Saturday: Button secures his first pole position for McLaren

Jenson Button – 5th and Pole position:

« It has been so long since my last pole position that it almost feels like a victory for me!

In fact, it’s my first pole since Monaco 2009 – a race that I won – and it shows that I can qualify well.

I want to congratulate the whole team: this is my 50th Grand Prix for Vodafone McLaren Mercedes this weekend, so it’s the perfect time to be on pole for everyone in Woking, in Brixworth [the Mercedes engine factory, editor’s note], and of course here at Spa.

I am surprised that the new rear wing works so well, but the engineers have also done a good job with the balance. And it is even more encouraging that we have been consistent over the three parts of the qualifying. However, no one has done a long stint so far, so we have to wait and see how the race goes.

Can I still win the drivers’ championship? Yes. We will take things day by day, but I hope we can score good points tomorrow.

Lewis Hamilton – 12th and 8th [7th on the grid]:

Congratulations to Jenson! He did an excellent job and I hope he will take all the points tomorrow.

For me, today was a bit disappointing; but, since I’m still in the top 10, tomorrow will be about trying to do my best.

The settings weren’t perfect, but that was simply because we chose the wrong rear wing, preferring to stick with the version we used in Hungary. The wing we used in Free Practice 3 this morning didn’t really work well, so we decided to go back to the old wing, which we thought was a safer option. It was a collective choice: we thought the old wing would be faster in qualifying, but in fact, Jenson showed that the new one was indeed very good.

Our side of the garage has been a bit unlucky, but we’ll do what we can with what we have tomorrow.