Hamilton grabs pole at Belgian GP, Force India's Perez to start fifth

Spa-Francorchamps, Aug 22: Lewis Hamilton will start the Belgian Grand Prix from pole position, after beating Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg by almost half a second in Saturday's qualifying session here. Sergio Perez secured a season-best fifth for team Force India. It was Hamilton's sixth consecutive pole, and his tenth of the season. Behind the two Mercedes cars, Valtteri Bottas was a distant third for team Williams, with Romain Grosjean taking a superb fourth spot for team Lotus. The Frenchman will drop five grid places, however, due to a gearbox change pelty. Perez was ahead of team Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo, team Williams' Felipe Massa and Pastor Maldodo of team Lotus. Sebastian Vettel was ninth in a very poor session for team Ferrari, with Carlos Sainz rounding out a tightly packed top ten for team Toro Rosso. IANS