  3. Hamilton on pole as Force India surprisepublished at 16:09 British Summer Time 25 August 2018

    Andrew Benson
    BBC Sport’s chief F1 writer at Spa

    Lewis HamiltonImage source, Getty Images

    Lewis Hamilton beat title rival Sebastian Vettel to a sensational pole position in a thrillingly chaotic Belgian Grand Prix qualifying in the rain.

    A rain shower as the cars began to prepare the first flying laps in the top 10 shoot-out caused havoc but Hamilton came out on top by 0.726 seconds with his final lap.

    The Force Indias of Esteban Ocon and Sergio Perez locked out the second row after timing the conditions right - just days after the team were rescued from going out of business.

    Red Bull and Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen lost out in the pits at the key moment.

  4. get involved

    Get Involved #bbcf1published at 16:01 British Summer Time 25 August 2018

    Chris Lord‏: The huge slipstream, think Vettel has the better spot on grid tomorrow. Get into Hamilton’s slipstream after Radillion and he’ll be past with Ferrari power!

    F1 in the 2000s: I may as well congratulate Lewis Hamilton & Mercedes (in the modern era at least) for a fifth World Championship victory. Looks like Charles LeClerc could well be Scuderia Ferrari's next world champion after all.

    Craig: P3 and P4 for the Racing Point @ForceIndiaF1, external team on what is technically their debut. Hugely impressive!

  5. Hammer time, once againpublished at 15:57 British Summer Time 25 August 2018

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  6. 'Unlucky with the weather'published at 15:55 British Summer Time 25 August 2018

    Max VerstappenImage source, .
  7. 'Enjoying every single lap'published at 15:48 British Summer Time 25 August 2018

    Fernando Alonso starts 15th tomorrow, but is at least enjoying his last Belgian Grand Prix.

    Fernando AlonsoImage source, .
  8. get involved

    Get Involved #bbcf1published at 15:45 British Summer Time 25 August 2018

    Kayleigh‍: Woweee, what a Q3. Perez in P3! Great position for Seb tomorrow.

    Jeremiah Kariuki: It is Hamilton who makes it count when it matters! The new Force India on the second row. How fascinating.

    Jeroen Demmendaal‏: What a miss by Red Bull. Unbelievable.

  9. How they qualifiedpublished at 15:39 British Summer Time 25 August 2018

    QualifyingImage source, F1
  10. get involved

    Get Involved #bbcf1published at 15:36 British Summer Time 25 August 2018

    Euan‏: This is it. This is true F1. Unpredictable conditions and drivers pushing to the very edge grip; occasionally getting it wrong. If only it could always be this exciting and entertaining.

    Andrew Priestley: Lewis Hamilton is peerless in the wet.

    Alex Lloyd: Wonder if Ferrari will still maintain they don’t favour Vettel after leaving Kimi in the pits as everyone starts going faster in Q3.

  11. 'Been a bit weird'published at 15:34 British Summer Time 25 August 2018

    Daniel Ricciardo tells Sky Sports: "Timing, it got drier at the end, we had done our laps at the beginning thinking it (the weather) was going to get worse so we were just unlucky I guess.

    "It has just been a bit weird, the car didn't feel it was doing much fundamentally wrong. It was a bit of a handful. We are trying to find a sweet spot but it has not happened yet. Now it is warm, it was freezing 15 mins ago. We were just a bit unlucky, tomorrow is another day."

  12. 'We thought we had the right strategy'published at 15:32 British Summer Time 25 August 2018

    Red Bull got unlucky. They went out early in Q3 and were out of fuel as the track dried and as a result Max Verstappen only starts seventh with Daniel Ricciardo eighth.

    Verstappen tells Sky Sports: "It is not ideal, at the time we thought we had the right strategy but in the last three laps it stopped raining.

    "If you run out of fuel then it stops. We set up the car for dry because it will be dry tomorrow. It will be OK, not as fast as Mercedes and Ferrari but we will be behind them. We will try to do the best race and see what happens."

  13. 'In front of some of the big boys'published at 15:26 British Summer Time 25 August 2018

    Romain Grosjean, starts in fifth. He tells Sky Sports: "Now we are P5 in front of some big boys. The track was very tricky and some places were drying really quickly. Tomorrow is going to be a very interesting fight with Force India, or whatever they are called."

  14. 'I'm lucky to be here'published at 15:25 British Summer Time 25 August 2018

    Sergio Perez, who starts fourth, says: "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. We should not get too carried away, but we have tremendous pace we are very quick in a straight line."

    Sergio PerezImage source, Getty Images
  15. Provisional grid...published at 15:17 British Summer Time 25 August 2018

    So a very jumbled up grid. This is how they are set to start tomorrow...

    1. Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes)
    2. Sebastian Vettel (Ferrari)
    3. Esteban Ocon (Force India)
    4. Sergio Perez (Force India)
    5. Romain Grosjean (Haas)
    6. Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari)
    7. Max Verstappen (Red Bull)
    8. Daniel Ricciardo (Red Bull)
    9. Kevin Magnussen (Haas)
    10. Pierre Gasly (Toro Rosso)
    11. Brendon Hartley (Toro Rosso)
    12. Charles Leclerc (Sauber)
    13. Marcus Ericsson (Sauber)
    14. Carlos Sainz (Renault)
    15. Fernando Alonso (McLaren)
    16. Sergey Sirotkin (Williams)
    17. Lance Stroll (Williams)
    18. Stoffel Vandoorne (McLaren)
    19. Valtteri Bottas (Mercedes)
    20. Nico Hulkenberg (Renault)

    SpaImage source, Getty Images
  16. 'The guys did a fantastic job'published at 15:15 British Summer Time 25 August 2018

    Esteban Ocon has qualified in a career-best third place. He says: "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."

  17. 'I was not as calm as I would like'published at 15:14 British Summer Time 25 August 2018

    Sebastian Vettel, who qualified second, said: "I think we didn’t time it great but, look, in this condition we might as well take second but we had the pace to take pole.

    "Kimi was obviously rushing to get out and now look we have sunshine and it is dry. I had a bit of traffic with Esteban and maybe I was not as calm as I would like to be but hopefully tomorrow we will have the pace with the car."

    Sebastian VetteImage source, Reuters
  18. 'One of the toughest qualifying sessions'published at 15:08 British Summer Time 25 August 2018

    Polesitter Lewis Hamilton says: "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.

    Lewis HamiltonImage source, Getty Images
  19. Hamilton on pole, Vettel second, Force India third and fourthpublished at 15:01 British Summer Time 25 August 2018
    Breaking

    The track was drying very, very late on and it has caused chaos.

    Hamilton absolutely takes advantage and goes on to pole position with Sebastian Vettel second.

    The second row. Force India. Really. I'm not joking.

    The team that nearly went out of business earlier this month. Esteban Ocon starts third, Sergio Perez fourth.

    The big loser in all this is Kimi Raikkonen. He set a new track record during Q2, but was back in the garage late on in Q3 as the others took advantage of drier spots on the track.

    Grosjean fifth, Raikkonen sixth. Madness.