Belgium – Qualifications: Button left everyone behind

As this morning, the beautiful weather is present as we approach this qualifying session. While not exactly summer-like, the temperatures are still much higher than yesterday, with 16°C in the air and 28°C on the track.

As announced yesterday, Mark Webber will be demoted by 5 positions on the starting grid tomorrow, a penalty that was also given to Nico Rosberg after his issues in the morning.

Q1: Charles Pic, who set the fastest time yesterday in Free Practice 2, is the first to go out on his Marussia, on Medium tires. He sets the first time at 1:53.493, quickly surpassed after the first round of laps by Sergio Pérez, who is the first to go under one minute fifty with 1:49.642.

Among the title contenders, Fernando Alonso, on Hard tires, is the first to set a time, but only at 1:54.835, after aborting his effort. The Spaniard is joined by Lewis Hamilton, who moves up to 2nd position with a time of 1:49.803, before the Ferrari driver sets the best time of 1:49.401. The Asturian’s F2012 appears to be tuned for sectors 1 and 3, which require a lot of top speed.

In the meantime, two drivers had scares: Felipe Massa, who nearly went through the gravel, and Narain Karthikeyan, who spun out at the rear after hitting the curb outside Pouhon. But all this remains without consequences.

With 6 minutes remaining in Q1, Jenson Button claims the leading position with a time of 1:49.250, improving all his personal best sectors, while Räikkönen positions himself 3rd. Sebastian Vettel is the last to start his timed lap, on Hard tires, finishing a lap in 1:49.722 which places him 6th.

At the back of the pack, the Mercedes are in 17th and 18th positions, with Schumacher currently eliminated. The Medium tires are thus out for the Silver Arrows, who climb to 14th and 9th places, which doesn’t guarantee them qualification, as Nico Rosberg almost instantly drops back to 17th position, while Pastor Maldonado takes the fastest time.

It is then Daniel Ricciardo who is eliminated, before setting the 6th fastest time in 1:49.572. Nico Rosberg’s last attempt is not enough to allow him to move into Q2, so the German is eliminated and will start from 23rd position due to his penalty. Maldonado is thus at the top of the timesheet for this first part of qualifying, and all the drivers are within 107%.

Eliminated in Q1: Rosberg, Kovalainen, Petrov, Glock, De La Rosa, Pic, and Karthikeyan.

Q2: Sergio Pérez opens the second part of the qualifying session, his Sauber fitted with Medium tires. During the Mexican’s lap, the rear wing of Jenson Button’s car is a focus of concern for McLaren, particularly regarding the DRS. The first benchmark time is set by the Sauber No. 15 at 1:48.880, immediately establishing a time better than the fastest in Q1.

Mark Webber, also on Mediums, takes the lead with a time of 1:48.662, shortly overtaken by the man he is chasing in the standings, Fernando Alonso (1:48.598). It’s indeed the preferred time for title contenders: Hamilton and then Räikkönen successively claim the fastest time, 1:48.414 for the Finn.

Romain Grosjean slots into 5th position with a time of 1:48.714, before Jenson Button, whose DRS is finally working, shatters Räikkönen’s time by nearly 8 tenths, lighting up all three sectors in purple. Meanwhile, Bruno Senna found himself sideways at Pouhon, but the Brazilian manages to avoid any damage.

Before the final salvo of attempts, it’s Sebastian Vettel who feels the heat, positioned 10th, nearly 2 seconds behind Jenson Button. At this moment, Massa is eliminated, along with Di Resta, the Toro Rossos, and the Williams. Only Button and Räikkönen feel safe from danger, preferring to save a set of tires for Q3 and therefore for the race.

Kobayashi is the first to improve, moving up to 4th position, while Felipe Massa can do no better than a provisional 9th. Vettel and Schumacher then need to set a time better than 1:48.780 to qualify, which neither manages to achieve, with the Red Bull driver missing by just 0.012 seconds. Q2 was once again very close, with 0.4 seconds separating Webber in 4th from Hülkenberg in 12th.

Eliminated in Q2: Vettel, Hülkenberg, Schumacher, Massa, Vergne, Ricciardo, and Senna.

Q3: Paul di Resta is the first to cross the pit lane for these last 10 minutes, but he is overtaken by Kimi Räikkönen, visibly in a hurry, on the Kemmel straight. The Finn, who is using Medium tires, is therefore the first to start his stopwatch, and he stops it at 1:48.205.

But Jenson Button is not far off and posts a time equivalent to that of Q2, 1:47.686. The other drivers either preferred to abort their first attempt, notably Hamilton, who went into a slide on a banked turn, or to save themselves for the end of the session and conserve a precious set of tires.

Each of the 10 drivers has only one attempt left, starting with Kobayashi and Maldonado. The two outsiders surprisingly place themselves under 1:48, close to Button, while Räikkönen cannot improve. The 2009 World Champion, for his part, keeps improving by a tenth, far ahead of the other favorites who fail to go under one minute forty-eight.

It is therefore Jenson Button who takes this pole position, ahead of the surprising Kamui Kobayashi and Pastor Maldonado. They will be followed on the grid by Räikkönen and Alonso. Among the other title contenders, Webber, 7th in this qualifying session, will start 12th, Hamilton, 8th, will be in the 7th position on the grid, and Vettel, 11th in the session, will start 10th.

Results of the 2012 Belgian Grand Prix Qualifying: