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

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 penalty.

Perez was ahead of team Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo, team Williams' Felipe Massa and Pastor Maldonado 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.