Stoffel Vandoorne was the fastest man on the qualifying session today in Spa-Francorchamps. Championship leader Jolyon Palmer was second followed by Evans and Marciello. Nasr was only 11th.

Cecotto started leading the session, but the other drivers were quickly ahead of him. Palmer set the pace followed by Vandoorne and Richelmi. Julián Leal was coming on a very fast lap but found yellow flags in the last sector caused by Izawa. Most drivers went back to the pits as the times were not improving.

Halfway through the session, Palmer led ahead of Marciello, Cecotto, Vandoorne and Leal.

With 5 minutes left, times started to improve. Leal went 4th although his teammate Felipe Nasr got in his way. Palmer thought he had the pole in his pocket and pitted 3 minutes before the end of the session, but Stoffel Vandoorne improved his time and got the pole just by 0,018s. Mitch Evans also improved and went 3rd.

Result:

Pos. Car Driver Team Laps Time Gap
1 10 Stoffel Vandoorne (R) BEL ART Grand Prix 10 1:56,839
2 7 Joylon Palmer GBR Dams 8 1:56,857 + 0,018
3 1 Mitch Evans NZ RT Russian Time 11 1:57,057 + 0,218
4 5 Raffaele Marciello (R) ITA Racing Engineering 13 1:57,237 + 0,398
5 23 Johnny Cecotto VEN Trident 12 1:57,244 + 0,405
6 4 Julián Leal COL Carlin 13 1:57,271 + 0,432
7 24 Nathanaël Berthon FRA Venezuela GP Lazarus 12 1:57,272 + 0,433
8 15 Simon Trummer CHE Rapax 10 1:57,284 + 0,445
9 21 Marco Sørensen (R) DAN MP Motorsport 11 1:57,389 + 0,550
10 8 Stéphane Richelmi MON Dams 10 1:57,448 + 0,609
11 3 Felipe Nasr BRA Carlin 11 1:57,475 + 0,636
12 26 Arhur Pic (R) FRA Campos Racing 10 1:57,516 + 0,677
13 20 Daniël de Jong NED MP Motorsport 11 1:57,706 + 0,867
14 19 Tom Dillmann FRA EQ8 Caterham Racing 11 1:56,932 + 0,093
15 25 Conor Daly USA Venezuela GP Lazarus 12 1:57,788 + 0,949
16 6 Stefano Coletti MON Racing Engineering 11 1:57,844 + 1,005
17 16 Rene Binder AUT Arden International 12 1:57,851 + 1,012
18 11 Daniel Abt GER Hilmer Motorsport 13 1:57,875 + 1,036
19 18 Rio Haryanto IND EQ8 Caterham Racing 12 1:57,974 + 1,135
20 17 André Negrao (R) BRA Arden International 12 1:58,002 + 1,163
21 14 Adrian Quaife-Hobbs GBR Rapax 12 1:58,005 + 1,166
22 27 Kimiya Sato (R) JAP Campos Racing 10 1:58,185 + 1,346
23 12 Jon Lancaster GBR Hilmer Motorsport 13 1:58,218 + 1,379
24 22 Sergio Canamasas ESP Trident 12 1:58,295 + 1,456
25 2 Artem Markelov (R) RUS RT Russian Time 10 1:58,470 + 1,631
9 Takuya Izawa (R) JAP ART Grand Prix 2 2:40,364 + 43,525