Lewis Hamilton believes he might have an advantage over pole position by starting second as long as he can get a good getaway on Sunday.
The Mercedes driver was outqualified by his team-mate Nico Rosberg on Saturday, something Hamilton puts down to a front-left brake problem which didn’t give him the confidence or ability to brake late.
“I’m just happy to be up here,” he said. “I had a glazed front right, or front left brake, so the car was pulling to the left, or to the right, and there was nothing I could do on the out laps to try and get rid of it so I was struggling under braking.
“I could bring the braking point a little bit further back but I was losing massive amounts, particularly through Turn 1. This is a circuit where you need to have confidence on the brakes and today -particularly in Q3 -I was just going straight on everywhere, that’s because the left brake wasn’t working for some reason – I don’t know why it was glazing.”
The Briton started on pole last year put was almost immediately passed by second-placed Sebastian Vettel thanks to the long Kemmel-straight which follows the Eau Rouge-Raidillon complex.
He reckons starting second could be an advantage if he can start well.
“I’m not disappointed today, actually. If you look at previous years P2 was actually the best place to start here so I’m quite blessed that is actually the case,” he explained.
“I started pole here last year and Sebastian flew past me down the top straight so I think it gives you the most opportunity from the start.”
With the rain on Saturday, any rubber laid down over the P1 grid slot will have also been washed away giving fairly equal grip on and off the racing line. P2 also gifts the inside line for La Source.
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