Qualification: Exceptional! Pole position for Fisichella in Belgium

Giancarlo Fisichella secured the 4th pole position of his career today at Spa for the 2009 Belgian Grand Prix. The Force India driver thus gives his team the best result since its inception. The qualifications on this very selective track have produced surprising results. Force India, BMW, and Toyota emerge from this second day as favorites, while Brawn GP, Red Bull, or even McLaren are not able to compete. Trulli (Toyota) is on the front row, ahead of Heidfeld (BMW) and Barrichello (Brawn GP). Neither Hamilton, Alonso, nor Button qualified for Q3!

The Italian driver delivered a very strong performance this afternoon at Spa-Francorchamps during the Belgian GP qualifying. On the Force India, Fisichella secured Force India’s first pole position in Formula 1 and stood out on a circuit known to be one of the most demanding of the season, highlighting the truly best drivers and cars.

Fisichella took advantage of the very different weather conditions – 10°C warmer compared to the previous day – compared to those encountered during the free practice sessions to put on soft tires, whereas most of his competitors were on hard tires. The competitors are also quite unusual since, at this stage of qualifying, the top 10 includes BMW and Toyota drivers – who struggled last week in Valencia – as well as the Red Bulls, Räikkönen, Kubica, and Barrichello.

Giancarlo Fisichella thus achieves pole position, the 4th of his career, but probably with a very light fuel load. To save his tires and his car, the Italian only ran in the last 5 minutes of Q3. He never came in to refuel or change tires, proving he was only on a single stint to make a statement. Mission accomplished brilliantly.

Behind, Jarno Trulli proves that Toyota can quickly bounce back. At the back of the grid last week in Valencia, Trulli finds himself on the front row in Belgium this time, on a completely different type of circuit. Similarly, Nick Heidfeld in the BMW finally proves that the German brand was wrong to want to sell its team for 2010…

The top four consists only of experienced drivers who know the Spa circuit by heart. Thus, Barrichello in the Brawn GP is the first of the ‘leaders’ in this ranking. He is 4th, with a heavier fuel load than those ahead of him and armed to secure a second consecutive victory. The Brazilian once again outshines his teammate, Jenson Button, who is nevertheless the leader of the 2009 championship. The Englishman only achieves the 14th fastest time, failing to make it into Q3.

The 5th position goes to Kubica in the second BMW: the team is best placed to defend its position in the championship. Only Toyota, which enables Glock to achieve the 7th best performance, seems capable of securing the best group result.

Räikkönen is 6th in the Ferrari. He managed to qualify for Q3 by a few tenths of a second but saves Ferrari’s face. Once again, Luca Badoer – Massa’s replacement – disappoints. The Italian is last, again, spinning while overtaking a Red Bull in the last minute of Q1 time. In addition to damaging his car, he triggers a yellow flag and prevents several drivers from improving their lap times. This was the case notably for Romain Grosjean. The Frenchman in the Renault was behind Badoer when the incident occurred. The rookie, in his second Grand Prix in F1, was forced to slow down and ended his lap in the pits, finishing only in 19th place. Some were luckier, like Alonso, who was able to finish his lap and just qualify for Q2. The Spaniard won’t achieve better performances as the R29 disappoints and seems too inconsistent. He will start only from 13th position, ahead of Button and behind Lewis Hamilton.

McLaren is indeed the other team that is lagging this weekend, against all odds after rather encouraging practice sessions. Hamilton is therefore 12th while his teammate, Kovalainen, is only 15th and the last to qualify from Q2. At the limit, several drivers slightly went off into the dirt outside the curbs. Alonso, Barrichello, and Kovalainen experienced several scares as a result.

The Red Bulls are not in the mix either. Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber seem to have to save their engines – both men are using their 7th engine this weekend. They are 8th and 9th, respectively. Nico Rosberg brings up the rear of Q1, with the Williams driver usually being in the top 6. Nakajima, for his part, fails in Q1, in 18th place. He is close behind the two Toro Rosso drivers, with Alguersuari very close to beating his young teammate Buemi. The two drivers are separated by eight hundredths.

On the second Force India, Sutil proves that the team has truly made progress. He is 11th and will be able to choose his strategy tomorrow before the race, always interesting when knowing the chances of rain at Spa. They are currently around 45%.

Results of the Qualifying – Belgian Grand Prix – August 20, 2009: