Hamilton claims fourth pole in a row

Lewis Hamilton, left, was delighted to finish ahead of Sebastian Vettel, right
25 August 2013

Lewis Hamilton hailed a year he claims is "getting better and better" in the wake of clinching his fourth successive pole position.

It is the first time in Hamilton's Formula One career he has achieved such a feat, and he becomes the first Briton since Damon Hill in 1995 to collect four in a row.

On this occasion, his latest front-of-the-grid effort for the Belgian Grand Prix was almost the pole that never was as he only scraped into the top-10 shootout by 0.021secs.

With such a scare behind him, Hamilton then took full advantage of the inclement weather over the Spa-Francorchamps circuit in the final 10 minutes to record his 31st pole overall in F1.

As the last man out on track and as a dry line appeared in the closing stages, Hamilton knocked Sebastian Vettel from top spot at the death, resulting in an ecstatic reaction from the 28-year-old.

"It's absolutely fantastic, a great feeling. I feel very privileged to have a car to be able to do that," said Hamilton of his Mercedes.

"It's cool to have done something similar to one of the greats, and who would have thought? The year just seems to be getting better and better.

"It's a shame you can't hear what I was saying when I did my in-lap as I tried to keep my cool, but I couldn't.

"It's just amazing to think we've come here with a car where we know we can be competitive, and for whatever reason I was able to put it out there.

"We're going to try and work as hard as we can to beat both the Red Bulls. It's not impossible. We just have to get our strategy right."

Hamilton will have both Red Bulls behind him, with Vettel ahead of team-mate Mark Webber for the 11th successive race this year, with the Mercedes driver's own team-mate in Nico Rosberg fourth on the grid.

At one stage it appeared as though Paul Di Resta would be on pole as the Scot made what he described as "a ballsy call" at the start of the session.

The nine other drivers opted for slick tyres, however Di Resta chose the intermediates as he spotted umbrellas going up in the stands.

As the rain slowly came down, forcing his rivals back into the pits to switch to inters, Di Resta posted his lap and was top of the pile.

Unfortunately for the Force India driver the rain relented enough for Rosberg to first depose him, followed in quick succession by Webber, Vettel, and ultimately Hamilton.

Hamilton, now aiming for a second successive victory for the first time in three years, added: "I was so surprised when I crossed the line.

"When I started the lap I saw I was about seventh or eighth, and I thought 'Oh my God', especially as it was raining more.

"I then went wide in turn one and the dash display told me I was three seconds down, then five seconds and six seconds.

"I didn't understand what was happening in the lap, but I just kept pushing. I could see I was catching Sebastian towards the end.

"I feel so fortunate to be up here. What a blessing.

"I just feel grateful for the way the year has turned out and we can be so competitive and really try to challenge the Red Bulls. It's a huge accomplishment by the team."

With more rain forecast for the race, the win is up for the grabs, as recognised by Vettel who said: "A shame to miss pole again, but I'm quite happy. All in all a good day for the team.

"Let's see what happens in the race. We expect similar conditions - rain, dry, a bit of everything, so we'll see."

Di Resta's consolation was the fact he still qualified a career-high fifth just four weeks after his worst performance in Hungary when he started 18th.

Di Resta said: "It is a great result. It's a shame the rain stopped a bit too early because there were only a few cars quicker than us in the wet, and they just got ahead at the end of the session.

"The main thing is we are in a strong position and we will come back ready to fight."

Jenson Button grabbed a season-best sixth in his McLaren, whilst title contenders in Lotus' Kimi Raikkonen and Ferrari's Fernando Alonso start eighth and ninth.

Max Chilton capitalised on tricky conditions in Q1 to claim his best qualifying result of his rookie season of 16th in his Marussia.

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