GP Belgium: Qualifying

1. M. Webber, Red Bull, 1:45.778
2. L. Hamilton, McLaren, 1:45.863
3. R. Kubica, Renault, 1:46.100
14. V. Liuzzi, Force India, 1:48.680

Tonio will start tomorrow’s Belgian Grand Prix from P12 after a rain-punctuated qualifying session.

The pitlane bristled nervously as all 24 cars took to the track early in Q1 to make the most of the conditions before a predicted rain shower. When it materialised half way through the session it lasted just a few minutes, giving the drivers a couple of minutes of drier running at the end. After a nail-biting lap Tonio passed into Q2 with the 15th quickest time.

Q2 remained dry and Tonio opted for the soft tyres for both runs. He crossed the line with the 14th quickest time, however he will start from 12th following penalties handed to both Mercedes drivers.

Tonio said: “It wasn’t such an enjoyable qualifying as everything was very confusing and stressful with the rain in Q1. But overall we made an improvement to our car as we have had some problems with top speed from Friday practice until Q1. The car has a good balance into the corners and the blown diffuser is working well but although we improved in qualifying, it didn’t feel 100%.”

“In FP3 this morning we also ran just four laps, also with a different wing setting, so we went into qualifying a bit blind. But we can be pretty happy, the forecast is changing every 10 minutes for the race tomorrow so we’ll keep on top of it and from P12 on the grid we’ve still got a good chance of scoring some points.”