Rosberg narrows out Hamilton for pole position in Belgium - Rain can't stop play as qualifying in Spa gets underway
Published by Christine
There was a lot of rain ahead of qualifying at the Spa circuit, with hail and monsoon conditions calming just in time for the sessions to start. Wet tyres were the order of the day, but they didn’t help Esteban Gutiérrez. The Sauber came to a halt out on track with a battery pack problem. Nico Hülkenberg and Pastor Maldonado also dropped out in that first session, whilst André Lotterer started off slowly but ended up one second faster than Caterham teammate Marcus Ericsson.
There were no major events in the second session, although Jules Bianchi got through to Q2 and ended up in 16th place. The Toro Rosso pair just missed out on the top ten, leaving Mercedes, Red Bull, Ferrari, McLaren and Williams to do battle in Q3.
Rosberg had the edge on Hamilton, who later suggested a problem with his brakes that held him up. Sebastian Vettel finished best of the rest, whilst Fernando Alonso split the Red Bulls and finished fourth. The Williams pair struggled in the damp conditions, finishing sixth and ninth overall
