Formula One champion Lewis Hamilton has set a track record at the Belgian Grand Prix as he clinched a record-extending 93rd pole position, while Australian Daniel Ricciardo qualified fourth fastest.

Hamilton is primed to extend his championship lead, which stands at 37 points over Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and 43 over Bottas.

“I didn’t make a mistake,” Hamilton said proudly.

He finished well ahead of Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas, who trailed the British ace by 0.511 seconds while Verstappen was 0.526 adrift in third.

“I need to attack if I want to keep my title hopes (alive),” Bottas, who won the opening race of the season in Austria, said.

It was a strong performance from Ricciardo in his Renault, who will start on row two for Sunday’s race at the 7km track nestled in the Ardennes forest.

“I’m very happy with today’s qualifying. It was so close to the top three, but Max got me by a couple of tenths at the end,” Ricciardo said.

“My lap was clean and probably as good as it was going to get. I left it all out there and the second row is a big reward.

“Tomorrow looks interesting.

“We have good pace in the dry, but if it’s wet, we’ve shown in the past we’re not bad either.

“If it rains, it creates more opportunities, so whatever the conditions, we’ll take it and aim to do the best possible job.”

Things are going from terrible to abysmal for Ferrari, with Charles Leclerc in 13th and Sebastian Vettel 14th.

Ferrari’s lack of form was such that Leclerc, who won last year from pole position, was happy to qualify in 13th.

“Honestly, yes. It’s sad to say that but getting into Q2 was a nice surprise. I’m starting from 13th and I think it will be difficult unless it rains,” he said.

Vettel registered the previous track record on his way to victory here in 2018, but this season the veteran German driver has not even finished in the top five in six races.