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British driver Jenson Button set a brilliant performance and used his upgraded McLaren MP4-27 to the best to clinch his maiden pole position as a McLaren driver for the Grand Prix of Belgium.

Button set the stunning pace in Q2 and repeated it minutes later in Q3, taking the pole with a fast time of 1m47.686.

Kobayashi, Button and Maldonado. (Photo: WRI2)

Japanese driver Kamui Kobayashi planted his Ferrari-powered Sauber in second place. That was his best performance in qualifying so far in F1.

Pastor Maldonado, the surprise winner of the Grand Prix of Spain qualified third in his Williams-Renault. However, an impeding incident involving the Venezuelan and 12th-place qualifier Nico Hulkenberg of the Sahara Force India team is under investigation.

Kimi Raikkonen qualified fourth in his Lotus E20 in front of Sergio Pérez in the second Sauber and championship leader Fernando Alonso in the Ferrari.

Kamui Kobayashi, Sauber (Photo: WRI2)

Button's teammate Lewis Hamilton will take the start in 7th place.

“The set-up wasn't perfect, but that was simply because we chose the wrong rear wing, preferring to stay with the version we used in Hungary," said Hamilton.

"The wing we'd been using in FP3 this morning hadn't been working very well, so we opted to go back to the older wing which we thought would be the safer option. It was a collective choice: we thought the older wing would be quicker in qualifying, but in fact Jenson has shown the new wing to be very good indeed."

Surprisingly, two-time World Champion Sebastian Vettel of Red Bull Racing, Michael Schumacher of Mercedes AMG and Felipe Massa of Ferrari failed to make it to Q3.

Mark Webber of Red Bull and Nico Rosberg of Mercedes AMG both received a five-place grid penality for gearbox changes.

Starting grid of the 2012 Grand Prix of Belgium*:

Row 1
Jenson Button (McLaren MP4/27-Mercedes) - 1'47"573 - Q3
Kamui Kobayashi (Sauber C31-Ferrari) - 1'47"871 - Q3

Row 2
Pastor Maldonado (Williams FW34-Renault) - 1'47"893 - Q3
Kimi Raikkonen (Lotus E20-Renault) - 1'48"205 - Q3

Row 3
Sergio Perez (Sauber C31-Ferrari) - 1'48"219 - Q3
Fernando Alonso (Ferrari F2012) - 1'48"313 - Q3

Row 4
Lewis Hamilton (McLaren MP4/27-Mercedes) - 1'48"394 - Q3
Romain Grosjean (Lotus E20-Renault) - 1'48"538 - Q3

Row 5
Paul Di Resta (Force India VJM05-Mercedes) - 1'48"890 - Q3
Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull RB8-Renault) - 1'48"792 - Q2

Row 6
Nico Hulkenberg (Force India VJM05-Mercedes) - 1'48"855 - Q2
Mark Webber (Red Bull RB8-Renault) - 1'48"392 ** - Q1

Row 7
Michael Schumacher (Mercedes MGP W03) - 1'49"081 - Q2
Felipe Massa (Ferrari F2012) - 1'49"147 - Q2

Row 8
Jean-Eric Vergne (Toro Rosso STR7-Ferrari) - 1'49"354 - Q2
Daniel Ricciardo (Toro Rosso STR7-Ferrari) - 1'49"543 - Q2

Row 9
Bruno Senna (Williams FW34-Renault) - 1'50"088 - Q2
Heikki Kovalainen (Caterham CT01-Renault) - 1'51"739 - Q1

Row 10
Vitaly Petrov (Caterham CT01-Renault) - 1'51"967 - Q1
Timo Glock (Marussia MR01-Cosworth) - 1'52"336 - Q1

Row 11
Pedro De La Rosa (HRT F112-Cosworth) - 1'53"030 - Q1
Charles Pic (Marussia MR01-Cosworth) - 1'53"493 - Q1

Row 12
Nico Rosberg (Mercedes MGP W03) - 1'50"181 ** - Q1
Narain Karthikeyan (HRT F112-Cosworth) - 1'54"989 - Q1

* Unofficial timing
**5-place penalty for gearbox change