Nico Rosberg grabs pole, Max Verstappen on front row for Belgian Grand Prix

Updated 27/08/2016 at 14:56 GMT

Nico Rosberg claimed pole position for the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa Francorchamps, with Max Verstappen to start alongside him on the front row.

Nico Rosberg (Mercedes) - GP of Belgium 2016

Image credit: AFP

Verstappen, 18, will become the youngest driver ever to start from the front row in a Formula 1 race.

"I'm just very pleased to be second here in front of my fans - it's great to see them at the side of the track," said Verstappen, who was born in Belgium to a Flemish mother and Dutch father.

Kimi Raikkonen will start from third and Sebastian Vettel fourth.

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Raikkonen believed he could have done even better, saying afterwards that "I lost two tenths in the last chicane... Pole position was there. We had a good chance... It's disappointing because we were close and it would have been nice to get it."

But the honours went to Rosberg, who was delighted to have turned things round after a shaky week.

"We had a difficult weekend up until now," said Rosberg, who had struggled to seventh in the morning's final practice.

"We made a lot of changes before qualifying and it all came together, so I'm very happy."

Rosberg's Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton will start from the back of the grid, however, having incurred a 55-place grid penalty for a series of engine component changes.

The championship leader, 19 points clear at the top of the standings, lined up in Q1 to make the 107% qualifying time standard, then returned to the pits for the remainder of the qualifying session.

One British driver did make the top 10, however: Jenson Button, who somehow hauled his underpowered McLaren to ninth on the grid - a fine result which Button hailed afterwards as perhaps his "best ever qualifying."

Sunday's race will be further enlivened by the different tyre strategies being used by the top qualifiers: Verstappen will start the race on super softs while Rosberg, the Ferrari drivers and his team-mate Daniel Ricciardo will all start the race on the harder compound.

When asked about his plan for the race, Verstappen said: "To start on the super-soft and see where we end up after a few laps.

"We have a few strategies. I decided with the team to run the super-softs [in Q2].

"We think it's the best strategy to go into tomorrow, and we'll see how it pays off."