There were no unexpected early exits after the first phase of qualifying for the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps, as the five drivers regularly posting the slowest times in free practice bowed out.
Force India made a concerted effort to haul at least one of its cars into round two for the first time this season, with
Adrian Sutil especially finding tenths on every run. However, it still wasn't enough for the young German, who found himself bumped back into the danger zone by late improvements from
Timo Glock and
Mark Webber.
Webber had begin the final runs hovering just under the axe, but found a good enough lap to vault up to eighth place, condemning Sutil to join Force India team-mate
Giancarlo Fisichella,
Honda twins
Jenson Button and
Rubens Barrichello and
Williams rookie
Kazuki Nakajima in missing the cut.
Fastest lap was moved from
Nelson Piquet Jr, the first man on track, via Glock,
Felipe Massa and
Lewis Hamilton before the Briton's
McLaren team-mate,
Heikki Kovalainen, appeared to have top spot sewn up - only for
Sebastien Bourdais to make the most of a grippier track and
Bridgestone's softer rubber to claim the honours.
Kovalainen, Massa, Hamilton and
Kimi Raikkonen completed the top five, the world champion appearing a little happier with his new
Ferrari, while Piquet,
Robert Kubica,
David Coulthard,
Sebastian Vettel and
Fernando Alonso made the top ten.
