Lewis Hamilton picked up right where he left off after the month-long Formula One break to take pole position ahead of tomorrow’s Belgian Grand Prix. It is the fifth time this season the Mercedes driver has won pole and his fourth time in a row, dating back to June 29 at Silverstone. Tomorrow he starts ahead of three time defending champion and points leader Sebastian Vettel and his Red Bull teammate Mark Webber.

The Spa-Francorchamps circuit provided a mix of wet and dry weather conditions, forcing teams to alternate between the intermediate and soft Pirellis. As a result, the Toro Rosso duo of Jean Eric Vergne and Daniel Ricciardo – rumoured as Webber’s replacement at Red Bull in 2014 – were knocked out of the first qualifying session, while the typically low-seeded Marussia-Cosworth team of Jules Bianchi and Max Chilton made it into Q2. The second session provided dryer conditions, although Nico Hulkengberg (Sauber), and Sergio Perez (McLaren) were unable to crack the top 10. They will start 11^th and 13, respectively.

In the final qualifying round, the weather became even less consistent, and it appeared Force India’s Paul di Resta was on pace to claim his career first pole position with as many as three minutes remaining. But on the final lap, di Resta was bested by Hamilton’s teammate Nico Rosberg, who was then bested by Webber, followed by Vettel. Hamilton shadowed Vettel across the line and claimed pole by 0.188 seconds (2:01.012).

"A fourth pole in a row just feels fantastic," Hamilton said. "The team did a great job to get the timing at the end of Q3 absolutely perfect and I was in exactly the right track position. I was so surprised when I came across the line to hear I was P1. I went wide in the first corner and I thought I was down on time from the read-out on my steering wheel. I just kept pushing and did a strong middle sector, then I could see I was catching Sebastian towards the end so it was a great feeling. The Red Bulls are still ahead of us in terms of performance so results like this feel even more special because I know I've got the absolute maximum out of myself and out of the car."

Hamilton’s charge of late has seen him vault up the standings, where he currently sits fourth with 124 points. Vettel leads the championship with 172, followed by Lotus driver Kimi Räikkönen (134) and Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso (133).

Tomorrow’s Belgian Grand Prix starts at 7:55 a.m. (EST) on TSN and re-airs at 3:00 p.m. (EST) on TSN2.

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