“It’s been so long since my last pole position that it almost feels like a win
for me. In fact, it’s my first pole since Monaco 2009 — which was a race
that I won — and it demonstrates that I can qualify really well.”
Hamilton,
meanwhile, was left to rue the decision to jettison McLaren’s new rear wing
following morning practice, and ended the day in the sort of PR-damage
limitation exercise in which he specialises.
“Damn, WTF!!” he tweeted. “Jenson has the new rear wing on, I have the old. We
voted to change, didn’t work out. I lose 0.4 tenths.”
The 2008 world champion later deleted both that tweet — presumably for using
the initials ‘WTF’ — and another in which he predicted that Button should
win “easily”.
It certainly won’t be easy. Even if Kobayashi, who claimed Sauber’s first pole
this century as an independent team, fails to mount a sustained challenge,
there are some big beasts lurking. Lotus’s Kimi Raikkonen, who has four wins
at this circuit, rose a place to third on the grid as a result of
Maldonado’s penalty and is expected to be quick.
In fact, such is the sensitivity of the tyres this year, and the propensity
for safety cars at Spa, no one can really be discounted.
With the grid so shaken up, though, it does represent a great chance for
someone to make a move in the title race. Hamilton will be eyeing his
chances of leapfrogging Alonso, who also rose a place after Maldonado’s
infraction.
In the initial disappointment the 27-year-old Briton described his job today
as “damage limitation” but the truth is that with both Red Bulls behind him
— Mark Webber dropped from seventh to 12th thanks to an unscheduled change
of gearbox while Vettel sensationally exited in Q2 — and Alonso starting
only two places ahead of him, this is a golden opportunity.
Button has proved the car’s pace and McLaren will be greatly encouraged by
their car’s performance relative to their rivals. Red Bull had a
particularly tough day, capped by a 10,000 euro fine for Vettel for
conducting an illegal practice start in the pit lane, but they too will be
hopeful of making big inroads today.
They all face a tough task catching Button, though, particularly on
yesterday’s form, which was imperious. He is well aware of the need to
continue in that vein if he is to stand any chance of resurrecting his slim
title hopes.
“A lot of people ask me if I am still driving for the championship,” he said.
“It is a long shot. I am 80 points behind Alonso, so I need to be on podium
and finish ahead of him every race. It is not easy, but this is a good
start.”