M
TS
Collect News Data
/esi/1339/6_A_10_369932_0/index.html?art_id=369932&ESI

Charles Leclerc storms to pole in Belgium

:Headline: Charles Leclerc storms to pole in Belgium:
Leclerc beat his Ferrari team-mate by 0.748 seconds.
PA | 27d

Charles Leclerc thrashed Ferrari team-mate Sebastian Vettel to claim pole position for the Belgian Grand Prix.

Leclerc beat Vettel to the front slot of the grid by a mighty 0.748 seconds as Ferrari locked out the front row.

Lewis Hamilton finished third, just 0.015secs adrift of Vettel, with Valtteri Bottas fourth in the sister Mercedes. Red Bull's Max Verstappen finished fifth.

Hamilton's hopes of participating in qualifying hung in the balance for two hours after he crashed out of final practice.

The world champion lost control of his Mercedes through the right-handed turn 12 and slammed into the barriers.

Hamilton emerged unscathed from his cockpit, but the Briton sustained extensive damage to the front of his car.

Lewis Hamilton crashed his Mercedes during final practice (Francisco Seco/AP).

As qualifying started, Hamilton's mechanics were still working on fixing his machine when they were handed a lifeline after Robert Kubica's caught on fire following an eye-catching engine failure.

The session was suspended for 10 minutes, affording Hamilton's crew the additional time to complete their repairs. Hamilton left his garage when Kubica's Williams was removed from danger before safely booking his spot in the second phase of qualifying. Drama over.

Hamilton was in a class of one before the sport's summer break, winning eight of the 12 rounds, and establishing a commanding lead of 62 points over Mercedes team-mate Bottas.

But the resumption of his campaign has not been straightforward. On Friday, he suffered a throttle pedal failure before his uncharacteristic accident on Saturday morning. For much of the weekend, he has not been able to match Bottas either, but the Englishman found the pace required to beat the Finn and put his Mercedes in a position to threaten Ferrari.

"Final practice was terrible for me because you know how hard the guys work to build those parts and how hard they work to put the car back together," he said.

"My guys are faultless and I tried to pay them back with a good qualifying session. I am grateful I am third. I am going to give it everything tomorrow and hopefully give these guys a good race."

The Scuderia have not won this year, but their car works well at the high-speed Spa-Francorchamps track and the Italians will now be firm favourites to take the chequered flag on Sunday.

It has been 12 months since Vettel last tasted victory, dominating at this venue a year ago. But the four-time world champion will have to usurp his team-mate for a much-needed win.

Leclerc has impressed this weekend and, after an engine failure denied him victory in Bahrain, before Verstappen's fine fightback drive in Austria prevented him from winning in June, the Monegasque will be hoping it is third time lucky as he bids to open his grand prix account.

McLaren have enjoyed a resurgence this season, but the British team have not been up to scratch in Spa.

Lando Norris finished 12th, while his team-mate Carlos Sainz failed to make it out of Q1. The Spaniard qualified 17th.

The London-born Thai Alex Albon will start from the back of the field after he was penalised for a Honda engine upgrade on his Red Bull debut.

body check tags ::
amp_article_369932 : Collect and Make Data not in DataBase  : 
last updated article - 2019-08-31 15:44:22:
html db last update - 2019-09-27 04:41:21 :

ex - 7200 : read : write cache and make html
Share this article now:

Subscribe to our Newsletter


Transfer Talk Daily
Match previews - twice weekly
Morning Briefing (7am UTC)
UC
Get the latest transfer news, match previews and news direct to your inbox!
Recommended Next on SM
Only Ferrari without new engine at Spa
Result: Henderson error gifts Liverpool win over Blades
Mourinho 'holding out for Real Madrid return'
Charles Leclerc storms to fourth consecutive pole position in Russia

Loading ...

Failed to load data.

Loading ...

Failed to load data.

Select and display your favourite team's news and scores in this panel

Subscribe to our Newsletter


Transfer Talk Daily
Match previews - twice weekly
Morning Briefing (7am UTC)
UC
Get the latest transfer news, match previews and news direct to your inbox!

Loading ...

Failed to load data.

Loading ...

Failed to load data.

Loading ...

Failed to load data.

Select and display your favourite team's news and scores in this panel
Premier League Table
TeamPWDLFAGDPTS
1Liverpool77001851321
2Manchester CityMan City75112772016
3Leicester CityLeicester7421135814
4West Ham UnitedWest Ham7331109112
5Tottenham HotspurSpurs7322149511
6Chelsea73221413111
7Bournemouth73221312111
8Arsenal63211110111
9Crystal Palace732267-111
10Burnley723210919
11Manchester UnitedMan Utd62228628
12Sheffield UnitedSheff Utd72237708
13Wolverhampton WanderersWolves7142911-27
14Southampton7214711-47
15Everton7214612-67
16Brighton & Hove AlbionBrighton7133510-56
17Norwich CityNorwich7205916-76
18Aston Villa7124811-35
19Newcastle UnitedNewcastle7124413-95
20Watford7025420-162
Scroll for more - Tap for full version
X

We value your privacy

A part of our GDPR compliance we need to ask for your consent. We and our partners use technology such as cookies on Sports Mole to personalise content and ads, provide social media features, and analyse our traffic. Click below to consent to the use of this technology on Sports Mole.