Lewis Hamilton beat Formula 1 title rival Sebastian Vettel to pole position for the Belgian Grand Prix, in so doing equaling Michael Schumacher’s all-time record of 68 F1 pole positions with a dominant performance qualifying at Spa. Hamilton was impressive on the track as he broke through the 1 min 43 sec barrier for the first time in the second qualifying round and found, even more, pace and time in his second qualifying round, clinching pole with a stunning 1 min 42.55 sec effort.
The Mercedes driver was fastest in every phase of qualifying to take pole with a time of 1min 42.553sec, a track record.
Ferrari’s championship leader, Sebastian Vettel, who is 14 points ahead of the Briton with nine races remaining, joined his title rival on the front row after pulling out a late flying lap of 1:42.795.
Finland’s Valtteri Bottas qualified third for Mercedes with Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen fourth.
Max Verstappen, Daniel Ricciardo, Sergio Perez, Esteban Ocon and Jolyon Palmer make up the top ten pole positions.
