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Formula 1 in Belgium: Lewis Hamilton takes next pole, Ferrari misses top ten

Lewis Hamilton will start from pole position for the fifth time in the seventh race of the Formula 1 season. In qualifying for the Belgian Grand Prix in Spa, nobody could endanger the world champion. Second fastest was Valtteri Bottas (+0.511), who was about half a second short of his Mercedes colleague. Max Verstappen landed just behind in the Red Bull (+0.526).

Hamilton dedicated his success to the US actor Chadwick Boseman, who died of colon cancer and who was known for his leading role in the superhero film “Black Panther”. Released in 2018, the film was a huge commercial success and was hailed as a milestone in African American cinema. Hamilton is known for his activism and is the only black driver in Formula 1. As part of the “Black Lives Matter” movement, the Mercedes Silver Arrows will be driving with black paint this year.

Renault driver Daniel Ricciardo was surprisingly strong, finishing fourth ahead of Alexander Albon (Red Bull). Less surprising was the again poor performance of Scuderia Ferrari. Both drivers did not make it to the third qualifying phase, Sebastian Vettel will start on Sunday (3.10 p.m., live ticker: SPIEGEL.de, TV: RTL, Sky) from position 14, which puts him one place behind his teammate Charles Leclerc.

For the four-time world champion Vettel it is already the third race in a row that he missed the top ten in qualifying. The 33-year-old is in eleventh place in the world championship driver standings. “I think we know that we are not particularly strong at the moment,” said Vettel in an interview with Sky. His colleague Leclerc had a similar assessment that “no miracles are to be expected” tomorrow at the race.

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