Hamilton’s reaction to Verstappen's mighty pole margin: “Pretty impressive”

Hamilton secured fourth in qualifying at Spa-Francorchamps, over 0.9s off championship leader Verstappen.

Verstappen will start Sunday’s race from sixth of the grid due to a gearbox penalty, promoting Hamilton into the top three.

Speaking after qualifying, Hamilton was pleased with his qualifying performance given the tricky conditions.

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“Firstly, this track is incredible to drive,” he said. “It was definitely hectic because it was consistently drying.

“It was slippery at the beginning, and difficult to see. You know that every lap is going to be faster than the next lap. That’s why we were at the end of the pitlane early.

“Each session, the team did a great job in getting us out with great turnarounds. Head down, I was maximising as much as I could.

“I was still a good chunk off Max! Pretty impressive, but I’m really happy.”

Hamilton has his eyes firmly set on a podium on Sunday.

“I guess I have Max behind, but that will be the goal, of course,” he added.

“P1, no-one got any running. Getting the set-up ready for qualifying was a big guessing game.

“I’m hoping the car is decent in the long run tomorrow in the race.

“It didn’t feel bad today. The car was pretty decent. But in the middle sector we were losing a second. I have to go and study, to figure out where that is. If there’s any way, with the package I have, that I can close that. We obviously need to work on making improvements.”