F1: Topsy turvey grid shows F1 at its best

There are quite a few race series around the world where a weekend has to heats: and the grid for the second race is a reverse of the order in which drivers finished the first race.

Looking at the grid for tomorrow's Belgian GP at Spa, it is almost as if the results of last week's race have defined, in reverse order, tomorrow's grid.

OK, so Räikkönen and Barrichello are in the top ten, Hamilton, Kovalainen, Alonso and Button are not.

But right through qualifying, Fisichella who has nil points so far this season delivered a stunning performance. Fastest in Q1, fourth in Q2 and then, to the stunned delight of his team, pole for tomorrow's race.

Badoer, who has signed his cap with the slogan L. Bad lived up to that, finishing Q1 in the gravel.

Last week, out of nowhere, Toyota's Glock won the fastest time of the day. At Spa his car has gathered its skirts up and made it up to 7th - but his team mate Trulli has delivered a second. That's after the team has been in the doldrums all its life.

BMW are leaving F1 after failing to win a race in three years of trying. Heidfeld - who has for a long time failed to deliver on the hype that surrounded him when he arrived in F1 - got third.

Rubens is in fourth and Räikkönen is in sixth. But Kubica in the second BMW is between them. And Glock in the second Toyota is in seventh.

The two Red Bulls of Vettell and Webber are 8th and 9th whilst Rosberg has somehow dragged his Williams into tenth.

Sutil almost made it into the top 10 - so he starts 11th.

And then comes the rush of the people who, on anyone's form book, shouldn't be here: 12: Hamilton, 13 Alonso, 14 Button 15 Kovalainen.

There's bound to be a crush at the first few corners. Fisi is almost bound to fluff the start: to be on the front row will be such a different experience that he is almost bound to be fazed by it. It would be wonderful if that were not so, but it is the reality that afflicts most drivers when they do their first pole - and it's the first time Fisi has been on pole for a very long time. It's also the first time a Force India / Kingfisher has been on pole.

There's an interesting fact about this race: the Force India team was Spyker (no poles, no wins), before that Midland (no poles, no wins) and before that Jordan. And Jordan, which didn't win a lot of races despite a generally good showing, won their first Formula One Grand Prix at Spa.

Graphic courtesy F1.Com Live Timing.