Charles Leclerc secured the pole position for the Belgian Grand Prix. The Ferrari driver put in Spa-Francorchamps a superior best time and referred his team mate Sebastian Vettel with more than seven-tenths of a second's distance. Third place went to British World Champion Lewis Hamilton, Finland's Valtteri Bottas finished fourth in the second Mercedes.
Thus, the Scuderia starts in the race on Sunday (15.10 clock, TV: RTL and Sky, live ticker SPIEGEL) for the second time this season together from the front row. For Leclerc it is the third pole this year.
Before the 13th of 21 rounds of the season, Hamilton leads with 250 points in the overall standings ahead of Bottas (188) and the Dutch Max Verstappen (181) of Red Bull. Vettel is fourth with 156 points and wants to succeed in Belgium from last year to repeat. He has not won a race since.
Francisco Seco / AP
The Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton after the crash in training
Just a few hours before qualifying, the third free practice session was halfway through when Hamilton made a driving mistake in a long right-hand bend and his Mercedes almost unbraked off the track into a stack of tires. The entire left side of the car was destroyed. The world champion, who already failed four times early at the races in Spa, remained unhurt.
His mechanics now had around two and a half hours until qualifying started to get the car back on track. The front suspension was replaced on both sides, in addition, the Mercedes got a new nose and a new underbody. Gearbox or chassis did not have to be replaced.
