Belgian Qualifying: Akin to paint drying...

This may have been the most boring qualifying session of the season so far. It was especially frustrating because the rain, that had been pouring down in a deluge before the session started, seemed like it would really mix things up. It didn't. My hopes rose, near the end of Q2, when it looked like Sebastian Vettel might be knocked out. He wasn't. Rosberg and Hamilton were lonely at the front of the order again, fighting it out for the pole position spot. In the top ten shootout they were a clear two seconds ahead of the rest of the field and utterly dominant.

Unfortunately, there is not much more to say about the qualifying. There were relatively few incidents, save a few drivers going too hot in to a couple of the corners, in the wet conditions. It would be fair to say that it was immensely impressive when, during the first few minutes of Q1, Hamilton ran very wide, on the penultimate corner, and still managed to put in the fastest lap. Rosberg outperformed his teammate (and rival?) in the top ten shootout, but finally Lewis gets to race Nico from the front again, instead of playing catchup.

One thing that created a little entertainment, on the BBC at least, was Eddie Jordan's usual trick of taking a collection of random words and throwing them together in no particular order. Every time Eddie Jordan takes up his role of pundit on the BBC, he manages to talk total nonsense and does it in a nonsensical way. It's no wonder you can see David Coulthard visibly despairing of his colleague. The Belgian Grand Prix, in Spa, is one of the best grands prix in the world, so I have no doubt that the race will be a spectacle, rain or no rain. So let's put the lacklustre qualies behind us.

The Grid:

Pos	No	Driver	Team	Q1	Q2	Q3	Laps
1	6	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	2:07.130	2:06.723	2:05.591	22
2	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	2:07.280	2:06.609	2:05.819	22
3	1	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull Racing-Renault	2:10.105	2:08.868	2:07.717	24
4	14	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari	2:10.197	2:08.450	2:07.786	21
5	3	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull Racing-Renault	2:10.089	2:08.989	2:07.911	21
6	77	Valtteri Bottas	Williams-Mercedes	2:09.250	2:08.451	2:08.049	23
7	20	Kevin Magnussen	McLaren-Mercedes	2:11.081	2:08.901	2:08.679	22
8	7	Kimi Räikkönen	Ferrari	2:09.885	2:08.646	2:08.780	21
9	19	Felipe Massa	Williams-Mercedes	2:08.403	2:08.833	2:09.178	20
10	22	Jenson Button	McLaren-Mercedes	2:10.529	2:09.272	2:09.776	22
11	26	Daniil Kvyat	STR-Renault	2:10.445	2:09.377		16
12	25	Jean-Eric Vergne	STR-Renault	2:09.811	2:09.805		13
13	11	Sergio Perez	Force India-Mercedes	2:10.666	2:10.084		16
14	99	Adrian Sutil	Sauber-Ferrari	2:11.051	2:10.238		17
15	8	Romain Grosjean	Lotus-Renault	2:10.898	2:11.087		16
16	17	Jules Bianchi	Marussia-Ferrari	2:11.051	2:12.470		14
17	13	Pastor Maldonado	Lotus-Renault	2:11.261			9
18	27	Nico Hulkenberg	Force India-Mercedes	2:11.267			8
19	4	Max Chilton	Marussia-Ferrari	2:12.566			8
20	21	Esteban Gutierrez	Sauber-Ferrari	2:13.414			4
21	45	Andre Lotterer	Caterham-Renault	2:13.469			9
22	9	Marcus Ericsson	Caterham-Renault	2:14.438			9

Malaysian GP Qualifying: Everybody loves the sunshine

The qualifying in Malaysia started in predictably sunny and dry conditions, allowing the teams to set up the cars in a more optimum way to what they had to for qualifying in Australia. However, it wouldn't prove to be that way throughout the session.

Q1 was dry and, despite this, still managed to throw up a couple of surprises. Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel both left it very late to secure their places in the second session of qualifying. They looked to be massively off the pace, whilst once again the Force India cars were looking extremely competitive, as were the Lotus cars. Sutil is really relishing the new found pace and performance in his Force India and is likely to be a cause for concern to the front runners again on Sunday. It'll only be a matter of time before Sutil is considered one of them, instead of just in amongst them...

The Red Bull drivers made it through to Q2, Sebastian Vettel by the skin of his teeth, and as Q2 got underway it became clear that something was worrying all of the teams. It was revealed that the reason all of the cars were out on track at the same time, and desperately trying to get a decent lap in, was that rain was on its way. It was inevitable that it would catch somebody out and that somebody was Paul Di Resta, who found himself pirouetting through the KLIA Curve. He didn't fair any better after that and ended up qualifying fifteenth. He and the team will have to work on an interesting strategy for the race.

Sebastian Vettel cut it close again, in Q2, and was lucky not to be a victim of the same fate as Di Resta. He was just outside the elimination zone and joined the other ten cars as they went out for the final session of qualifying, on intermediate tyres. As the cars completed lap after lap, the times got quicker and quicker on a drying track. Unbelievably, and probably to all of his rivals' dismay, Vettel managed to bag pole position. The two Ferrari's are hot on his heels again and it will just be a case of whether Seb can keep them behind him this time.

Rain, rain, go away!

The qualifying in Australia eventually got underway, after a long wait for the weather to abate and the track to dry. A feeling of deja vu was difficult to shake, as a brief run for the cars on Saturday morning (GMT) was interrupted yet again by moaning drivers and over-fearful race officials, who deemed the circuit too dangerous to drive on. I can't believe I'm discussing the wet conditions again, but I remember when Formula One cars raced in all conditions. I would suggest that either drivers, teams and officials are overreacting these days, or the cars are simply not capable of driving in the wet anymore. However, if the latter is the case, then wet tyres should be scrapped and the series should be a dry-conditions-only formula.

When the qualifying was finally restarted, at midnight (GMT), Q2 was run on a drying as opposed to a dry track. Everybody played it safe and sensible, running on the intermediate tyre, except that is for McLaren. Ludicrously, McLaren opted to experiment on slick tyres, in the closing few minutes of the session and predictably (at least to the vast majority of us) shot themselves in the foot. The team left Perez no time to put in a sensible lap, to get him in to the final top ten shoot out, leaving him in a starting position of fifteenth. They only just managed to get Button through to the final session, but clearly a few people at McLaren are suffering with jet lag.

The big story of the qualifying session this morning was the storming laps by the two Red Bull drivers. Their start to the season is in massive contrast to last season, but one thing seems ominously conclusive, Red Bull Racing are still top of the league and, if this start is an indication of what the rest of the season will deliver, then they may be on for another dominant championship bid. Let's all hope that the other teams can peg them back in the race...