(CNN) — Following a year of disappointments and always playing catchup to Mercedes, for Ferrari that there seems to be light at the end of the tunnel.
Charles Leclerc drove to earn pole position for the third time in his career, with teammate Sebastian Vettel qualifying in second to secure a front row lockout for the producer in Belgium.
The Monegasque driver has been streets ahead of the competition, finishing more than seven-tenths of a second before Vettel and Lewis Hamilton in the third party.
Ferrari is without a Grand Prix win in the 12 races thus far this year — with an entirely dominant Mercedes and it’s been the Red Bull of Max Verstappen that has provided Mercedes’ largest challenge in recent weeks.
“It felt great, the first sector was not quite what we desired, but from the next corner onwards we were very strong and it felt amazing,” Leclerc told Sky Sports. “We need to work on our race speed a bit, but I think we ought to be strong ”
Despite the success of Ferrari , more queries are most likely to be requested of the functionality of Vettel and the four-time world champion finished much behind his junior teammate.
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It has now been more than a year since the German won a race, coming now last season at Spa, though despite announcing his final qualifying spins turned into a”mess” he pipped Hamilton to second position by only 0.015 seconds.
It turned out to be a qualifying session that saw motorists queuing up to start off their laps and in one point, Hamilton had to brake to avoid swerving into the back of teammate Valtteri Bottas.
“At the end it is fine we secured the first row,” Vettel told Sky Sports. “I was in the queue which doesn’t assist but no excuses, we anticipate the race tomorrow and we have great pace from the vehicle — it was better today.”
This Hamilton was even able to compete Saturday was a miracle in itself, after a crash at the last practice session made his car profoundly damaged and in need of repairs.
The Brit paid tribute at his garage that managed to get his car race prepared to the team.
“FP3 (third clinic ) was a terrible session for me and of course it is painful since you know how many worked to create those parts and who many people place the car together,” Hamilton told Sky Sports.
“But my guys back at the garage are all faultless, always give 100% and I am so thankful to them to get me back out here. I had been hoping to pay back them with a good qualifying session,” he explained.
He added:”Ferrari have done a fantastic job now but I expect we could bring the battle to them tomorrow.”
It is the second time this season Ferrari has just ever had a front row lockout; in Bahrain, Leclerc had been denied victory when his car lost power with only a couple of laps.
The 21-year-old will undoubtedly be hoping the third time is the charm as he calls for a Grand Prix win in Formula One.
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