Spa FR3.5: McLaren junior Kevin Magnussen takes commanding pole

The McLaren junior was in control of the fight at the front from the beginning of the session, which was delayed by morning fog at the Belgian circuit.

By the time the FR3.5 cars took to the track the surface was dry enough for slick tyres, and Magnussen settled into a rhythm long before anyone else.

He was briefly deposed with three minutes remaining when Arthur Pic snatched top spot, but Magnussen had more than enough in reserve and responded emphatically to cement his place at the top of the pile.

Pic was bumped down to fourth thanks to late improvements for Antonio Felix da Costa and Monaco podium finisher Jazeman Jaafar, while behind the Frenchman Marco Sorensen and Nikolay Martsenko jumped into the top six at the end.

Title contender Stoffel Vandoorne had a tough session on home soil, where he could only manage 13th.

The Belgian had been scrapping with Magnussen at the top in the early runs, but he struggled to find a clear lap on his second set of tyres.

A clash between Will Stevens and Monaco winner Nico Muller briefly brought out the yellow flags at the Bus Stop chicane, and that incident is under investigation by the stewards.

Vandoorne had to abandon his final lap when Pietro Fantin crashed at Turn 14, but he had already failed to improve on his previous best in the first sector so it was not certain that he would have moved up without the yellow flags.

Pos  Driver                  Team            Time       Gap
 1.  Kevin Magnussen         DAMS            1m58.868s
 2.  Antonio Felix da Costa  Arden Caterham  1m59.241s  + 0.373s
 3.  Jazeman Jaafar          Carlin          1m59.641s  + 0.773s
 4.  Arthur Pic              AV              1m59.656s  + 0.788s
 5.  Marco Sorensen          Lotus           1m59.862s  + 0.994s
 6.  Nikolay Martsenko       Pons            1m59.913s  + 1.045s
 7.  Daniil Move             Comtec          1m59.967s  + 1.099s
 8.  Oliver Webb             Fortec          1m59.986s  + 1.118s
 9.  Norman Nato             DAMS            2m00.054s  + 1.186s
10.  Carlos Huertas          Carlin          2m00.108s  + 1.240s
11.  Nigel Melker            Tech 1          2m00.147s  + 1.279s
12.  Andre Negrao            Draco           2m00.309s  + 1.441s
13.  Stoffel Vandoorne       Fortec          2m00.328s  + 1.460s
14.  Lucas Foresti           Comtec          2m00.403s  + 1.535s
15.  Christopher Zanella     ISR             2m00.465s  + 1.597s
16.  Nico Muller             Draco           2m00.556s  + 1.688s
17.  Sergey Sirotkin         ISR             2m00.641s  + 1.773s
18.  Mikhail Aleshin         Tech 1          2m00.734s  + 1.866s
19.  Carlos Sainz Jr         Zeta            2m00.887s  + 2.019s
20.  Pietro Fantin           Arden Caterham  2m00.895s  + 2.027s
21.  Marlon Stockinger       Lotus           2m01.072s  + 2.204s
22.  Matias Laine            P1/Strakka      2m01.485s  + 2.617s
23.  Zoel Amberg             Pons            2m01.494s  + 2.626s
24.  Yann Cunha              AV              2m01.666s  + 2.798s
25.  Mihai Marinescu         Zeta            2m01.878s  + 3.010s
26.  Will Stevens            P1/Strakka      2m02.002s  + 3.134s