Vettel on pole in Belgium

Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel claimed pole position at Spa-Franchorchamps ahead of Lewis Hamilton and Mark Webber.

World Champion claims his ninth pole of the season at Spa

World Champion Sebastian Vettel claimed his ninth pole position of the season on Saturday for the Belgian Grand Prix. The Red Bull driver, who currently leads the drivers' championship by 85 points, lines up ahead of McLaren's Lewis Hamilton on the grid for Sunday's race at Spa-Francorchamps, with Vettel's team-mate Mark Webber starting third. Ferrari's Felipe Massa qualified fourth ahead of Mercedes GP's Nico Rosberg, with Jaime Alguersuari and Bruno Senna - the latter making his 2011 debut this weekend - a fine sixth and seventh for Toro Rosso and Renault respectively. Fernando Alonso starts eighth for Ferrari ahead of Sauber's Sergio Perez and Renault's Vitaly Petrov. However, with track conditions predominantly damp during the hour-long session, there were big-name casualties: Jenson Button lines up 13th on the grid while Michael Schumacher, who is celebrating the 20th anniversary of his F1 debut this weekend, starts 24th and last after spinning off the track. There was also controversy involving Hamilton, who set his time in session three after an earlier collision with Pastor Maldonado - the Williams driver appearing to deliberately move over on his McLaren counterpart. Conditions were such that drivers opted for intermediate tyres during the first two sessions, with Schumacher losing control at Rivage on his very first lap after his Mercedes lost its right rear wheel. The seven-times world champion's car snapped out of control and hit the right-hand barrier before slithering along the grass and coming to a rest on the other side of the track.

Rain

A rain shower arrived with two minutes of the opening session remaining but it did not prevent Team Lotus's Heikki Kovalainen from bettering his own personal best to reach session two. Force India's Paul di Resta was the driver to suffer the consequences, with the Scot spinning in the closing stages and unable to improve. Besides Di Resta, Team Lotus's Jarno Trulli, Virgin pair Timo Glock and Jerome D'Ambrosio, and HRT's Vitantonio Liuzzi and Daniel Ricciardo all failed to progress. D'Ambrosio, Liuzzi and Ricciardo all set times more than 107 per cent slower than the quickest time in Q1, which prevents them from racing under F1 rules. However, they should get dispensations because of the weather conditions. A difficult day for Force India was confirmed when Adrian Sutil lost control exiting Eau Rouge in session two, the German falling foul of the wet kerbs at Raidillon before hitting the barrier. The session was red-flagged as Sutil's car was removed and when it resumed Webber was fastest - albeit with a time some five seconds slower than Button's session one benchmark of two minutes 01.813 seconds. However, Button failed to progress any further after managing only the 13th fastest time of session two. A misunderstanding between the McLaren driver and his team was to blame, with the 2009 world champion failing to complete his final flying lap on a track that was drying rapidly by that stage. Team-mate Hamilton had himself been in the drop zone before a late flyer moved him up the order, but he had to muscle his way past Maldonado in order to do so.

Damage

The Venezuelan subsequently moved across on Hamilton as they exited the La Source hairpin, with Hamilton's McLaren damaged as a result - part of its bodywork having to be held together with gaffer tape for session three. Despite complaining about his Ferrari's grip on intermediates, Alonso went quickest with a 2:02.768 in session two with Senna setting the fifth fastest time. Failing to progress alongside Button and Sutil, were Toro Rosso's Sebastien Buemi, Sauber's Kamui Kobayashi, Williams pair Maldonado and Rubens Barrichello as well as Kovalainen. With the top 10 runners all now on slicks, Webber - who had been fastest in practice on both Friday afternoon and Saturday morning - set the initial benchmark in session three with a lap of 1:50.875s around the 7.004km track. The Australian was only able to improve to a 1:49.376s, though, with Vettel's eventual pole time of 1:48.298s a full 0.432s faster than Hamilton's best. After claiming Red Bull's 13th successive pole, Vettel said: "It was a difficult session, with Q1 and Q2 very tricky, but with the circuit drying very quickly. "However, I rediscovered Spa, found some better lines, and in Q3 I pushed on the last lap as hard as I could. "With Lewis just in front of me I saw him locking up at the final turn and the last thing I wanted to do was lock up as well. "But I'm very happy, and although they say it's going to be dry for the race tomorrow, here you can never be sure."

Swipe

Hamilton, in assessing his incident with Maldonado, was relatively restrained with his views, aware he would be called to visit the stewards. "I was at the end of my Q2 lap, with a Williams going very slow in front of me, and I had to squeeze past," said Hamilton. "After that I exited turn one and I saw Maldonado come up behind me quite quickly, and as he passed he swiped across me. "There should never be an incident once the red lights are on (to signal the end of the session), but unfortunately there was. "The front wing was quite badly damaged, and I thought the front suspension too, but the guys did a great job of putting the car back together and getting me out again." He was later reprimanded by the stewards - whose number this weekend includes 1992 World Champion Nigel Mansell - while Maldonado was handed a five-place grid penalty. Webber admitted to going "a bit too hard" early in the Q3, adding: "I probably could have built up a bit slower going into the third and fourth lap. "We've had a smooth weekend, and it's easy to end up like JB (Button) and out of position, but we're in the hunt." Times
1 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull 1min 48.298secs, 2 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) McLaren 1:48.730, 3 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull 1:49.376, 4 Felipe Massa (Bra) Ferrari 1:50.256, 5 Nico Rosberg (Ger) Mercedes GP 1:50.552, 6 Jaime Alguersuari (Spa) Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:50.773, 7 Bruno Senna (Bra) Renault 1:51.121, 8 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Ferrari 1:51.251, 9 Sergio Perez (Mex) Sauber-Ferrari 1:51.374, 10 Vitaly Petrov (Rus) Renault 1:52.303, 11 Sebastien Buemi (Swi) Scuderia Toro Rosso 2:04.692, 12 Kamui Kobayashi (Jpn) Sauber-Ferrari 2:04.757, 13 Jenson Button (Gbr) McLaren 2:05.150, 14 Rubens Barrichello (Bra) Williams 2:07.349, 15 Adrian Sutil (Ger) Force India 2:07.777, 16 Pastor Maldonado (Ven) Williams 2:08.106, 17 Heikki Kovalainen (Fin) Lotus F1 2:08.354, 18 Paul di Resta (Gbr) Force India 2:07.758, 19 Jarno Trulli (Ita) Lotus F1 2:08.773, 20 Timo Glock (Ger) Virgin Racing 2:09.566, 21 Jerome d'Ambrosio (Bel) Virgin Racing 2:11.601, 22 Vitantonio Liuzzi (Ita) HRT-F1 2:11.616, 23 Daniel Ricciardo (Aus) HRT-F1 2:13.077, 24 Michael Schumacher (Ger) Mercedes GP no time set