Hamilton imperial poleman at Spa, Ricciardo 4th

Slightly tickled in free practice, the formidable Mercedes set the record straight in qualifying. Equipped one last time with their most aggressive engine mode, which they probably don't really need to dominate the competition, the Black Arrows once again lock the first row.

But the gap between a Lewis Hamilton imperial and his teammate Valtteri Bottas, 0''511, is a real blow dealt to the Finn, who did not come far from being knocked out of 2nd place by a Max Verstappen sparkling again. The pilot Red Bull clocks in at just 15 thousandths of a second W11. 

He will be accompanied on the 2nd line by his former teammate, Daniel Ricciardo, symbol of a session smoothly conducted at Renault. The Australian precedes the Red Bull-Honda byAlexander albon of a pair of tenths, whileEsteban Ocon raises its R.S.20 to 6th place. 

The 4 single-seaters powered by the Losange all appear in Q3 with 7th place in Carlos Sainz and the 10th time of Lando Norris in McLaren.

Slight disappointment in the Racing Point clan on the other hand. Sergio Pérez and Lance stroll have to settle for 8th and 9th positions while the pace in free practice of the RP20s suggested that the pink cars would start higher on the grid. 

Given the performance of the SF1000s so far, fans were resigned to seeing the Ferrari drivers not advance to Q3. They were even almost happy to see their heroes avoid corrections from Q1... The miracle did not happen for the house of Maranello, whose two members are in sad 13th and 14th ranks, Leclerc ahead Hag. A year earlier, this duo had locked down the front row of the Belgian Grand Prix starting grid with authority. 

George Russell, too, was surprised to enter Q2 but for other reasons. The Briton finally took the 15th time. Ferrari-Williams, these are duels that smack of the 1990s and 2000s. Except that we were fighting for poles and victories at the time. 

Behind, all the cars lined up by Ferrari customer teams stop in Q1. We indeed find in the cart of the first eliminated the Alfa Romeo of Kimi Räikkönen (16th) and Antonio Giovinazzi (18th), the Haas de Romain Grosjean (17e) and Kevin Magnussen (20th), who made a mistake in his last lap, and the Williams of Nicholas latifi (19th), who has still not beaten his teammate in qualifying this season. 

This is the 93rd career pole position for Hamilton, his 6th at Spa-Francorchamps, his 5th of the season. The Briton continues to write the history of his sport before our eyes.