Speculation within the Belgian paddock suggested that both teams had been using flexible floors to lower the front wings closer to the roadway, giving rise to the FIA's plan for stricter testing at Monza.

[7] Lewis Hamilton led the drivers' championship and Mark Webber went into this race 3 points behind, since Sebastian Vettel, Jenson Button and Fernando Alonso did not score in Belgium.

Timo Glock had originally been ahead of Liuzzi in his Virgin, but he was handed a five place grid penalty for changing his gearbox, putting him at the very back.

There were no real surprises in the second qualifying session either, as the two BMW Saubers of Kamui Kobayashi (13th) and Pedro de la Rosa (17th) were eliminated along with the Toro Rossos of Sébastien Buemi and Jaime Alguersuari, the Force India of Adrian Sutil and Michael Schumacher's Mercedes.

A mistake put Sebastian Vettel sixth, and it was a tough day for his Red Bull team as Mark Webber could only qualify fourth in the sister RB6.

Alonso, who was alongside his teammate Felipe Massa through the turn one chicane, just clipped the rear of Button's diffuser, but there was only light damage to the McLaren.

As the pack headed down to the second chicane of turns three and four, Button's teammate Lewis Hamilton, who was in fourth, tried to pull a move on Massa, but there was contact between the two.

After his phantom technical failure, the Red Bull mechanics had decided to leave Vettel's stop to the last lap, which they did, and the gamble paid off handsomely as the German emerged from the pits still in fourth place, ahead of his teammate.

Webber, Hülkenberg and Robert Kubica's Renault were all in close attendance, while Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello's Williams rounded out the points.