Qualifying

Hello and welcome to live coverage of qualifying for the Belgian Grand Prix. Rain is reportedly on the way but it's yet to arrive...

We've been expecting rain for a while and it does still look very overcast at the circuit but the main band of rain is still south of the circuit. When it hits could be crucial if we start the session dry

If you weren't with us for FP3 then it was a much closer affair than we saw on Friday in the dry. Vettel was again quickest but Alonso was just 0.1s off and there was a whole host of drivers within a second.

If you want to get in touch with us during this session you can do so in one of two ways. Either email in to us using the link above or tweet us @ESPNF1

15 minutes to go until qualifying starts and as you can see below, the rain is bearing down on the circuit

It's a busy weekend of sport with the Premier League, the Ashes, the Belgian Grand Prix and the build-up to the US Open - follow all of this and more with ESPN's new UK sport app, a fresh and powerful new way to follow your favourite UK sports' news, scores and video - es.pn/1d90RHR

The rain has started, and it's starting to fall pretty heavily. We are going to get a wet session

Just ten minutes to go now and this rain will ensure it's a fully wet start to qualifying. Chances for Marussia and Caterham to spring a surprise, perhaps?

James emails in to ask: "Looks like RB is going to run away with this again! As we look to 2013-14, is there any possibility for a non-European to make it in F1? There was Kobayashi who was competitive, but in a non-competitive car. F1 has a problem, and that is that more and more of the money is generated in Asia and Asia people can't identify with any of the drivers. Lewis is an exception, in that he's the first black F1 driver, but he is after all born and bred in UK."

Firstly, I think this rain will prevent Red Bull running away with anything today! And secondly, yes non-Europeans can make it in F1. Look at the likes of Maldonado, Gutierrez and reserve drivers like Gonzalez - South American governments and companies are keen to back drivers in to the sport. Seeing your point about Asian drivers, we are getting more backing for the likes of Rio Haryanto in GP2 and we saw Ma Qing Hua getting close to F1 but you've got to have both the money and the talent.

We've already got a queue at the end of the pit lane for the start of Q1 with both Williams and Toro Rossos waiting

Intermediate tyres are the order of the day. Three minutes these guys will have to wait before the light goes green

Van der Garde is told "we don't expect these conditions to last too long"

Williams confirms it just wants to get a lap on the board first thing

Chilton has also stuck his nose out of the Marussia garage

And away we go. Both Williams, Toro Rossos and Marussias out, followed by Pic

The spray is bad along the Kemmel straight as Raikkonen leads Rosberg in to Les Combes. Out go the two Red Bulls to make it a full track

DRS is disabled due to the conditions

Jon asks: "Will the rain in effectively eliminate the aero packages teams had set for either sec 1-3 or 2? What kind of aero package does one want in the wet?"

Yes, slightly. You'd want more downforce in order to find grip in the wet. Some teams may have gambled for a wet set-up - McLaren looked like it might

Maldonado runs wide at Les Combes having locked the front left

Chilton almost commits the ultimate sin and gets very close to running in to the back of his team-mate Bianchi at the chicane as they attempt to start a lap

Hamilton quickest with a 2:07.008

Rosberg beats it with a 2:06.865

Siddhesh emails in to say: "Alonso favorite with all this rain? Might be his chance to kickstart his championship comeback and finally start from near the front"

I'd agree it will help him, and Mercedes based on FP3

Vettel only goes 10th quickest with his lap

Sutil runs wide at the chicane and then Hulkenberg follows him. Hamilton has finally got past Bianchi in to the chicane too

The field spread is always much bigger in these conditions - 7 seconds between Rosberg and Chilton

Gutierrez goes second, 0.066s slower than Rosberg

The track is drying out a bit in some sections and Vettel and Webber have gone fastest

Alonso goes fastest with a 2:06.209

It looks like the rain has really eased up. Drivers will just keep running until the end as conditions improve. If it dries enough we could see slicks...

As an example of how much it is drying up Hamilton has gone 1.3s clear of anyone else

Eight minutes to go and it looks like it won't dry enough for slicks in Q1

Rosberg goes quickest with a 2:03.883

Drop zone is currently: Maldonado, di Resta, Bianchi, Pic, van der Garde and Chilton

As it stands Chilton is actually outside 107%

New inters are likely to be the order for most, but Chilton and van der Garde have gambled on mediums

In fact, both Caterhams and both Marussias on the mediums. Gamble. Why not?

No more rain expected for the rest of the session so this could pay off for Caterham and Marussia. Sector one is a bit slow but Les Combes is still too wet at present

Gutierrez improves to second behind Rosberg

Van der Garde is 3s down through the second sector but he will get two more timed laps in as it continues to dry...

New inters for everyone else. It's a full track and Maldonado goes quickest with a 2:03.072

Bottas now in the drop zone but then improves to P2

Van der Garde with a good first sector...

Bianchi goes up to 16th

This will all change in this final minute. The drop zone is now Raikkonen, Bianchi, Button, Pic, Sutil and Chilton

Van der Garde went 13th but he's dropping again

Button up to P3. Both Ferraris in the drop zone

Hamilton is at risk of trouble - 16th and on his final lap on used tyres... Quickest. Phew.

Di Resta has gone off but rejoins

Alonso and Massa climb out of the drop zone at the end. Sutil climbs out

All dropping - IT'S WORKED FOR THE BACKMARKERS! Van der Garde goes third!

OUT: Maldonado, Vergne, Ricciardo, Bottas, Gutierrez and Pic

Pic didn't try slicks. Bianchi through in 11th and Chilton in 16th!

Di Resta's spin might have hurt a few there, but the gamble really paid off for Marussia and Caterham. I still can't believe van der Garde was third quickest...

So, who predicted that?! Unfortunately it looks like the rain is done for the day so I fear we know that 14th, 15th and 16th will be van der Garde and the Marussia pair, but still.

Maldonado missed out by just 0.1s. Williams and Toro Rosso just didn't time it right and missed out on the best of the weather

Matthew emails in to say: "Just heard on television here in Australia that Michelin are in the mix as a tyre supplier next season"

That was a rumour in Hungary too, but it's getting very late in the day...

Q2 begins and it's still damp out there so no hurry this time

I'm going to refresh my rain radar in the hope that we get more rain. Webber, Raikkonen, Hulkenberg, di Resta, Bianchi and Chilton out on track

Doesn't look like rain is heading towards us, but with clouds everywhere already it could well start again

Slicks are now the tyre of choice - Raikkonen is on mediums but Webber and the two Ferraris on hards

Webber's first time is a 1:50.128 - already 10 seconds quicker than Q1

Raikkonen gets it all wrong at the chicane but still goes second

Hamilton, Vettel and Rosberg the only guys in the pits at present - Hamilton had been out but pit

Alonso goes fastest but then Webber beats it by 0.002s with a 1:50.083

Raikkonen now fastest in to the 1m49s

Now its a Lotus 1-2 as the track continues to dry

Just over five minutes to go and Rosberg, Hamilton and Vettel are yet to set a time

Button goes fifth on the mediums but still in the 1m50s he needs to find more time

Hamilton goes second with a 1:49.572

Van der Garde is 12th, two seconds off the pace - not bad on such a long lap

Vettel goes fastest with a 1:48.833

Hulkenberg goes second and that time might be close to the top ten - two minutes to go

Webber and Alonso improving

Rosberg still yet to set a representative time. Looks like he'l get one go at it...

Alonso goes quickest with a 1:48.309 - 0.3s clear of the Red Bulls

Sutil goes fifth with two fastest sectors but a slow middle one

Perez now is going to be first to take the flag

Perez goes sixth. Drop zone currently di Resta, Massa, van der Garde, Chilton, Bianchi and Rosberg

Di Resta goes fourth, Button down in to the drop zone

Raikkonen goes quickest

Perez down to 10th...

Grosjean up to fifth, Perez is out

Rosberg goes third to knock out Sutil

Button makes it through with his final lap, knocking out Hulkenberg and Hamilton is through in 10th by just 0.021s

OUT: Hulkenberg, Sutil, Perez, van der Garde, Bianchi and Chilton

Van der Garde was 0.5s clear of the two Marussias. He's done well today to qualify 14th

Interesting tweet from McLaren:

There is a shower on the way and the radar now says 'RAIN EXPECTED'

Top five in Q2 was Raikkonen, Alonso, Rosberg, Webber and Button

Chilton's delighted with his work and to be fair to him he was just 0.2s off his team-mate Bianchi and it's the first time Marussia has been through to Q2 since 2010

A queue at the end of the pit lane in case of rain. Horner looks nervous...

All ten cars are at the end of the pit lane

Out go all ten cars and they are racing to get round. All on slicks but the rain has started already!

Vettel barges past Grosjean in to Les Combes

Sorry di Resta was a bit later joining the track

It is definitely raining, Alonso struggling with his tyres at Fagnes. Will anyone try and set a time? I don't think so...

Di Resta went out on intermediates. That could be a brilliant call...

Everyone back in to switch to intermediate tyres, except di Resta who is already on them and starts his lap

You can't do a racing style pit stop if you need to refuel, which is generally what happens between Q3 runs

Vettel, Webber and Massa first back out on inters

Di Resta has to make this lap count, but he might have a chance of springing a surprise now ...

Di Resta makes it through with a 2:02.332. Will that be enough for pole if it continues to rain?

Massa is next on track and he's already half a second down in sector one!

This could be di Resta's pole, you know

Massa two seconds down through sector two. Nobody close to di Resta so far

It's started raining even harder and Massa with a 2:04.332 might have secured second place!

Webebr is 3.3s down through sector two

Webber goes third, Vettel only fourth

Hamilton third now

Here's Raikkonen, sixth. Alonso very slow

Rosberg goes second with a great lap - 0.5s off di Resta with a fantastic final sector

Currently 8th. 9th and 10th are Vettel, Raikkonen and Alonso!

Everyone taking it easy and then might get one more lap. Massa has pit so he's finished for now. So has di Resta

I'm not sure everyone will make it round to try again - Button definitely won't

ROSBERG'S GONE FASTEST!

Button goes third, Grosjean fourth

Hamilton, Webber and Vettel are pushing on with their final laps. Could be anyone's now...

Webber with the fastest middle sector and he's flying! The track still drying

Hamilton could take this

Webber comes through, provisional pole

Vettel beats it...

LEWIS HAMILTON TAKES POLE POSITION FOR THE BELGIAN GRAND PRIX

All about the timing. Hamilton with a brilliant middle sector to take pole and di Resta has been pushed down to fifth place

The track continued to dry but only the Red Bulls and Hamilton made it across to start an extra lap, which turned out to be crucial.

0.313s covers the first three cars, then Rosberg is a second further back in P4

That's Hamilton's fourth consecutive pole position. He is on fire at present and he made the most of his track position and the conditions to take it. Hamilton says "I can't believe it ... wicked!" on the radio

Phew. I need a lie down after that. I told you after FP3 that I was always excited by qualifying at Spa and that's why! Breathless stuff.

Great news for Hamilton, Vettel won't be too concerned either but Raikkonen in 8th and Alonso in 9th will not be happy. Di Resta is probably disappointed to end up fifth, but he didn't have the pace of the top four even if he'd stayed out I don't think

Thanks for joining us for that session, it was fantastic stuff and I hope you enjoyed the drama. We'll be back with full coverage of tomorrow's race when we could have similar conditions. I can't wait. Can Hamilton make it two wins from two and really take the fight to Vettel? Join us tomorrow to find out.

It's a busy weekend of sport with the Premier League, the Ashes, the Belgian Grand Prix and the build-up to the US Open - follow all of this and more with ESPN's new UK sport app, a fresh and powerful new way to follow your favourite UK sports' news, scores and video - es.pn/1d90RHR


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