On a circuit recognised as being the greatest measure of a driver’s ability, an ebullient Lewis Hamilton blew his Ferrari rivals away to qualify in pole position for today’s Belgian Grand Prix.

After finishing second while suffering from flu at the European Grand Prix in Valencia two weeks ago, the Briton was back to his physical and technical best, and with McLaren again improving his car, he appears in superb shape to widen his lead in the world championship.

Even on the longest circuit in the calendar, the margin by which Hamilton was quickest — over three-tenths of a second — was startling. Nor, judging by the delight in the McLaren pit and the gloomy faces in the Ferrari garage, does it seem to have been down to Hamilton carrying less fuel than Felipe Massa, who was second fastest.

To improve matters further for the British team, Hamilton’s teammate Heikki Kovalainen qualified third fastest, splitting Massa from Ferrari colleague Kimi Raikkonen, who even on a track where he has won three times, could not find an answer to the qualifying malaise which has blighted the world champion all season.

Asked whether, with the benefit of hindsight, he would have put more fuel in the car, McLaren team principal Ron Dennis shook his head, though he warned of possible disruption to today’s race through the forests of the Ardennes.

“It’s important to be on pole, not so much because of the nature of the circuit, but because of the weather,” said Dennis. “If we have rain it’s not a circuit you want to be following cars around on, so we’re delighted with our positions. We brought more developments here, and there’s a big package coming for the Italian Grand Prix in Monza next week, so it’s the effort of the team as a whole. We’re getting the tyres to work a little better than some of our competitors, but overall it’s just a good package.”

Hamilton found it hard to contain his pleasure. “Coming from Valencia we knew we had some work to do, but I’ve come here feeling better than ever, more and more comfortable in the car, and the preparation has been fantastic. I’m stoked,” he said, after sealing his fifth pole this term, and the 11th of his F1 career. Tomorrow’s going to be a challenging day but we’re going to be hard to beat. I was happy with all the laps I did in qualifying; it’s satisfying when you can do a lap, come back in, and watch everybody else going around trying to get their laps done.

“Today the team made no mistakes and I made no mistakes. Well, in my first Q3 lap I had a bit of a lock-up in turn one, and I had the same in my second Q3 lap, but somehow I managed to keep it together. “

Beside him, Massa was finding it equally hard to disguise his dismay. “I did a great lap, almost perfect, but it was not enough,” said the Brazilian. “These \ guys showed a better performance than us and we need to understand why. Yesterday we had a great car, and I did a great lap in qualifying, but it was not enough.

“It’s true we don’t know what the fuel loads are, but they were quicker than us through every qualifying session, which shows they are strong here. But the race is long, and starting on the front row is important. The car feels OK, the balance is good, we just need to pick up a little more speed. It was not possible today; hopefully tomorrow it will be a different picture, depending on the track and the conditions. We’ll do everything we can to make sure we have strong pace.”

For Hamilton’s father Anthony, his son’s performance was a further indication of the speed with which he is maturing as a race driver — as indeed were his efforts to secure second place, and eight world championship points, during the processional but still draining race in Valencia.

“Lewis is absolutely fit and well. In Spain he had a bout of flu that started coming on and caused all sorts of complications, and I thought he performed extremely well in the circumstances,” said Hamilton Sr. “He’s matured quite a lot over the last 18 months, and become a proper Grand Prix race driver, and as usual we expect him to do the best job he possibly can. If he wins, that’s a bonus — but in the back of his mind, he always wants to win the race. Wherever he finishes, it’s because of the circumstances.” Nick Heidfeld, who set the fastest lap in final practice earlier in the day, kept up his improved run of form to take fifth for BMW Sauber, with teammate Robert Kubica in eighth. With BMW yet to confirm who will be driving alongside Kubica next season, the German is under pressure, and a high points finish would do his cause no harm. “Two weeks ago we found solutions to some problems, and for me this meant an improvement, the work we have done has paid off,” said Heidfeld.

Speculation also continues over the immediate destination of Fernando Alonso. The Renault driver was sixth fastest yesterday, just ahead of Red Bull’s Mark Webber, and some now believe the former world champion may be driving alongside Massa for Ferrari next season. With Raikkonen contracted by the Scuderia for another year, it had been anticipated that Alonso would not be moving to Italy until 2010, but rumours are growing that if Hamilton goes on to take the world championship, Ferrari may pay the Finn off in order to get Alonso on board as quickly as possible.

That might come as a relief to Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello, one of whom would have to be dropped if, as had previously been mooted, Alonso spends 2009 with Honda. Button endured a miserable day, missing the final practice with a fuel pressure problem before qualifying 17th.

There was slightly better news for David Coulthard, the Scot qualifying 14th on his final appearance at Spa-Francorchamps, though once again it was well behind his teammate Webber.