British driver Jenson Button ended a three-year wait for pole position by finishing fastest in Belgian Grand Prix qualifying, while defending champion Sebastian Vettel will start today's race from 10th place.
Button, who won the season's opening GP in Australia, overcame earlier balance problems to grab his first pole of the season on Saturday, the eighth of his career and his first ever in his 50th race for McLaren.
"It's been quite a long time since I got my last pole position, back in 2009 in Monaco. It's been emotional," said Button, who won the F1 title that year with the Brawn team.
"Maybe a five-week break between every race is what I need, ... I'm getting old now."
The 32-year-old Button seemed to be struggling earlier in the day with the understeering of his car but got it right when it mattered, with a best lap of 1 minute, 47.573 seconds.
"A great qualifying session - the engineers have really been on it today," Button said. "I just got the balance right. We just tickled it, especially through qualifying. The balance is to my liking. It's difficult to find a car that works for me in qualifying, but when it does, we get pole position."
Button, vying for his 14th GP win, is seventh in the championship and 88 points behind overall leader Fernando Alonso of Spain.
"I think I'll have to finish ahead of Fernando in every race from now on to finish ahead of him," Button said.
It has been one of the most unpredictable seasons for years, and that trend looks set to continue in Spa with unheralded driver Kamui Kobayashi of Japan starting second place.
"In yesterday's practice, we really struggled a lot, but this morning we improved a lot," said Kobayashi, only the second Japanese driver to start on the front row after Takuma Sato in 2004 at the Nurburgring.
Pastor Maldonado of Venezuela posted the third fastest time in qualifying, but he was demoted three grid positions to sixth for holding up Force India's Nico Hulkenberg on a turn, meaning that Kimi Raikkonen moves up one place to third, Sergio Perez goes to fourth and Alonso to fifth.
