Mark Webber secured yet another pole position for the Red Bull team, although it wasn’t plain sailing as the weather was a cause for concern for most.
Lewis Hamilton managed to get ahead of Robert Kubica and Sebastian Vettel in the dying minutes of Q3, whilst Fernando Alonso couldn’t string it together and will start tenth.
Full Report
With the chance of rain looming, almost every driver lined up in the pit-lane as they waited for the green light. 90-seconds into the session, Vitaly Petrov suffered a spin as he touched the kerbs resulting in a red flag.
The restart again saw every driver, minus Petrov and the two Red Bull’s, queuing up to set a flying lap as heavy rain began to fall on the track.
Several cars tussled for position on the out-lap making it look more like a race than qualifying. Lucas di Grassi span on his flying lap at turn 14 which caused many cars to take to the gravel to avoid his Virgin car – that incident will be looked at by the stewards.
Kamui Kobayashi and Pedro de la Rosa also dropped out of Q1 having both slid wide into the gravel trap as the track began to dry.
With the changeable weather conditions, Timo Glock and Heikki Kovalainen capitalised on the difficult conditions to make it into Q2.
Michael Schumacher and Nico Rosberg couldn’t make it through to Q3 for Mercedes, both will drop places on the grid, Schumacher ten places, Rosberg five.
Q3 looked set to be a dry affair until the very end when the heavens opened for the third time today. Mark Webber secured pole ahead of Lewis Hamilton in second.
Fernando Alonso left his lap too late and could only manage tenth.
Schumacher to start 21st, Rosberg 16th.
Belgium Qualifying Results:
| Pos | Driver | Team | Q1 Time | Q2 Time | Q3 Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | M. Webber | Red Bull | 1:57.352 | 1:47.253 | 1:45.778 |
| 2. | L. Hamilton | McLaren | 1:56.706 | 1:46.211 | 1:45.863 |
| 4. | S. Vettel | Red Bull | 1:58.487 | 1:47.245 | 1:46.127 |
| 5. | J. Button | McLaren | 1:57.981 | 1:46.790 | 1:46.206 |
| 3. | R. Kubica | Renault | 1:56.041 | 1:47.320 | 1:45.863 |
| 10. | F. Alonso | Ferrari | 1:57.023 | 1:47.544 | 1:47.441 |
| 6. | F. Massa | Ferrari | 1:58.323 | 1:47.322 | 1:46.314 |
| 8. | A. Sutil | Force India | 1:58.730 | 1:47.292 | 1:46.659 |
| 9. | N. Hulkenberg | Williams | 1:55.442 | 1:47.821 | 1:47.053 |
| 19. | K. Kobayashi | Sauber | 2:02.284 | ||
| 22. | P. de la Rosa | Sauber | 2:05.294 | ||
| 24. | V. Petrov | Renault | No Time | ||
| 7. | R. Barrichello | Williams | 1:55.757 | 1:47.797 | 1:46.602 |
| 11. | M. Schumacher | Mercedes | 1:56.313 | 1:47.874 | |
| 12. | N. Rosberg | Mercedes | 1:54.826 | 1:47.885 | |
| 15. | S. Buemi | Toro Rosso | 2:00.386 | 1:49.209 | |
| 13. | J. Alguersuari | Toro Rosso | 1:58.944 | 1:48.267 | |
| 14. | V. Liuzzi | Force India | 2:01.102 | 1:48.680 | |
| 18. | J. Trulli | Lotus | 2:01.491 | ||
| 20. | B. Senna | Hispania | 2:03.612 | ||
| 16. | H. Kovalainen | Lotus | 2:01.343 | 1:50.980 | |
| 23. | L. di Grassi | Virgin | 2:18.754 | ||
| 17. | T. Glock | Virgin | 2:01.316 | 1:52.049 | |
| 21. | S. Yamamoto | Hispania | 2:03.941 |
