Jenson Button took a surprising pole position during qualifying for tomorrow’s Belgian Grand Prix. Despite complaining of understeer earlier in the session, Button clocked a 1:47.573 to secure the top spot.
Another surprise was Sauber’s Kamui Kobayashi who qualified high up in second place, ahead of Williams’ Pastor Maldonado, while pole favorite Kimi Raikkonen settled for fourth.
Kobayashi’s teammate Sergio Perez ensured two top 5 positions for his Sauber team as he went fifth quickest, followed by Fernando Alonso in the Ferrari and Mark Webber, who’s dropping five places tomorrow, in the Red Bull.
Lewis Hamilton qualified a low eighth position, with Lotus’ Romain Grosjean and Force India’s Paul Di Resta completing the top 10. Sebastian Vettel meanwhile couldn’t make it into Q3 and ended up 11th.
Pos Driver Car Time Gap 1. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1m47.573s 2. Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1m47.871s + 0.298s 3. Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault 1m47.893s + 0.320s 4. Kimi Raikkonen Lotus-Renault 1m48.205s + 0.632s 5. Sergio Perez Sauber-Ferrari 1m48.219s + 0.646s 6. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1m48.313s + 0.740s 7. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1m48.392s + 0.819s 8. Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1m48.394s + 0.821s 9. Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 1m48.538s + 0.965s 10. Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 1m48.890s + 1.317s Q2 cut-off time: 1m48.993s 11. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1m49.722s + 0.472s 12. Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 1m49.362s + 0.112s 13. Michael Schumacher Mercedes 1m49.742s + 0.492s 14. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1m49.588s + 0.338s 15. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m49.763s + 0.513s 16. Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m49.572s + 0.322s 17. Bruno Senna Williams-Renault 1m49.958s + 0.708s Q1 cut-off time: 1m50.126s 18. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m50.181s + 1.188s 19. Heikki Kovalainen Caterham-Renault 1m51.739s + 2.746s 20. Vitaly Petrov Caterham-Renault 1m51.967s + 2.974s 21. Timo Glock Marussia-Cosworth 1m52.336s + 3.343s 22. Pedro de la Rosa HRT-Cosworth 1m53.030s + 4.037s 23. Charles Pic Marussia-Cosworth 1m53.493s + 4.500s 24. Narain Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth 1m54.989s + 5.996s