Qualification – Hamilton on pole, Massa follows, the battle rages on

Lewis Hamilton clinched the pole position for the 2008 Belgian Grand Prix by holding off his championship rival, Ferrari driver Felipe Massa.

Heikki Kovalainen will start from the second row (3rd) alongside the triple winner of this Belgian race, Kimi Räikkönen (Ferrari), who is only fourth.

McLaren almost locked out the front row all by itself after the first fast lap of Q3 as Hamilton and Kovalainen were provisionally first and second.

Massa was only in fifth place at the time, but he recovered with a time of 1.47.678 on his second attempt. However, it couldn’t compete with the determination to win of the 2007 vice-champion, who stunned the Brazilian with a 1.47.338, more than three-tenths of a second faster.

Kovalainen, leader after Q2, must settle for third position. Behind, Räikkönen is a tenth back.

Nick Heidfeld won his second ‘battle’ against his BMW teammate Robert Kubica. The German takes fifth place with Fernando Alonso’s Renault alongside him. Kubica will try to console himself with eighth position.

Mark Webber managed to get into the Super Pole in the last moments of Q2 then finished seventh in Q3. It’s a small breakthrough in performance for Red Bull this weekend considering that David Coulthard is only 14th on the grid.

Toro Rosso places both its cars in the top ten once again, with a stunning Sébastien Bourdais in Q1 as he sets the fastest time of this part of the qualifying. The Frenchman and his teammate Sebastian Vettel will ultimately start from the fifth row tomorrow for the race. The future Red Bull driver saved fuel as he completed only one fast lap in Q3.

The two Toyotas were pushed out of the top ten. Jarno Trulli was swept aside by Webber at the end of Q2 and is 11th on the grid while Timo Glock did not improve enough during his second fast lap. He will start 13th. Nelson Piquet’s Renault is sandwiched between the two Toyotas.

Force India seemed set to achieve its best qualifying result as Adrian Sutil was 14th and Giancarlo Fisichella in 16th place during Q1. But the last laps by Glock, Webber, and the Hondas relegated the two Indian team drivers to 18th and 20th, separated by Kazuki Nakajima. The Japanese driver had a very disappointing session. His teammate Nico Rosberg secured his place in Q2 but only managed 15th place. Williams is once again mired in doubt.

Although Honda managed to beat Force India, they did not have enough speed to avoid elimination in Q1, with Rubens Barrichello and Jenson Button finishing 16th and 17th.

Results Qualification – Belgian GP – 6 September 2008