F1: Button Wins First Pole Since '09

Formula 1

F1: Button Wins First Pole Since ‘09

Jenson Button will start first in the Belgian Grand Prix...

Jared Turner | Posted September 01, 2012 Francorchamps (BEL)

Jenson Button, who hadn't earned a pole since the 2009 Monaco GP, was the surprising pole winner on Saturday at Spa-Francorchamps.

But an even bigger surprise was the guy in second. Kamui Kobayashi, who had never qualified on the podium in 51 Formula One starts, will start alongside Button on Sunday in the Sauber C30.

Pastor Maldonado, Kimi Raikkonen and Sergio Perez completed the top five in qualifying for the Belgian Grand Prix.

Maldonado, however, was later penalized three places by FIA stewards for impeding Nico Hulkenberg during Q1.

Positions six though 10 on the time sheet belonged to Fernando Alonso, Mark Webber, Lewis Hamilton, Romain Grosjean and Paul di Resta.

Webber, however, will drop five places on the grid due a penalty for a gearbox change.

But the man that everyone will be chasing at the start of Sunday's GP is Button, who won the season opener in Australia for McLaren but hasn't tasted victory since.

"It has been quite a long time since I got my last pole position," Button said. "It's pretty emotional. Some days have been good the past few years but some days have not gone perfectly, you could say.

"This (winning a pole) is close to winning a Grand Prix for me because it has been so long."

Button, the 2009 World Champion, admitted that qualifying is still not his strength.

"We just got the balance right this morning," he said. "The car's been working reallly well today. The balance is to my liking, and I obviously have a style that makes it quite difficult to get a car to work for me in qualifying, but when you do, I can get pole position."

Jenson Button will roll off first on Sunday in Belgium. (Photo: LAT Photographic)

Kobayashi's top qualifying lap of 1:47:871 was well off Button's pole lap of 1:47:573, but the Japanese driver was thrilled to be on the podium for the first time.

"I'm very happy to have a great result here," Kobayashi said.

Venezuelan Maldonado, meanwhile, is searching for his second victory of the year after winning for the first time in May at Barcelona.

"We are quite competitive," said the Williams driver, who will line up sixth after his penalty. "We are looking forward to the second part of the season. The races were up and down a bit in the first part of the season, but we are looking forward to the second part."

As usual, qualifying featured its share of top contenders who failed to reach Q3.

The most prominent of the bunch, reigning World Champion Sebastian Vettel, missed the cut for the final qualifying round by one position.

"I was pretty happy with my lap, to be honest," Vettel said. "It was just not quick enough. We'll see what we can do tomorrow. Obviously, there's no points today."

Also missing Q3 were Mercedes teammates Michael Schumacher (13th) and Nico Rosberg (18th), the latter of whom also failed to break into Q2.

"The whole weekend has been difficult," said Rosberg, who will drop an additional five places on the grid due a penalty for a Saturday morning gearbox change.

Sunday's Belgian Grand Prix is the 12th of 20 events on the 2012 Formula One calendar, and the first event following the annual month-long August break.

Coming into the weekend, Alonso leads the drivers' standings by 40 points over Webber and 42 over Vettel. Hamilton (-47) and Raikkonen (-48) complete the top five.

Alonso leads F1 in victories with three, while Webber and Hamilton, with two victories, are the season's only other repeat winners.

SPEED's live race coverage begins Sunday at 7:30 a.m. ET.

Jared Turner is an Associate Editor for SPEED.com, covering NASCAR and Formula One, and is an Editor for TruckSeries.com. His professional motorsports writing career began in 2005.