Belgian Formula 1 Grand Prix 2015: Results, Times for Practice and Qualifying

Despite not finishing on the podium last time out in Hungary, Lewis Hamilton still managed to extend his championship lead over his Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg to 21 points.

A month after the action at the Hungaroring, the Formula One circus moves to Spa for the Belgian Grand Prix.

Hamilton will be favourite after claiming pole position in Saturday's qualifying, with Rosberg just behind the Briton as Mercedes claimed another one-two heading into Sunday's event.

After winning the Hungarian Grand Prix last time, Sebastian Vettel will be disappointed with his finish of ninth in qualifying, making any chance of a Belgian revival that much less likely.

In 2014, Rosberg and Hamilton collided early at Spa before Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo went on to take the victory. Mercedes will be hoping to avoid such an incident this time around.

Read on for all the action from the practice and qualifying sessions from the 2015 Belgian Grand Prix. 

Qualifying: Lewis Hamilton on Pole for 2015 Belgian Grand Prix

Martin Meissner/Associated Press

Lewis Hamilton claimed a big advantage in his bid for Belgian Grand Prix victory after securing pole position in Saturday's qualifying, his 10th pole of the 2015 season and his third Formula 1 pole in Belgium.

It was a stylish performance from the Briton, too, after he finished in a time of one minute and 47.197 seconds, a whole half a second faster than Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg, who finished second.

The Mercedes duo are attempting to hit back from a maddening result at the Hungarian Grand Prix, where Hamilton and Rosberg placed sixth and eighth, respectively, in a day of terrible fortune for the manufacturer.

Valtteri Bottas is also in good shape to make a more serious bid for victory in Belgium, though, recording a time of one minute and 48.537 seconds.

That display was good enough for third in qualifying, a welcome push up the grid after placing 13th in Hungary last time out, his second-worst result of the 2015 season so far.

There was major disappointment for Vettel, however, who was hoping to push on from his second win of the campaign in Hungary, finishing ninth in qualifying to lessen his chances of glory in Belgium.

Per the official Formula 1 Twitter account, the German couldn't explain the under-performance, stating: "It was a normal lap... I'm surprised it was only good enough for 9th. We just couldn't make the step." 

Romain Grosjean and Sergio Perez, on the other hand, were hugely impressive and finish barely three-hundredths of a second apart, starting fourth and fifth on Sunday's grid, respectively.

Here are the results from Saturday's qualifying session, per the official Formula 1 website:

POS.	DRIVER	TEAM	Q1	Q2	Q3	LAPS
1	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1:48.908	1:48.024	1:47.197	16
2	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	1:48.923	1:47.955	1:47.655	17
3	Valtteri Bottas	Williams	1:49.026	1:49.044	1:48.537	19
4	Romain Grosjean	Lotus	1:49.353	1:48.981	1:48.561	17
5	Sergio Perez	Force India	1:49.006	1:48.792	1:48.599	16
6	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull	1:49.664	1:49.042	1:48.639	17
7	Felipe Massa	Williams	1:49.688	1:48.806	1:48.685	15
8	Pastor Maldonado	Lotus	1:49.568	1:48.956	1:48.754	17
9	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	1:49.264	1:48.761	1:48.825	17
10	Carlos Sainz	Toro Rosso	1:49.109	1:49.065	1:49.771	12
11	Nico Hulkenberg	Force India	1:49.499	1:49.121		12
12	Daniil Kyvat	Red Bull	1:49.469	1:49.228		11
13	Marcus Ericsson	Sauber	1:49.523	1:49.586		12
14	Kimi Raikkonen	Ferrari	1:49.288			8
15	Max Verstappen	Toro Rosso	1:49.831			10
16	Felipe Nasr	Sauber	1:49.952			6
17	Jenson Button	McLaren	1:50.978			6
18	Fernando Alonso	McLaren	1:51.420			6
19	Will Stevens	Marussia	1:52.948			6
20	Roberto Merhi	Marussia	1:53.099			7

FP3: Lewis Hamilton Fastest in Final Practice Ahead of Nico Rosberg

ANDREJ ISAKOVIC/Getty Images

Lewis Hamilton set the pace in the final practice session of the Belgian Grand Prix, as he produced a stunning run on soft tyres to lead Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg.

All eyes were on Rosberg, who suffered a puncture at the end of an impressive second practice session, but it was his Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton who stole the show.

After Rosberg set the pace immediately with a 1:51.737 on his first time round, Hamilton responded with a 1:50.635.

It was a statement of intent from the Englishman, but the signs were there that Rosberg had enough in the tank to continue his FP1 and FP2 form by going fast once again.

Away from the Mercedes duo, Daniel Ricciardo was driving well and switching to soft tyres allowed to him to set 1:49.930 at the top of the tree.

It wasn’t long before Mercedes followed suit, though, getting both Rosberg and Hamilton on softer rubber and flexing their muscles.

Rosberg quickly pipped Ricciardo with an impressive 1:49:482, yet Hamilton went one better by clocking up a stonking 1:48.984.

Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen once again flew the Ferrari flag in third and fourth place, with Ricciardo couldn’t improve on his early 1:49.930 and had to settle for sixth fastest, as we see below:

Position	Name	Team	Time
1	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1:48.984
2	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	1:49.482
3	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	1:49.629
4	Kimi Raikkonen	Ferrari	1:49.864
5	Sergio Perez	Force India	1:49.866
6	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull	1:49.930
7	Daniil Kvyat	Red Bull	1:49.980
8	Nico Hulkenberg	Force India	1:50.000
9	Valtteri Bottas	Williams	1:50.179
10	Felipe Massa	Williams	1:50.447
11	Carlos Sainz	Toro Rosso	1:50.552
12	Pastor Maldonado	Lotus	1:50.585
13	Max Verstappen	Toro Rosso	1:50.599
14	Felipe Nasr	Sauber	1:50.690
15	Marcus Ericsson	Sauber	1:51.054
16	Romain Grosjean	Lotus	1:51.187
17	Jenson Button	McLaren	1:51.981
18	Will Stevens	Manor	1:54.262
19	Roberto Merhi	Manor	1:54.281
20	Fernando Alonso	McLaren

As for Hamilton, it’s safe to say that it’s taken him a bit of time to get warmed up to the Belgian Grand Prix track, but it seems he was spurred on by his team-mates words—as Andre Benson of BBC Sport reported:

"

Nico Rosberg’s tyre failure came after a strong performance from the German. Rosberg was faster than team-mate Lewis Hamilton in both sessions and said he was ‘one step ahead of Lewis at the moment’. Rosberg added that Hamilton was ‘a bit unsure what is going on’. He did admit, though, that the tyre failure had given him ‘a bit of a dent of confidence’.

"

The world champion now goes into Saturday’s qualifying sessions full of confidence at grabbing yet another pole position, and if he performs as he did in the morning, then it looks a sure thing.

Hamilton hasn’t reigned supreme in Belgium since way back in 2010, but it’s safe to say he’s laid the perfect platform to end his barren spell.

FP2: Rosberg Spins but Goes Fastest Again

Luca Bruno/Associated Press

Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg topped off an impressive Friday's work as he again went fastest in the second practice session at the Belgium Grand Prix, but a late puncture at high speed caused him to spin.

The German's right rear tyre exploded in dramatic fashion with less than half an hour remaining of the session, but fortunately he did not spin into a barrier.

The red flag came out and Rosberg took no further part in the session, but his lap time of 1:49.385 proved good enough to top the time sheets.

Rosberg's team-mate Lewis Hamilton was second fastest, three-tenths of a second back from the other Mercedes driver.

The Red Bulls of Daniel Ricciardo and Daniil Kvyat were third and fourth respectively, while Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen was fifth.

Sebastian Vettel had to settle for 10th fastest and both Williams cars finished outside the top dozen.

Rosberg's wasn't the only spin in the closing stages as the red flag came out again after Sauber's Marcus Ericsson clattered into a wall following a loss of control.

McLaren had another poor session with Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button finishing near the bottom of the standings. Meanwhile, they also had confirmation of hefty grid penalties for the pair after earlier engine changes, per BBC Sport's Andrew Benson.

Saturday morning will be the final opportunity for the drivers to find their form ahead of a crucial qualifying session.

After the opening two sessions, Rosberg looks the favourite to take pole position and a Mercedes-dominated head of the grid seems likely.

Check out the full results below, via Formula1.com:

POS.	NO.	DRIVER	TEAM	TIME	GAP	LAPS
1	6	NICO ROSBERG	MERCEDES	1:49.385		19
2	44	LEWIS HAMILTON	MERCEDES	1:49.687	+0.302s	23
3	3	DANIEL RICCIARDO	RED BULL RACING	1:50.136	+0.751s	15
4	26	DANIIL KVYAT	RED BULL RACING	1:50.399	+1.014s	18
5	7	KIMI RAIKKONEN	FERRARI	1:50.461	+1.076s	23
6	27	NICO HULKENBERG	FORCE INDIA	1:50.461	+1.076s	21
7	8	ROMAIN GROSJEAN	LOTUS	1:50.489	+1.104s	21
8	9	MARCUS ERICSSON	SAUBER	1:50.709	+1.324s	18
9	12	FELIPE NASR	SAUBER	1:50.928	+1.543s	24
10	5	SEBASTIAN VETTEL	FERRARI	1:50.940	+1.555s	23
11	11	SERGIO PEREZ	FORCE INDIA	1:50.971	+1.586s	21
12	55	CARLOS SAINZ	TORO ROSSO	1:51.037	+1.652s	24
13	33	MAX VERSTAPPEN	TORO ROSSO	1:51.117	+1.732s	25
14	77	VALTTERI BOTTAS	WILLIAMS	1:51.250	+1.865s	25
15	13	PASTOR MALDONADO	LOTUS	1:51.317	+1.932s	16
16	19	FELIPE MASSA	WILLIAMS	1:51.588	+2.203s	26
17	22	JENSON BUTTON	MCLAREN	1:51.854	+2.469s	16
18	14	FERNANDO ALONSO	MCLAREN	1:52.570	+3.185s	14
19	28	WILL STEVENS	MARUSSIA	1:54.065	+4.680s	17
20	98	ROBERTO MERHI	MARUSSIA	1:54.253	+4.868s	14

FP1: Rosberg Leads Hamilton as Mercedes Dominate

Darko Vojinovic/Associated Press

Mercedes dominated the first Belgian Grand Prix practice session at Spa on Friday, as Nico Rosberg posted a time of 1:51.082—more than two-tenths of a second faster than Lewis Hamilton.

The Englishman took the top spot early on in the session, but Rosberg put together an impressive lap with less than 30 minutes left to head the time sheets.

Hungarian Grand Prix champion Sebastian Vettel was fifth fastest, almost four-tenths of a second behind his Ferrari team-mate Kimi Raikkonen in fourth. 

Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo has pleasant memories at Spa, having claimed victory in 2014. The Australian split the Mercedes and Ferrari cars as he went third fastest.

His fellow Red Bull driver Daniil Kvyat went sixth fastest, while Toro Rosso duo Max Verstappen and Carlos Sainz were seventh and eighth, respectively. Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas rounded out the top 10.

There was to be no respite for McLaren in their struggling season, as Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button were a long way off the top pace.

Lotus driver Pastor Maldonado prompted a slight disruption to the session as the red flag came out with about half an hour remaining after the Venezuelan lost the back of his car and crashed into a barrier.

Maldonado had produced some decent times ahead of the crash, and he finished 11th fastest. But the damage inflicted on his car will be a concern for Lotus ahead of the second practice session.

Hamilton will be hoping to get the better of his team-mate in the Friday afternoon session, but Rosberg has set an early benchmark and aims to close the gap on the championship leader this weekend.

Check out the full results below, via Formula1.com:

Pos.	No.	Driver	Team	Time	Gap	Laps
1	6	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	1:51.082		19
2	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1:51.324	+0.242s	24
3	3	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull Racing	1:51.373	+0.291s	18
4	7	Kimi Raikkonen	Ferrari	1:51.478	+0.396s	23
5	5	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	1:51.866	+0.784s	21
6	26	Daniil Kvyat	Red Bull Racing	1:51.960	+0.878s	18
7	33	Max Verstappen	Toro Rosso	1:52.158	+1.076s	27
8	55	Carlos Sainz	Toro Rosso	1:52.421	+1.339s	26
9	11	Sergio Perez	Force India	1:52.423	+1.341s	20
10	77	Valtteri Bottas	Williams	1:52.511	+1.429s	19
11	13	Pastor Maldonado	Lotus	1:52.539	+1.457s	15
12	27	Nico Hulkenberg	Force India	1:52.614	+1.532s	20
13	12	Felipe Nasr	Sauber	1:52.640	+1.558s	16
14	19	Felipe Massa	Williams	1:52.653	+1.571s	22
15	9	Marcus Ericsson	Sauber	1:53.426	+2.344s	16
16	14	Fernando Alonso	McLaren	1:53.502	+2.420s	15
17	30	Jolyon Palmer	Lotus	1:53.799	+2.717s	23
18	22	Jenson Button	McLaren	1:54.225	+3.143s	14
19	28	Will Stevens	Marussia	1:55.501	+4.419s	16
20	98	Roberto Merhi	Marussia	1:56.086	+5.004s	17