Sebastian Vettel scored yet another pole position at Spa-Francorchamps ahead of tomorrow’s Belgian Grand Prix, with Lewis Hamilton 2nd and Mark Webber 3rd. Read on for a session-by-session report on how things unfolded:

Q1

Michael Schumacher was the major news story in Q1, with the German crashing out with under three minutes of qualifying gone. The veteran’s Mercedes appeared to have a wheel failure as it came loose at high speed, causing Schumacher to go backwards into the wall and meaning he’ll start the race from the back of the grid. It’s especially disappointing as this weekend it’s the 20th year since the seven-time world champion made his Formula 1 debut.

Joining Schumacher in being eliminated from Q1 was Paul di Resta, who was pipped to the post in dramatic fashion by Heikki Kovalainen in the Lotus, impressing in getting through to Q2. It was disappointing for Force India, who took the first and only ever pole position at this circuit courtesy of Giancarlo Fisichella in 2009.

Jarno Trulli and Timo Glock will start tomorrow’s race behind di Resta in 19th and 20th respectively. Jerome d’Ambrosio will start his first ever home Grand Prix tomorrow from 21st position, that is assuming that he’s permitted to start after missing out on the 107% time.

Both Hispanias were also outside 7% of fastest man Jenson Button’s time, with Liuzzi 22nd and Ricciardo 23rd.

Q2

Despite a quickly-drying track in Q1, rain began to fall again in Q2 meaning that as in the first session, intermediate tyres were the preferred option.

The greasy kerbs were enough to make Force India’s day go from bad to worse, as Force India were left wondering what might have been when Adrian Sutil got too much kerb at Raidillon, spinning into the wall rendering his day over and causing the session to be red flagged.

Once the session was resumed it was carnage with times tumbling once the chequered flag fell. Fernando Alonso squeezed through with a last gasp lap, with Bruno Senna and Sergio Perez also squeezing through late on. Sebastien Buemi wasn’t so lucky and will start the race tomorrow 11th ahead of Kamui Kobyashi.

McLaren’s Jenson Button will start a disappointing 13th, victim of the chaos late on in the session. He was caught out when the times were dramatically dropping off and didn’t have time to save himself. Despite shockingly being eliminated in Q2, more of the attention was focused on Button’s teammate Lewis Hamilton who did manage to get through, but having sustained a lot of damage in the process.

He was deliberately swiped by Pastor Maldonado after the session had ended following contact between the two when they were both setting hot laps. It was a ridiculous move from the rookie Venezuelan, who will be lucky if he’ll be allowed to start the Grand Prix tomorrow. If he does, it’ll be from 16th position behind teammate Rubens Barrichello and Adrian Sutil.

Lotus’ Heikki Kovalainen didn’t set a lap time in Q2, saving tyres ahead of tomorrow’s Grand Prix where he’ll start from 17th place.

Q3

The track was deemed to have dried up enough for soft, slick tyres to be used in the fight for pole position, and it was Sebastian Vettel who was the fastest man of the day, setting a 1:48.298 in a dramatic end to the session. Lewis Hamilton narrowly missed out on pole, with Mark Webber 3rd.

Felipe Massa out-qualified teammate Fernando Alonso, who could only manage 8th place for Ferrari. Nico Rosberg will start 5th ahead of Jaime Alguersuari of Toro Rosso in an extraordinary drive from the Spaniard. Bruno Senna finished 7th on his F1 return, out-qualifying teammate Vitaly Petrov who will start 10th behind Sergio Perez.

The R25 proves this rule. The last Championship winner in the mighty V10 era, the Renault R25 raced in the 2005 season. Having abandoned development of the R24 partway through the 2004 season, Renault had a head start on developing the R25.

Driven by a bright young talent in Fernando Alonso and ‘Mr Experience’, Giancarlo Fisichella, the 2005 looked promising. And Renault needed it to be. With 2 wins in 3 seasons,  they had something to prove.

And boy did they prove it.

At the season opener in Australia, Fisichella took pole position and then subsequently the race win. Alonso came in second for an emphatic one-two.

This was just the start, Alonso went on to take the next three victories. It would have been an even better start, had Fisichella not retired from the same three races.

Even though the R25 wasn’t the fastest car on the grid (that accolade went to McLaren and their MP4-20) it was reliable. The R25 only finished completely out of the points twice. When you bear in mind one of these races was the famed US Grand Prix, when all Michelin teams retired after the warm up lap due to a disagrement over tyre safety, this is quite a good record.

Fernando Alonso went on to take the Drivers Championship with Renault taking the Constructors Championship.

The R25 was so good, many elements of it went into the R26, which also won Alonso the 2006 Drivers Championship and Renault the Constructors Championship, however it took them until the final race to secure both.

The event features both the Ferrari F1 team and the Ducati Moto GP team, so Alonso appeared alongside F1 drivers Felipe Massa and Giancarlo Fisichella, and MotoGP drivers Nicky Hayden and Casey Stoner.

Finnish newspaper Turun Sanomat alleges that a deal has been made but  that no confirmation will be made until both race seats have been filled.

Kobayashi had hoped for a race with Toyota, but the Japanese manufacturer have pulled out of the sport.

Giancarlo Fisichella, Nick Heidfeld and Pedro de la Rosa are believed to be on Sauber’s shortlist, and Peter Sauber has already expressed a desire for a blend of youth and experience behind the wheel.

It is also rumoured that Belgian driver Bertand Baguette (what a name!) will get the test and reserve driver role in Sauber, if you believe comments made by his manager. Baguette drove for BMW Sauber during the last day of the youngsters’ test in Jerez.

Turun Sanomat has also reported Malaysian oil company Petronas will maintain it’s backing of the Swiss team.

The returning Swiss Sauber team want an experienced head and a young rookie to lead their title charge in 2010.

The team, who will be filling the slot vacated by Toyota have yet to sign any drivers, and there’s a lot of talent still seeking seats for next year. On the driver issue, boss Peter Sauber said:

“In the past weeks, many drivers have asked about us, but we couldn’t really negotiate when we didn’t have an entry. Now it’s different.

“I wouldn’t like to give any names, except to say that I assume we will have an experienced driver and a driver of the new generation.

“We have often had that mixture in the past and it worked well.”

It will be interesting to see if Sauber opt for one of their former drivers, with Nick Heidfeld, Giancarlo Fisichella and Jacques Villeneuve all still looking to secure a slot on the grid.

Giancarlo Fisichella is not ruling out a return to racing – judging by his latest comments on the vacant seat at Sauber.

Fisi raced for the Swiss team alongside Ferrari‘s Felipe Massa in 2004, and although he is contracted as Ferrari’s test driver for the 2010 season, the close ties between Ferrari and the Sauber team – powered by a Ferrari engine – may help his secure a drive.

Fisichella has said:

“First of all I’m happy that they (Sauber) can participate in the championship and I would like to be able to collaborate with a team I know – and I got on very well with them: together with Ferrari we’ll see if that will be possible.”

The return of Sauber to F1 could also be good news for former driver Nick Heidfeld, who has yet to be signed for next season.

Heidfeld raced for Peter Sauber’s team from 2001 to 2003 (alongside Kimi Raikkonen, Felipe Massa and Heinz-Harald Frentzen) and could make a return, although he could go to the Mercedes Grand Prix team alongside Nico Rosberg, as the German outfit are reportedly keen on an all-German line-up.

Speaking earlier in the week, Heidfeld said:

“I am in promising talks with several teams … and confident of driving for a competitive racing team next season.”

We’ll just have to wait and see.

Force India are obviously keeping their options for 2010 drivers open – no less than 6 drivers are in the running for the seats, including the drivers who ended last season with the team; Adrian Sutil and Vitantonio Liuzzi.

Giancarlo Fisichella who went to Ferrari last season to cover for the injured Felipe Massa will most likely stay at the Italian team as test driver next season with Massa and Fernando Alonso having the race seats, although Fisichella has not completely ruled himself out, saying:

“Why not? It is open. It could be Force India. There are a lot of teams without drivers so far.”

Another driver in the running is former Renault driver Nelson Piquet Jr. who was heavily involved in the ‘Crashgate’ scandal, although it seems his whistleblowing has not deterred Force India. Piquet said:

“I am close to Force India at the moment, but to me NASCAR is very interesting, so I don’t know yet what is going to happen. I don’t want to take a decision without knowing how things work here in the United States, so I came to be with the drivers and team owners.

“It is clear that the F1 cars are very much better technologically – the best in the world – but I find that if it is enjoyable, it doesn’t matter if I am racing in karts. The important thing is to compete.”

The other two drivers in the running are Pedro de la Rosa who was denied a drive at the new team Campos for the lack of Spanish sponsors that come with him, although he is still a possibility for the Force India drive.

The final driver rumoured to join the team sure is an interesting one – Scot Paul di Resta. Di Resta finished 3rd in this years prestigious DTM championship driving for the AMG Mercedes team, including one race win on home soil at Brands Hatch. Di Resta is set for a test at Jerez for the team in early December.

Lewis Hamilton will line up alongside Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel for tomorrow’s inaugural Abu Dhabi Grand Prix at the Yas Marina circuit after setting an electrifying lap in Q3, more than 0.5secs faster than the rest of the field.

Hamilton set a 1:40.948 after the chequered flag had dropped in Q3 compared to Vettel’s 1:41.615. The fellow Red Bull driver Mark Webber will line up 3^rd alongside Rubens Barrichello and World Champion Jenson Button will start 5^th.

Hamilton’s teammate Heikki Kovalainen will start 13^th, despite topping Friday Practice 2, although this is because he suffered a brake problem in Q2.

Elsewhere it was a reasonably impressive qualifying session in BMW Sauber’s last ever Grand Prix with Kubica and Heidfeld making it an all BMW 4^th row. They qualified 7^th and 8^th respectively.

Ferrari had another nightmare with Giancarlo Fisichella in particular, who will start last on the grid and Kimi Raikkonen who will start an average 11^th on the grid.

It was a disappointing session for Renault as both of their drivers failed to get through Q1. In twice former world champion Fernando Alonso’s final qualifying for Renault he qualified 16^th. His teammate Romain Grosjean will start 19^th.

The full classification is here.

Many people believe that this will be Giancarlo Fisichella’s last weekend in Formula 1 now he has left Force India for a drive at Ferrari while Felipe Massa is recovering from injury. However Felipe Massa will be back for next season and he will drive alongside Fernando Alonso who is replacing the outgoing Kimi Raikkonen, so where will the 36 year old Italian Fisichella go now?

He has had a less than impressive time since joining Ferrari, but he is refusing to rule out a move back to Force India. He said:

“Why not? It is open. It could be Force India. There are a lot of teams without drivers so far.”

“It is a bit frustrating,” he said. “I would be disappointed, but I am doing my best. It is not easy to jump from Force India and jump to the Ferrari car, which has completely different handling and completely different behaviour.

“I have driven for 14 years in F1 how I want and now I need to change, in braking and downshifting, my style of driving. I am doing my best. In the last couple of races, the race pace was good, the problem was the qualifying session. Here in the long runs I had the same pace as Kimi.”

Today was the first time there has ever been a Formula 1 session at the new Yas Marina circuit in Abu Dhabi on today’s Friday Practice day. I have compiled a few of the driver’s thoughts  on the new complex.

The McLaren team seemed impressed with the circuit, Lewis Hamilton who recorded the fastest time in Free Practice 1 said:

“They’ve done an incredible job here. It’s a really nice circuit to drive – there are a lot of technical corners, where braking stability is important. It’s a great track and I really enjoy driving it. The only bit I don’t like is the tunnel – but it’s a challenge!”

And the former world champion’s teammate Heikki Kovalainen who topped the timesheets in Free Practice 2 said:

“The circuit is cool – it’s very smooth with good grip and the kerbs are nice. Turns Two and Three are not easy-flat, but, with the good balance of the car, they’re fun.”

As for Brawn GP, they also seemed impressed with the circuit. New World Champion Jenson Button had this to say:

“I had a short break in the Gulf region after the Bahrain Grand Prix and went to have a look at the Yas Marina Circuit. Even back then, when the construction work was still underway, the facilities looked outstanding and the organisers have done a great job in creating a spectacular venue. It’s always fun to try a new race track, particularly one which looks as unique as Yas Marina with the unusual pitlane exit and the day/night race. I’m sure Abu Dhabi is going to host an exciting weekend and a great finale to the 2009 Formula One season.”

And Rubens Barrichello said:

“The layout of the circuit seems both fun and challenging and it will be interesting to start the race in daylight and to finish in evening conditions. Our track walk on Thursday will be important to get an initial feel for the characteristics of the circuit and we will spend the first few laps on Friday getting to grips with the layout.”

As for Red Bull, Sebastian Vettel seemed to like the circuit:

“Abu Dhabi is a new circuit, so new conditions – including starting driving in the daylight and finishing the session at night, which is quite exciting. Obviously, the circuit was very green and slippery to begin with, but overall it’s quite a thrill to drive, with some good corners. It’s also pretty special to go under a hotel!”

Ferrari who had a distinctly unimpressive two sessions were more critical of the circuit. Kimi Raikkonen said:

“There is only a few corners which are drivable. I mean the corners are heavy braking with tight corners in low gears. Not many corners you need to go fast through, it could be more interesting.”

And Ferrari’s other driver Giancarlo Fisichella was also less than impressed with the circuit:

“[The circuit is] Better at the end with more grip but there is a couple of places in second gear there is not the chance to have a nice, high speed corner. The first part is the more interesting part of the circuit, turns 1, 2, 3. The middle sector [is a] little bit too many corners in second gear.”