Vettel takes pole in Belgium

By Jens Marx Aug 27, 2011, 13:48 GMT

Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium - World champion Sebastian Vettel on Saturday secured pole position for Sunday's Belgium Grand Prix when he edged Lewis Hamilton off the top in the dying seconds.

McLaren driver Hamilton looked as if he was going to grab the pole after posting a time of 1 minute 48.730, but Vettel bettered that on his last lap, driving over the line just seconds after Hamilton had recorded his fastest time to post a time of 1:48.298 for the 7.004 kilometre-long lap of the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps course.

It was Vettel's ninth pole of the season and the 24th of his career.

'It was a difficult session. My main target was to get through as I did not feel very comfortable in the beginning. I found some better lines later on in the session.

'When it was dry, I was very happy with the car and then, of course, all in all I am very happy. It will not be easy tomorrow as anything is possible in Belgium. It can rain all the time.'

In changing conditions with rain coming and going, Vettel's Red Bull team-mate Mark Webber had the third-fastest time on his 35th birthday - the same day the team announced that he had extended his contract until the end of the 2012 season.

Webber posted a time of 1:49.376.

Brazilian Ferrari driver Felipe Massa was fourth-fastest and will start from the second row on the grid alongside Webber.

The third row belongs to Nico Rosberg in a Mercedes and Jaime Alguersuari in a Toro Rosso, who was a surprise sixth.

The top ten on the grid are completed by returnee Bruno Senna, who replaced Nick Heidfeld at Renault and Ferrari's Fernando Alonso, who had the seventh and eighth-fastest time respectively and Sauber's Sergio Perez and Vitaly Petrov in the second Renault.

Hamilton was later issued a verbal warning for an incident involving Williams driver Pastor Maldonado at the end of the second qualifying session when the two cars touched.

'I had first overtaken him at the end of the session and then when we were finishing the lap, he suddenly moved across and the cars touched. I don't know if it was intentional or not, we will have to see what the stewards decide,' Hamilton said.

Maldonado was given a five-place penalty for the same incident.

Vettel leads the standings ahead of the 12th of 19-season races by 85 points from Webber. Vettel is on 234 points, while the Australian has 149. Hamilton is third three points behind Webber.

Michael Schumacher, who celebrated the 20th anniversary of his first Grand Prix, also in Belgium, on Thursday, crashed out in the first session when his car lost a wheel.

Schumacher, who will start from last place on the grid, said he was disappointed, but would see what he could still do in the race. 'I don't know what happened, but it was something unexpected.'