Jenson Button secures first pole for McLaren at Spa - No rain appeared over Spa today, but the grid still proved chaotic
Published by Christine
This is F1Minute - Jenson Button secures first pole for McLaren at Spa.
The clear blue skies allowed drivers some running in Free Practice 3 this morning, but it’s fair to say all were feeling underprepared when qualifying arrived. The rain steered clear, but the grid still managed to mix itself up. In first qualifying, Nico Rosberg became the big name to fall - the Mercedes driver also facing a five place gearbox-related grid penalty.
In Q2, it was Sebastian Vettel who surprised by missing out on the top ten shootout. Michael Schumacher also missed out, compounding Mercedes’ bad day, whilst Jean-Éric Vergne outqualified teammate Daniel Ricciardo, albeit by only a couple of tenths of a second.
The final qualifying session saw Jenson Button incredibly fast, taking provisional pole and then beating his own time to secure it. Behind him, Mark Webber could only manage 7th, and he also faces a gearbox penalty, whilst Fernando Alonso was 6th, Räikkönen 4th.
The impressive stuff came from Kamui Kobayashi who lines up alongside the McLaren on the front row, and from Pastor Maldonado, who sits just behind them in third.
