Belgium Grand Prix Qualifying results and analysis

Jenson Button has taken pole posistion for the Belgium Grand prix with a stonker of a lap. Surprisingly, Kamui Kobayashi and Pastor Maldanado line up second and third on the grid.

Here are the full results at the end of Qualifying:

Analysis Of Qualifying:

Mclaren didn’t look particularly quick in practice 3 and even in Q1 Jenson was complaining of understeer.The Mclaren team made some adjustments to the rear end of Jenson’s car which seems to have worked wonders as he was the quickest of all drivers in Q2 and Q3.

Hamilton didn’t have a good outing as he could only clock 8th fastest time. Clearly his Mclaren didn’t look as hooked up to the track as of Jenson’s so there will be a lot of head scratching and data analysis in the Mclaren camp tonight.

Sauber has always been quick on low downforce high speed tracks and will line up second and fifth on the grid. Kobayashi who lines up second was fastest in terms of speed in sector 1. The interesting thing to note is that the saubers look quick in sector 1 and equally quick in sector 2 while all other teams have either been quick in sector 1 and 3 or have compromised top speed to be quick in sector 2.

Williams have looked quick throughout this weekend but today’s qualifying saw contrasting fortunes for their drivers as Pastor Maldanado lines up third on the grid while Bruno Senna lines up 17th on the grid.

Lotus endured a relatively good qualifying session as Kimi Raikkonen lines up fourth on the grid while Romain Grosjean lines up ninth. Grosjean seeems to be struggling with the rear of that Lotus and found himself out of the track many times during the qualifying session. Also, the lotus team are running higher downforce levels than any other team which means they are very quick through sector 2 but are quite slow in sector 1 and sector 3. In the race, DRS can only be used on the kemmel straight and that too if the driver is within the DRS zone. So, with low top speed, Lotus may find themselves going back as the race progresses.

Ferrari had a difficult qualifying session as Fernando Alonso could only manage sixth position while Felipe Massa ended up 14th on the grid. The Ferrari team are running with very less amount of downforce which means that they are quick in sector 1 and 3 but struggling to negotiate the turns in sector 2.

Red-Bull had a disaster of a qualifying with Mark Webber finishing down at 7th place. But due to the five place grid penalty, he will line up 12th on the grid. Sebastian Vettel couldn’t make it into Q3 and will line up 10th on the grid. The Red-Bull like Lotus do not have a good overall top speed so they have compromised top speed for downforce. It will be interesting to see whether either of their drivers can move up the grid in the race tomorrow.

Force India had a good outing as Paul Di Resta made into Q3 and will start P9 owing to webber’s penalty. Nico Hulkenberg lines up 13th on the grid and was not happy with the balance of the car through the middle sector.

Mercedes also had a bad qualifying as Rosberg got eliminated early on in Q1 and will line up 23rd on the grid due to gearbox penalty. Seven time world champion Michael Schumacher will start from 13th on the grid for his 300th grand prix. Like Force India, Mercedes are also struggling for grip through the middle sector.

Some Interesting Telemetry Data:

Track and Weather Condition during Qualifying: