F1 Belgian GP: Hamilton emphatically takes 10th pole position of the season

Defending world champion Lewis Hamilton resumed the defence of his title after F1's summer break by taking pole position by nearly half a second from Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg. Hamilton's time of 1min. 47.197sec. around the 7.004km Spa-Francorchamps circuit secured his tenth pole position of the season, taking his career tally to 48.

Ferrari and Red Bull-Renault, both of whom looked to be close to challenging Mercedes during Friday's free practice sessions were unable to make any inroads into the factory team's superiority over a single lap. Underlying the importance of horsepower at the circuit - the average speed of Hamilton's pole position lap was in excess of 235km/h - was the fact that seven of the eight fastest drivers in qualifying drove Mercedes powered cars.

Daniel Ricciardo's Red Bull-Renault was the odd one out in sixth place as Valtteri Bottas of Williams-Mercedes, Romain Grosjean of Lotus-Mercedes, Sergio Perez of Force India-Mercedes filled the places behind the two silver arrows while Felipe Massa of Williams-Mercedes, Pastor Maldonado's Lotus-Mercedes, Sebastian Vettel of Ferrari and Toro Rosso-Renault's Carlos Sainz Jr. completed the top ten.

The difference between the two Mercedes teammates fighting for the world championship ended up being the second sector of the circuit, which is more technical and flowing than the sections that precede and follows it where straight line speed plays a bigger role.

Ever since the circuit was modified to comply with modern standards of safety, it has proved to be a drivers circuit where some of the greatest names in F1 have been multiple winners like Michael Schumacher, Ayrton Senna and Kimi Raikkonen, who has won the Belgian GP four times.