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Belgian GP. Qualifying Report. A staggeringly mad qualifying session at Spa-Francorchamps saw Giancarlo Fisichella claim Force India's first ever pole position at the famous track, as the usual suspects fell by the wayside and surprise contenders dominated the session.

Fisichella has been touted as the replacement for the useless Luca Badoer in the second Ferrari for the Monza race, but given his performance here, he may be mindful to question which is the better package. Well, possibly not, but as putting yourself in the shop window goes, taking the most surprising pole position in recent memory certainly can't hurt.

Fisi grabbed top spot in the final session before everyone's last runs, and many expected him to plummet back down the timesheets when the last laps were done, but though everyone tried, they all failed to get ahead of the Force India man, who may well not be particularly heavy on fuel, but will lead the pack off tomorrow anyway.

If his place in P1 was a surprise, the names challenging him for pole raised a few eyebrows as well. Toyota saw their odd season continue with a return to form for the red and white Japanese cars in this session. Jarno Trulli grabbed the other front row spot after being among the quickest men in all three sessions.

Third went to another driver seeing his team enjoy a bizarre renaissance. Nick Heidfeld secured a second row start as BMW Sauber continue their late, somewhat too late given BMW's withdrawal at the end of the season, return to the front. Both driver and team will have improved their chances of still being here in 2010 with that performance.

Rubens Barrichello was the first of the familiar frontrunners in the final standings, and his title hopes will have taken another lift after he finds himself well ahead of his championship rivals. Robert Kubica took 5th in the second BMW Sauber, ahead of the Ferrari of Kimi Raikkonen.

Timo Glock could only manage 7th in the second Toyota, but he was ahead of the pair of Red Bulls, with both Vettel and Webber never quite looking on the pace throughout all three sessions. They are likely to have a less-silly fuel load than many ahead of them, but both will need big races tomorrow to get decent points. Nico Rosberg, happy just to be in Q3 after the lamentable weekend Williams have had, rounded out the top ten.

With all the mad faces in Q3, naturally Q2 saw plenty of big names fall. Both Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button failed to make it out of the second session, with Button only managing 14th in a car clearly capable of much more given Barrichello's effort. While his poor performance was offset slightly by Red Bull's own toils in Q3, he looks set to lose a significant chunk of his championship advantage over at least one of his rivals tomorrow.

Fernando Alonso, who never looked happy with his Renault, only managed 13th, and is probably just waiting for that Ferrari contract to get signed. Heikki Kovalainen completed a miserable session for McLaren by qualifying 15th.

In Q1, there was a more familiar look to the fallen drivers. Both Toro Rossos tried but failed to escape from the first session, Kazuki Nakajima was hapless again for Williams, Romain Grosjean will be disappointed with 19th after outpacing Alonso in FP3, while last place was once again in the hands of Luca Badoer, who is now surely certain to lose his guest drive for Monza. Sentiment will only get you so far, and a silly spin at Les Combes on his final run won't have improved the mood back at Maranello.

But while a Ferrari will shockingly start from the back, a Force India will start from pole. The team will never have a better chance to break their points duck, and while he may not be leading the race for long tomorrow, tonight at least Fisichella will be very 'appy indeed.

* - Out in second session
** - Out in first session