For the third race in a row Lewis Hamilton demonstrated a touch in the wet that sets him apart from his Formula One contemporaries by taking pole at the Belgian Grand Prix.

When a flash storm engulfed the Spa-Francorchamps circuit, a typical Ardennes squall that disappeared almost as soon as it arrived, the British driver rose to the occasion as he has so many times in the past. Beating his title rival, Sebastian Vettel, into second on the grid may prove decisive on a circuit where Ferrari have had the upper hand for most of the weekend. Ferrari had been quickest in practice in the dry, maintaining their pace advantage from the recent races although they and Mercedes brought engine upgrades to Belgium. It was form that continued in qualifying until the rain began just as Q3 opened.

As it became progressively heavier initial runs on slicks proved impossible and the teams pitted to take intermediate tyres. With five minutes remaining the drivers stayed out looking for grip while the rain began to ease. Vettel had secured provisional pole as Hamilton struggled, the Briton going off on his penultimate lap. He had saved the best for last, however. His final run was a majestic display of finding grip in mixed conditions as the track dried around him. His second and final sectors were unmatched and he finished seven-tenths clear of Vettel, and a full three seconds up on Esteban Ocon in third,with a time of 1min 58.179sec.

On the back of his masterclass in Germany to win in the wet and pole in the rain at Hungary, Hamilton knows just what an advantage he holds when the heavens open. “The rain is a friend of mine,” he said with a smile.

Certainly the Mercedes is better in wet conditions than the Ferrari and Vettel admitted he had failed to ensure he had enough battery power on his final run. But, without doubt, Hamilton had made the difference.

“I think that was one of the harshest sessions I can remember,” he said. “Come to Eau Rouge and you did not know if you had to lift. You could see I struggled massively, off at turn T1 and T12 – I had one lap. I knew I had the pace and it was about finding the balance of pushing enough and not dropping off too much.”

He was clearly hugely pleased with his fifth pole in Belgium, a total that surpasses the record he previously shared with Juan Manuel Fangio, Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost. But it is the position itself that is of real import.

Hamilton and Vettel prepare for power struggle in Belgian Grand Prix Read more

He leads Vettel by 24 points in the world championship and denying him pole despite Ferrari’s straightline speed advantage is a result to celebrate. He won here from pole last year, exploiting his track position to deny Vettel although the German stayed on his tail throughout. Spa does present good prospects for overtaking but whether Vettel will be able to enjoy enough extra pace over the Mercedes to do so, even with DRS, seems unlikely.

The German could not manage it last year and, if Hamilton can keep his nose clean through La Source and hold off the charge from Vettel by Les Combes, he will have the whip hand for the race.

Hamilton knows that he may have done enough in those two minutes on Saturday to make life very difficult for his rivals for the full 44 laps on Sunday. “In the dry they were favourite today and they will be tomorrow, but it doesn’t mean they will win,” Hamilton said. “Tomorrow will be a very tough race and I don’t know if I will have the pace worthy of building a gap. We will find out. It is a tough race from the start to turn five and they are incredibly quick on the straights.”

The newly renamed Racing Point Force India enjoyed a huge success in their first meeting after being bought out of administration. Ocon’s third was his best qualifying result and his teammate, Sergio Pérez, was in fourth.

McLaren and Williams, however, endured another painful qualifying with all four drivers out in Q1. McLaren’s Fernando Alonso was in 17th and Stoffel Vandoorne in 20th; Sergey Sirotkin and Lance Stroll finished in 18th and 19th place respectively.

Valtteri Bottas was 10th but will start from 19th having taken new power unit components. Kimi Räikkönen was in sixth and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen seventh in front of his team-mate Daniel Ricciardo. The Haas cars of Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen were in fifth and ninth.

Quick guide Belgian F1 GP grid Show Hide 1 Lewis Hamilton (GB) Mercedes GP 1min 58.179sec, 2 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Ferrari 1:58.905, 3 Esteban Ocon (Fr) Force India 2:01.851, 4 Sergio Pérez (Mex) Force India 2:01.894, 5 Romain Grosjean (Fr) Haas F1 2:02.122, 6 Kimi Räikkönen (Fin) Ferrari 2:02.671, 7 Max Verstappen (Neth) Red Bull 2:02.769, 8 Daniel Ricciardo (Aus) Red Bull 2:02.939, 9 Kevin Magnussen (Den) Haas F1 2:04.933, 10 Pierre Gasly (Fr) Toro Rosso 1:43.844, 11 Brendon Hartley (NZ) Toro Rosso 1:43.865, 12 Charles Leclerc (Mon) Sauber 1:44.062, 13 Marcus Ericsson (Swe) Sauber 1:44.301, 14 Carlos Sainz Jr (Sp) Renault 1:44.489, 15 Fernando Alonso (Sp) McLaren 1:44.917, 16 Sergey Sirotkin (Rus) Williams 1:44.998, 17 Lance Stroll (Can) Williams 1:45.134, 18 Stoffel Vandoorne (Bel) McLaren 1:45.307, 19 *Valtteri Bottas (Fin) Mercedes GP No Time, 20 *Nico Hülkenberg (Ger) Renault No Time *Bottas and Hülkenberg moved to the back of the grid for taking additional power unit elements

Nico Hülkenberg, was in 15th place, with Renault opting not to set a time in Q2 since he will start from the back of the grid due to penalties imposed for fitting new power unit components. Sauber’s Marcus Ericsson only managed one run in Q2 and finished in 14th behind his team-mate Charles Leclerc. Pierre Gasly and Brendon Hartley were in 11th and 12th for Toro Rosso. Renault’s Carlos Sainz Jr finished in 16th.