Belgian GP. Race Review. Kimi Raikkonen took a hard-fought victory in an action-packed Belgian Grand Prix, which was all thanks to a push of his KERS button in the opening laps, leaving Giancarlo Fisichella having to settle for second place for surprise package Force India. The dubious issue as to whether or not KERS has been useful as a way of making races more exciting was again up for debate during the Belgian race. While Raikkonen used his power boost to slingshot past pole man Fisichella into Les Combes on the fifth lap, the Force India remained glued to the rear of Raikkonen's Ferrari for the rest of the race, finishing less than a second behind the Finn. But thanks to Raikkonen's boost at crucial points on the lap, the Italian could never get close enough to make the pass.
Not as he or his team will be complaining too much. Second place sees Force India break their pointless duck in spectacular style. Not many people would have believed that one of the green and orange machines would have been the quickest machine in the race.
For Raikkonen as well, the win breaks a losing streak dating back to the Spanish Grand Prix early last year, and gave Ferrari their first win of 2009. This year's championship continues to provide some amazingly mixed results, as Raikkonen became the sixth different winner from the last six Grands Prix.
He put himself in a position to win with a blistering opening lap, which saw him leap up from sixth on the grid to second place, despite running wide at La Source and receiving a nerf to his backside from the Toyota of Jarno Trulli on the exit of Les Combes. That put him right behind the Force India as the field formed up behind the safety car at the end of the first tour.
Yes, the safety car, because a traditional lap 1 incident had already accounted for four drivers. On the run into Les Combes on lap 1, Jenson Button was tapped into a spin by the hairy rookie features of Romain Grosjean. While the championship leader and Grosjean were out on the spot, the chaos caused by their accident saw Lewis Hamilton's McLaren get collected by Jamie Alguersuari. The two of them were, likewise, out of the race.
As the safety car released the pack, and Kimi KERSed his way past the Force India, the entertainment centred around Rubens Barrichello being forced to complete yet another comeback drive after once again stalling on the grid in an ironic manner after the Brawn car's anti-stall device kicked in when the lights went out. A frustrating afternoon for Barrichello ended with 7th place, though given Button's DNF, he would have hoped for a lot more. In the end, he was lucky to even get two points, as his Mercedes engine began smoking badly with two laps to go, and the Brazilian was forced to nurse the ailing car across the line.
At the front, Fisichella's pace was good enough to keep him within a second of Raikkonen for the whole race distance. The pair traded fastest sectors, and for a brief moment during the second stint it seemed like Fisichella might have actually gained some fuel mileage on the Ferrari, and would be able to pit later. But he hadn't quite done enough, the two of them entered the pits line astern, and after a couple of uneventful stops, left in the same order. Raikkonen was left to keep the lead all the way to the line, with any chance of Fisichella trying a do-or-die move in the closing stages tempered by the need for Fisi to break Force India's pointless run.
Sebastian Vettel took a strong third place for Red Bull, in an afternoon where the rest of the title contenders once again failed to cover themselves in glory. Barrichello had his stall and engine issues, Button was out of the race almost before it started, and Mark Webber again suffered from some dubious Red Bull pit work, being released straight into Nick Heidfeld's BMW at the first stops and receiving a drive through penalty for the rude-sounding reason of "unsafe release". The Australian struggled with his pace for the rest of the race, largely thanks to being stuck behind a slow Timo Glock in his Toyota, and finished out of the points in 9th.
Elsewhere, BMW had a strong race as they continued their efforts to woo potential buyers of the team by pretending they're actually brilliant at racing. Robert Kubica took 4th behind Vettel, with Nick Heidfeld following him home in 5th. Heikki Kovalainen rescued some dignity for McLaren by finishing 6th after deciding on a one-stop strategy, while the smoky Barrichello and the out-of-sorts Nico Rosberg completed the points finishers. Webber was 9th, unable to pass the Williams in the closing stages, while Timo Glock ended tenth after Toyota's strong qualifying performance wilted into a typically useless race day.
His team mate eventually retired after problems at his first pit stop after dropping to the back of the field following his clash with Raikkonen on the opening tour, and then suffering the indignity of failing to pass the soporific form of Luca Badoer.
The other retirement was for two-time champion Fernando Alonso, who had front tyre problems for the second time in the last three races. Having damaged one of his needless wheel "spinners" after running over a front wing in the first corner, he was delayed in the stop by the damage and eventually was forced to retire in order to prevent a repeat of his Hungary three-wheel embarrassment.
But at the front, there was joy (or something approximating mild interest) from Raikkonen, and a mix of glee and frustration from Fisichella. That he may feel hard done by after finishing in second place is evidence of the spectacular form of the Force India team this weekend, and who knows, he may well find himself in a KERS-shod Ferrari in time for the next race at Monza.
The championship fight once again took a back seat in Belgium, and Button has once again managed a fair slice of luck after his first lap retirement. Though Barrichello closed the gap slightly, the Brit remains 16 points clear as the cars head to Monza for the next round.
That will be a KERS-happy track as well, so with Ferrari back to winning ways, what price Fisichella going one better in that one?
| Race result after 44 laps | ||||
| Pos | Driver | Car | Time/Reason | Pts |
| 1 | Kimi Raikkonen | Ferrari | 1:23:50.995 | 10 |
| 2 | Giancarlo Fisichella | Force India - Mercedes | +0.939 | 8 |
| 3 | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull - Renault | +3.875 | 6 |
| 4 | Robert Kubica | BMW Sauber | +9.966 | 5 |
| 5 | Nick Heidfeld | BMW Sauber | +11.276 | 4 |
| 6 | Heikki Kovalainen | McLaren - Mercedes | +32.763 | 3 |
| 7 | Rubens Barrichello | Brawn - Mercedes | +35.461 | 2 |
| 8 | Nico Rosberg | Williams - Toyota | +36.208 | 1 |
| 9 | Mark Webber | Red Bull - Renault | +36.959 | |
| 10 | Timo Glock | Toyota | +41.490 | |
| 11 | Adrian Sutil | Force India - Mercedes | +42.636 | |
| 12 | Sebastien Buemi | Toro Rosso - Ferrari | +46.106 | |
| 13 | Kazuki Nakajima | Williams - Toyota | +54.241 | |
| 14 | Luca Badoer | Ferrari | +1:38.177 | |
| R | Fernando Alonso | Renault | Spinner Fail | |
| R | Jarno Trulli | Toyota | Car Fail | |
| R | Jenson Button | Brawn - Mercedes | Lap 1 Fail | |
| R | Romain Grosjean | Renault | Lap 1 Fail | |
| R | Lewis Hamilton | McLaren - Mercedes | Lap 1 Fail | |
| R | Jamie Alguersuari | Toro Rosso - Ferrari | Lap 1 Fail |
Drivers Championship Standings -
1 Button 72pts, 2 Barrichello 56pts, 3 Vettel 53pts, 4 Webber 51.5pts, 5 Raikkonen 34pts, 6 Rosberg 30.5pts, 7 Hamilton 27pts, 8 Trulli 22.5pts, 9 Massa 22pts, 10 Kovalainen 17pts, 11 Glock, Alonso 16pts, 13 Heidfeld 10pts, 14 Kubica, Fisichella 8pts, 16 Buemi 3pts, 17 Bourdais 2pts.
Constructors Championship Standings -
1 Brawn-Mercedes 128pts, 2 Red Bull-Renault 104.5pts, 3 Ferrari 56pts, 4 McLaren-Mercedes 44pts, 5 Toyota 38.5pts, 6 Williams-Toyota 30.5pts, 7 BMW Sauber 18pts, 8 Renault 16pts, 9 Force India-Mercedes 8pts, 10 Toro Rosso-Ferrari 5pts.
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