Button on pole at Spa
Jenson Button takes pole position, with a stunning performance in qualifying for the Belgian GP
Jenson Button has secured his first pole position since the 2009 Monaco Grand Prix - and his first ever pole as a McLaren driver.
Button dominated qualifying for the Belgian Grand Prix, with a succession of fastest laps and was eight-tenths faster than everyone for most of Q2.
Equally impressive was Sauber's Kamui Kobayashi, who will start on the front row of the grid for the first time in his career, having been just three-tenths off Button's fastest time.
Pastor Maldonado was third fastest, but will start from sixth following a grid penalty for blocking Nico Hulkenberg.
This means that Kimi Raikkonen and Sergio Perez will start alongside each other on the second row, ahead of championship leader Fernando Alonso in fifth.
Mark Webber was seventh fastest but will start from 11th, following a five-place grid penalty for a gearbox change. This promotes Lewis Hamilton to seventh on the grid in the second McLaren.
Romain Grosjean and Paul di Resta will start from eighth and ninth respectively.
Reigning world champion Sebastian Vettel had been running in 10th but was knocked out on the final lap of Q2 by Maldonado. But thanks to Webber's grid penalty, he will start 10th and will also benefit from being allowed to choose which tyres he starts the race on.
Vettel wasn't the only big name to miss out on Q3, though. Felipe Massa will start from 14th for Ferrari, just behind Michael Schumacher. And Bruno Senna will start a disappointing 17th on the grid - 11 places behind his teammate, even after the Venezuelan driver's penalty.
The biggest casualty of the day was Nico Rosberg, who failed to make it out of the first qualifying session. The Mercedes driver missed most of the morning's practice session, having been forced to stop on track with gearbox problems. Following a grid penalty for a new 'box, he will start the race from 23rd on the grid.
All drivers qualified within the 107 per cent requirement, which means 24 cars will start tomorrow's race.
2012 Belgian Grand Prix grid
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | Jenson Button | McLaren-Mercedes | 1'47.573 |
| 2 | Kamui Kobayashi | Sauber-Ferrari | 1'47.871 |
| 3 | Kimi Raikkonen | Lotus-Renault | 1'48.205 |
| 4 | Sergio Perez | Sauber-Ferrari | 1'48.219 |
| 5 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | 1'48.313 |
| 6 | Pastor Maldonado* | Williams-Renault | 1'47.893 |
| 7 | Lewis Hamilton | McLaren-Mercedes | 1'48.394 |
| 8 | Romain Grosjean | Lotus-Renault | 1'48.538 |
| 9 | Paul di Resta | Force India-Mercedes | 1'48.890 |
| 10 | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull Racing-Renault | 1'48.792 |
| 11 | Mark Webber** | Red Bull Racing-Renault | 1'48.392 |
| 12 | Nico Hulkenberg | Force India-Mercedes | 1'48.855 |
| 13 | Michael Schumacher | Mercedes | 1'49.081 |
| 14 | Felipe Massa | Ferrari | 1'49.147 |
| 15 | Jean-Eric Vergne | STR-Ferrari | 1'49.354 |
| 16 | Daniel Ricciardo | STR-Ferrari | 1'49.543 |
| 17 | Bruno Senna | Williams-Renault | 1'50.088 |
| 18 | Heikki Kovalainen | Caterham-Renault | 1'51.739 |
| 19 | Vitaly Petrov | Caterham-Renault | 1'51.967 |
| 20 | Timo Glock | Marussia-Cosworth | 1'52.336 |
| 21 | Pedro de la Rosa | HRT-Cosworth | 1'53.030 |
| 22 | Charles Pic | Marussia-Cosworth | 1'53.493 |
| 23 | Nico Rosberg** | Mercedes | 1'50.181 |
| 24 | Narain Karthikeyan | HRT-Cosworth | 1'54.989 |
107 per cent time: 1'56.622
*Three-place penalty for impeding Nico Hulkenberg in qualifying**Five-place penalty for gearbox change
