At the site of many key moments in Michael Schumacher’s Formula 1 career, Lewis Hamilton tied the German legend's total at the top of the all-time pole positions list grabbing top spot in qualifying at Spa-Francorchamps and setting a new all-time lap time record of the circuit.

Mercedes was expected to shine around the high-speed layout and the Briton proved it setting a blistering 1:42.553s, over four seconds faster than last year's pole time as Sebastian Vettel left it late to grab second position after struggling for much of qualifying.

The German was helped by his teammate Kimi Raikkonen on two fronts as first he had to abort his final lap after making a mistake in Sector 2, having had the upper hand the whole weekend, but it delivered an opportunity for Ferrari to supply Vettel with a slipstream on the run from Stavelot to the Bus Stop which enabled him to improve.

Raikkonen had to settle for fourth behind Valtteri Bottas, as the second Mercedes driver was not satisfied with his car performance after finishing over half a second off his teammate’s pace.

Red Bull once again locked out the third row as their lack of qualifying engine modes hurt them, Max Verstappen was only three tenths off of third however and the Dutchman, who has around 80,000 fans from his native Holland cheering him on at Spa, was half a second ahead of his teammate Daniel Ricciardo in fifth and sixth.

Renault surprised many by being the fastest of the midfield teams with Nico Hulkenberg in seventh but he had been behind his teammate Jolyon Palmer throughout the weekend before the Briton had to abandon Q3 with suspected gearbox oil pressure problem, leaving him down in 10th place.

The Force India duo have opted for a low downforce setup to be quick on the straights in the race and they will start eighth and ninth with Sergio Perez ahead of Esteban Ocon.

McLaren saw an opportunity, with Stoffel Vandoorne’s 65-place grid penalty, to use the home driver as support for his teammate by providing a tow along the Kemmel Straight to gain top speed and therefore negate some of their Honda power deficit.

Everything was going as planned with Fernando Alonso in the top 10 and the Spaniard was on course to make an unexpected Q3 appearance before losing power in the final sector and consequently losing out to Hulkenberg, instead finishing 11th.

The Haas team enjoyed a more competitive session with Romain Grosjean having the upper hand over Kevin Magnussen in the inter-team battle as they claimed 12th and 13th. Carlos Sainz was only able to produce a 14tth quickest time as Toro Rosso slipped back, having looked quick in practice.

Vandoorne grabbed 15th but will have to drop to the back of the grid following his 65-place grid penalty. That position will be taken by Lance Stroll as it was another qualifying to forget for Williams. The Canadian was actually 17th but moves up two positions due to penalties for his teammate Felipe Massa, who was due to drop five places for failing to slow for yellow flags in Practice 3 but will actually retain the 16th place in which he qualified.

The two Saubers were also set to drop five places after gearbox penalties but actually move up two places each with Marcus Ericsson 17th and Pascal Wehrlein 18th. Daniil Kvyat was 17th quickest and had a 20-place grid drop due to new engine parts after his failure in final practice and finally Vandoorne with his aforementioned 65 places for two new engines and a gearbox this weekend. 

Renault F1 managing director Cyril Abiteboul has revealed talks with McLaren have taken place about a potential supply in 2018, as the British team is still yet to commit to Honda for next year.

The French manufacturer has become the last alternative to the Japanese manufacturer after Ferrari and former supplier Mercedes rejected the idea of supplying due to concerns McLaren could then out-perform their own works team.

Recently, talks between Toro Rosso and Honda took place which some speculated could open the door to McLaren, however, they ended in disagreement and now, giving more details, Abiteboul admitted a deal is unlikely.

"The situation is we have a multi-year contract with Red Bull Racing and Toro Rosso," he reiterated to reporters at Spa on Friday.

"So frankly we are open to discussions. I can confirm there have been discussions with McLaren, but right now there is a restriction in the regulation if we wanted to supply more than three teams.

"In addition to that, I don't think it would be reasonable to believe that we could supply more than three without degrading the level of service, the quality of service, for the other teams.”

Currently, engine suppliers are limited to four customers and Abiteboul did admit the idea of supplying a fourth team in the future is not off the table.

"We have had discussions and we have [current] contracts in place,” he said. "We value the relationship with Red Bull. It is a long-standing relationship and we would like to carry this relationship until 2020, but if there is something to be done [elsewhere], why not?

"But right now I understand things are very quiet and they are not necessarily pushing for anything."

Meanwhile, Honda has acknowledged it fell short in introducing the full 'Spec 4' power unit in practice ahead of Sunday's Belgian Grand Prix.

"We didn't match our schedule," Head of Honda's F1 operation Yusuke Hasegawa admitted on Friday. "We're halfway through our upgrade so we called it 3.5 and 3.6."

Nevertheless, both Hasegawa and McLaren Executive Director Zak Brown claim there has still been a "step" in progress but the Japanese was cautious in making comparisons between the different specifications.

"It's difficult to compare the previous engine to this engine because it's a different circuit," he said. "From the data point of view, we see a good update of the performance here." 

Finally, driver Stoffel Vandoorne has now seen his penalty count increase to 40 grid positions for his home race after a new gearbox was installed.

"It doesn’t affect my motivation," said the Belgian about starting at the back. "It’s maybe a shame that it happens in Spa, but it is the way it is. The penalties were inevitable considering all the failures we've had at the beginning of the season. It was always going to be like this.

"We need to think about the future. Hopefully, it will help in other Grands Prix."

Sebastian Vettel praised the "help from a friend" he received from Kimi Raikkonen after the championship leader used a slipstream from the Finn to secure second position on the grid for the Belgian Grand Prix.

The assistance came on the day it was confirmed the two drivers will extend their partnership for an extra year at least, following the announcement of a new three-year deal for Sebastian Vettel earlier on Saturday. are known to have a good relationship between them despite the competitive nature of the sport.

They are known to have a good relationship between them, which was precisely why the 2007 world champion was retained for 2018, and Raikkonen has had a positive weekend finishing ahead of his teammate in all sessions and even heading into the end of Q3.

However, on his last run, Kimi lost valuable time in Sector 2 which made him abort his lap but from that, an opportunity was presented to help a struggling Vettel, who was fifth at the time and running behind him.

"I think I had a little bit of a help from a friend," Vettel explained after qualifying. "Kimi was very generous giving me a nice tow in the last sector, which got me like two-tenths, so that helped – it made it more comfortable with Valtteri [Bottas].”

Commenting on the performance of his Ferrari, he added: "In Q1 I was really happy, the car was amazing. In Q2, the job was to get through. In Q3, on the first lap, I was missing a bit of feel for the front.

"My second run in Q3 was better in that regard, and I got a bit of a help, but it was tricky getting into the last corner, knowing you arrive faster with the tow, and braking is never easy.

"I managed to get it right and get it across the line.”

The four-time world champion now has high hopes ahead of the race with the long run simulations performed throughout the weekend showed a good pace.

"Our pace has been very good this weekend, less for one lap, more for long runs, so let's see what we can do."

On the other side of the garage, Raikkonen downplayed the importance of his move, believing it’s normal to have this team spirit mentality. He also rejected any idea that the pit wall had instructed him to help Vettel, insisting it was his decision.

"Don't try to make a f**king stupid story about this," Raikkonen snapped at reporters. "I had a mistake, I was coming back, and obviously if I can help our team I will do it. There are not any other stories behind it."

The former world champion had a good start to his weekend but struggled with vibrations during qualifications.

"I don't know what it (the vibration) is," he admitted. "At first it was worse, then a little bit less, then it disappeared and then it came back. Apart from that, it was going pretty okay… on the last run, there were some small things that were not ideal, and we went a bit sideways at one place.

"I was struggling a bit with the tyre temperatures, for whatever reason, on the last lap, so I got sideways and I couldn't finish the lap."

After his strong pace in the morning, Lewis Hamilton finally moved to the top of the timesheets in Practice 2 for the Belgian Grand Prix as rain ended the action early in the afternoon.

The Mercedes driver posted a 1m44.753s on his lower fuel run on the Ultrasoft compound, just two tenths shy of the all-time lap record around the current Spa layout, to lead Kimi Raikkonen’s Ferrari by a quarter of a second.

Valtteri Bottas, Max Verstappen and Sebastian Vettel were all covered by just over half a tenth of a second in third, fourth and fifth respectively, as Red Bull appear to have decent pace in standard engine modes once again although the Mercedes and the Ferrari driver's both had poor middle sectors on their qualifying-style runs.

Daniel Ricciardo would be sixth in the second Red Bull but quite some way off the pace as he continued to use a Monza-style rear wing with very little drag which saw him fastest of all in the first and final sector but almost 1.5 seconds slower in the sweeping middle part of the lap.

In the midfield, the two Renault’s look to be following the Australian's route of less downforce and it helped as Nico Hulkenberg was seventh and Jolyon Palmer in 10th for the French manufacturer.

Esteban Ocon continued his strong start to his anniversary weekend, maintaining his eighth place from the morning in the Force India and finishing half a second clear of teammate Sergio Perez, who was only 12th. Carlos Sainz also remained in the top 10 in ninth for Toro Rosso. 

Despite their concerns over pace, McLaren are looking reasonably good with Fernando Alonso 11^th and Stoffel Vandoorne 14^th as Romain Grosjean enjoyed a better session for Haas in 13^th with Daniil Kvyat dropping to 15^th.

Kevin Magnussen was 16^th with Lance Stroll the sole Williams to participate in the second session in 17^th as Felipe Massa’s car needs to be re-scrutineered by the FIA before it can be driven again on Saturday, following his crash in the morning. Marcus Ericsson and Pascal Wehrlein continue to bring up the lap times, some 1.4 seconds off the pace from the rest of the grid.

In a largely uneventful session, teams were hoping to conduct extensive high-fuel running on the different tyre compounds to determine a strategy for the race on Sunday. Unfortunately, before a good number of laps could be completed the infamous Spa weather intervened with a heavy rainstorm soaking the track with 20 minutes to go.

In the early running, there were signs that the advantage Mercedes appears to have on the Soft tyre does not transfer to the Supersoft or Ultrasoft tyre meaning Ferrari and possibly Red Bull, who both usually run better on the softer compounds, could well be in the hunt this weekend.

As it stands Hamilton and Mercedes have the advantage, as many were expecting, but it would be interesting to see if that remains the case when the pace increases on Saturday.

Sergio Perez believes Force India's decision to prioritise top speed at the cost of downforce will pay off in Sunday's Belgian Grand Prix.

Perez, who will start the race eighth, was among the quickest in the power-hungry first sector but lost time through the long, sweeping corners of sector two.

The Force India pair were pipped by Renault's Nico Hulkenberg, but Perez expects to have the upper hand on race day.

"I think this is the way forwards for us," the Mexican said of his set-up. "That’s definitely good for us.

"It’s been tough [in the middle sector], especially with the amount of sliding that we're carrying. We're carrying too much sliding there and we’re on the limit. 

"If you get one corner wrong, then you lose quite a bit of load and a bit of grip from the tyre. It’s been quite easy to slide the tyre in sector two.

"I think we’ve got the right setup for the race tomorrow. I was more concerned for qualy, but for the race we should be quite strong tomorrow."

Team-mate Ocon was disappointed with ninth but is similarly optimistic about the team's chances on Sunday.

"I think a better result was possible today," he admitted.

"From Q2 onwards I started to lose some grip and we need to analyse and understand what happened.

"I was three tenths faster on my Q2 lap compared to Q3 so we didn’t maximise things and I’m not totally satisfied.

"However, I feel confident about the race. The car is working well and we have a quick race car, especially in the first and final sectors. That will help us tomorrow.

"It’s a track that encourages good racing and I think there will be opportunities tomorrow and some close battles."

The proclaimed 'King of Spa' Kimi Raikkonen led up to that name as he topped Practice 1 for the Belgian Grand Prix, but it was the pace of Lewis Hamilton that caught the eye as the Formula 1 season resumed following the summer break.

The Finn would set a 1m45.502s on the Ultrasoft tyres with around five minutes to, a full second clear of last year’s pole time as the 2017 cars made their presence felt, but the Mercedes driver would be less than a tenth of a second behind the Ferrari using the Soft compound which is two steps harder.

Sebastian Vettel would be a further tenth behind his main championship rival but also on the fastest tyre in third. The two Red Bulls tested different downforce levels as they look to counteract a lack of power down the straights but the difference would be minimal as Max Verstappen led teammate Daniel Ricciardo by just half a tenth in fourth and fifth albeit eight-tenths off the ultimate pace and on the same tyres as Ferrari.

Valtteri Bottas escaped a strange moment as he slid into the gravel at the Fagnes chicane and damaged his front wing against the barrier as he got out of the way of another car on an in-lap. That interruption meant he was down in sixth almost a second off the pace.

It was an eventful start to the session as, after just 15 minutes, Felipe Massa, returning to Williams after missing the Hungarian Grand Prix through illness, would unbalance the car on the inside kerb at Malmedy sliding into the wall on the outside during his first timed lap and causing a 10-minute red flag period.

Following the restart, after the red flag, the action calmed down as the drivers evaluated tyres and set-up. Optimising both is going to be a significant factor this weekend with Pirelli opting for an aggressive approach with the three softest compounds around the high-speed layout.

There has been quite a spread in the number of each tyre the teams have brought and that played out in Practice 1 with Mercedes, who have been more conservative with just six sets of Ultrasoft, sticking to the Supersoft and Soft compound throughout, showing good pace, while Red Bull only used the purple-marked Ultrasoft as they have nine sets at their disposal.

Ferrari used all three compounds between both cars as Raikkonen ran the Supersoft and later the Ultrasoft while Vettel used the Soft early before following his teammate for the final 40 minutes. The Scuderia also limited their running to just 13 laps each in an effort to save engine mileage.

The same applied throughout the grid as Toro Rosso used the Ultrasoft to set their best times and, as a result, Carlos Sainz was the leading midfield car in seventh with Daniil Kvyat ninth.

Esteban Ocon completed the most laps of anyone with 27 and would be eighth with the McLaren of Stoffel Vandoorne, who will take a 35-place grid drop at his home Grand Prix, completing the top 10.

The two Renault’s came next in 11^th and 12^th as Jolyon Palmer, who has vowed to battle for his future over the final nine races, marginally ahead of teammate Nico Hulkenberg. Fernando Alonso

Fernando Alonso suffered an engine problem on his installation lap and would crawl back to the pits, that would be repaired before a later DRS problem also interfered with his running and left him down in 13th. 

Sergio Perez was 14th in the second Force India, with Lance Stroll the sole running Williams after Massa's crash in 15th. Typically, the field spread is usually a little larger due to Spa being the longest circuit on the calendar but 1.2 seconds would cover Sainz in seventh to the two Haas drivers of Kevin Magnussen and Romain Grosjean in 16th and 17th.

The two Sauber's were way off the pace as Marcus Ericsson was 1.5 seconds slower than the Haas' in 18th while Pascal Wehrlein was limited by an ERS issue early on, eventually completing 13 laps in 19th and last of those to set a time.

Jolyon Palmer was keen to take the positives after another bout of cruel luck in qualifying for the Belgian Grand Prix.

Palmer, fighting to stay in Formula 1, looked set for his best Saturday of the season and had the upper hand on Renault team-mate Nico Hulkenberg.

Seventh on the grid was up for grabs, but he was unable to set a time in Q3 after suffering a gearbox failure.

Unreliability has exacerbated Palmer's struggles in 2017, but this time the Englishman could take heart from a fine performance.

"It's such a shame as we were going great guns out there," he said.

"I think Q1/Q2 was easy through, and then both my laps in Q2 would have put seventh on the grid. 

"So to not even take part in Q3, it's disappointing to be tenth, but at least we have to try and stay there and not take a penalty."

"I've got to be happy with that qualifying really, compared to where we've been. I think the whole weekend has been really good since FP1."

Sunday's race represents an excellent opportunity for Palmer to record his first top-ten finish of the season, provided he escapes a penalty. 

"I was just happy with the car, had a great feeling all the way through. I think we've done a good job as a team," he added.

"We've just got to get it back in one piece tomorrow and get some points."

Daniel Ricciardo admits it is very unlikely he will continue to use a Monza-style low downforce rear wing for the remainder of the Belgian GP weekend, after a struggling in the corners in practice.

In a bid to counteract the engine power deficit and join the fight at the front, Red Bull decided to go with two different setups on their cars, running a much skinnier wing on Daniel Ricciardo’s car while using a more common setup with Max Verstappen.The main aim with the setup handed to the Australian is to recover lost on the straights by having higher speeds in sectors 1 and 3 which will require higher downforce.

Along the straights that make up Sector's 1 and 3 it worked as the Australian was the quickest of anyone, however, in the more twisty middle part, he would lose well over a second, eventually ending the day sixth overall and a second off the pace.

“First and third sector are awesome but the middle sector I am in an F3 car,” Ricciardo said explaining how the lack of wing impacted performance

“We tried. I would have liked it to have worked but it didn’t. At this stage, it is not competitive enough to go with. We will see if we can make a compromise, otherwise, go with the downforce Max had.

“We tried to be a little bit aggressive with a good top speed set up, and we lost too much time in the corners second sector. We didn’t really gain enough in the corners to what we gained on the straight.”

Talking about his team’s battle with Mercedes and Ferrari, Ricciardo kept the hope alive for Sunday, particularly as Verstappen was fourth and only four tenths off the pace.

“We will see. Tomorrow I think I will be much more competitive,” he claimed. “We will go with a better set-up. You are looking at the top five. We are within four or five tenths. If we can get inside that then we might be okay.”

As for the Dutchman, he had a better Friday compared to his teammate, however, insisted work needs to be done to find the best setup available as he complained of a lack of top speed.

“I think the car itself was actually quite alright, of course, you can always improve but it was not too far out,” he said. “But we lose too much on the straights at the moment so that’s why you could see Daniel trying a different philosophy but also that seems to be quite difficult for us."

When asked about his expectations over the weekend, Verstappen was more conservative than his teammate, replying "fifth or sixth" bluntly.

“We’ll see but I think it’s pretty normal for us to be here again like a pretty solid third team. It’s just difficult on the straights to match that,”  he added.

Lewis Hamilton was left emotional after tying Michael Schumacher’s record for most pole positions in Formula 1 following his 68th career pole at the Belgian Grand Prix.

The Mercedes driver set a new track record time on the way to his seventh pole of 2017, a fitting way to reach the mark of the seven-time world champion at a circuit that saw many important moments the German's legendary career.

The recent domination of the Silver Arrows has seen Hamilton score over half of his total since 2014 and upon reaching the mark received a message from the Schumacher family through long-time friend and former boss of both Hamilton and Schumacher at Mercedes, Ross Brawn congratulating the 32-year-old on his achievement and reminding him of a quote that Schumacher used to believe in “records are meant to be broken”.

"It is a special day definitely," he said. "I knew it was on the horizon and at some stage, I would be getting that 68th pole but hadn't thought about it much. I didn't apply pressure, it could come soon, it could take time.

"I remember coming here in 1996 for my first GP and watching Michael coming by out of Turn 1 and the engine shook my rib cage,” Hamilton adding sharing his own memories of Schumacher at Spa. "It was incredible and that is when my love of the sport took another step. Now to have equalled him on poles is surreal – particularly knowing Michael is such a legend.

"It is an incredible feat he achieved and I am very proud to be up there with him."

For many, the moment brought a moment of reflection about Schumacher's current battle as he recovers from severe head injuries suffered while skiing in the Alps in late 2013.

"I pray for Michael and his family all the time," Hamilton said. "I have had the privilege of racing with him from karting days in Kerpen to on the track [in F1] and always admired him and still do today.

"I'm just honoured to be up there with him in the poles but he will still be one of the greatest of all time."

Sebastian Vettel claimed there was work to be done by Ferrari to keep up with Mercedes and Lewis Hamilton, with the championship leader not too happy after both Friday sessions were completed.

Although the German saw teammate Kimi Raikkonen finish on top in the morning and keep his Ferrari in second place splitting the two Mercedes' in the afternoon, his own pace was quite disappointing in third and fifth overall.

Before the weekend, Mercedes was expected to have the upper hand over the Scuderia and looking at the relative performance of the two teams, Vettel acknowledged a tough fight awaits.

“I think they looked very strong,” he said. “Whenever they went out, they had the possibility to go fast. It's a long track and it's not so easy to put everything together, so I guess what everyone is looking at always the times, the lap time itself, but there's a bit more to it.”

“I think for us, for myself, I was not happy. I was a bit so-so. I did not really find the rhythm, especially on the short run.”

However, the German admitted his car felt good on the long runs and that some work can be done to get it in perfect competitive shape.

“The long run was better. Overall I think the car is there to do the job to go fast. We just need to get it right on all fronts. I need to do my job and we'll be fine.”

Considering where Ferrari can improve, Vettel will be looking to understand the behaviour of the tyres even more, with that being a huge factor in affecting race results this season and particularly this weekend.

“We're missing some answers on the tyres but overall I think the car is OK," he said. "We saved some mileage which is good with the rain, but obviously it was not the target. We just need to put it a bit more together.”

One thing Vettel certainly seems to have enjoyed so far is the thrill of driving the 2017 cars around the spectacular Spa layout.

“It's a nice track, obviously with these cars there is more grip and it's more fun,” he said. “Eau Rouge and Blanchimont are pretty straightforward, easy flat, but the middle part got more exciting. It should be nice tomorrow.

“I don't know what's the weather forecast. I guess it should be dry tomorrow, but we'll see anyway. If we get it right, it's always fun.”