Red Bull's Mark Webber secures pole at Belgian GP

Following a tricky qualifying session, as a couple of showers over different parts of the Spa circuit created problems, Webber ended teammate Sebastian Vettel's run of four successive pole positions.

But on the seven-kilometre circuit in the Ardennes, pole has counted for little over the years as only 13 drivers starting at the very front of the grid have gone on to win the race from the 43 previous races.

u00a0Red Bull driver Mark Webber secured pole for the Belgian GP on Saturday. PIC/GETTY IMAGES

Webber will have McLaren's Lewis Hamilton alongside him on the front row after the Briton missed out by less than a tenth of a second as a light shower at turn one late on arguably cost him pole.

Red Bull have now moved up to joint second on the all-time list as Williams (three times), McLaren (twice), Lotus and Ferrari have all had 12 poles in a season, and are now three short of equalling the record jointly held by Williams and McLaren.

Renault's Robert Kubica is third, with Vettel and reigning champion Jenson Button behind him in his McLaren, followed by the Ferrari of Felipe Massa.

The Williams duo of Rubens Barrichellou00a0-- on the occasion of his 300th grand prixu00a0-- and Nico Hulkenberg are seventh and ninth, sandwiching Force India's Adrian Sutil, with Fernando Alonso down in 10th in his Ferrari.
The initial 20-minute session was a chaotic affair, sparked by Vitaly Petrov who brought out a red flag after just 118 seconds.

On a damp track in places following the downpour at the end of the final practice session, Petrov ran wide over the red and white rumble strips.

That sent the Russian into a spin in his Renault, colliding with a barrier as he travelled backwards, eventually coming to a halt on the grass.

In order for his car to be rescued by the marshals, the session was halted for six minutes, crucial time lost as it turned out as the rain loomed.

Starting Grid

1) Mark Webber,
Red Bull, 1:45.778
2) Lewis Hamilton, McLaren, 1:45.863
3) Robert Kubica Renault, 1:46.100
4) Sebastian Vettel ,
Red Bull, 1:46.127
5) Jenson Button, McLaren, 1:46.206
6) Felipe Massa,
Ferrari, 1:46.314
7) Rubens Barrichello, Williams, 1:46.602
8) Adrian Sutil,
Force India, 1:46.659
9) Nico Hulkenberg, u00a0Williams, 1:47.053
10 Fernando Alonso, Ferrari, 1:47.441

Schumacher, Rosberg penalised

A gearbox penalty to Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg has compounded what is shaping up to be a miserable Belgian Grand Prix for the German Formula One team.

Michael Schumacher qualified 11th and Rosberg 12th at Spa on Saturday, but the German pair are both set to drop down the starting grid due to penalties.

Schumacher will drop 10 places for nearly forcing Rubens Barrichello into a wall at high speed at the preceding Hungarian GP, while Rosberg's replacement of his gearbox before qualifying means he will be penalised five places.

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