Patronise F1

A dramatic qualifying session had seen iSport cars first and second, but Karun Chandhok was bumped back 10 places as a result of a grid penalty from Valencia (and a further 5 places for setting his fast lap under yellow flags). So Bruno Senna was on Pole, moving two points nearer to Giorgio Pantano in the Championship battle, with the Italian qualifying fourth after Chandhok’s penalty. The third contender Lucas Di Grassi had failed to set a qualifying time within 107% of pole, but started at the back.

A rain shower before the race had left the track wet, and the safety car led the field around for two laps until they went racing, with Senna heading the field from Alvaro Parente, Romain Grosjean and Pantano. At Malmedy on lap 4, Carlos Iaconelli put a wheel on the kerb and spun off, taking Sakon Yamamoto with him. Vitaly Petrov took 7th from Pastor Maldonado, and Parente started to put pressure on Senna, with Grosjean keeping a watching brief behind.

Petrov moved up another place past Mike Conway at Les Combes, but Senna completely missed the Bus Stop chicane on lap 5 and almost did the same next time around, leaving Parente swarming all over his rear, and at the same time Andi Zuber became the first man to stop for dries. Senna and Pantano came in next time by but Parente and Grosjean stayed out for one further lap, allowing Pantano to jump the pair of them. However, Senna had been released from his stop somewhat dangerously into the path of Alberto Valerio, just missing some mechanics, and the stewards decided to give him a drive-through penalty as a result.

However, he wasn’t to get the opportunity to take it early, for David Valsecchi went head on into the barriers at unabated speed at Stavelot, which brought out the safety car. Valsecchi spent the night in hospital but was fine to race the next day, but the safety car period meant Senna was unable to take his penalty. However there was yet more drama under caution as Pantano suddenly slowed as his engine went into safe mode, dropping him from 2nd to 10th. When the safety car went in, Grosjean quickly retook the third place he had lost to Zuber at the pit stop.

Maldonado and Petrov had resumed their epic battle, with the Venezuelan taking 7th from the Russian at Les Combes. Senna pitted at the end of the first lap under green for his penalty, dropping him right to the tail of the field, leaving Parente and Grosjean to resume their battle, this time or the lead. The Portuguese outbraked himself into the Bus Stop, giving Grosjean a run into La Source, with the Frenchman taking the lead. It wasn’t over yet though, for the battle continued all the way up the hill to Les Combes, with the pair coming close to banging wheels as Grosjean held onto the place.

Maldonado then made another superb move at Les Combes, around the outside of Sebastien Buemi into 4th, while the ever-pathetic Luca Filippi messed up a pass at the Bus Stop. Pantano then put his car on the damp kerb at La Source and spun down out of the points into 10th. Alberto Valerio then spun on the exit of Stavelot, the car coming to a halt in a tricky position and bringing out the safety car. With two laps to go it went in again, and Maldonado passed Zuber via the grass, only to lose the place again. As the last lap began, Pantano got desperate and charged straight into the side of Di Grassi, who had quietly worked his way into the points, putting the Brazilian out and leaving Pantano right at the back.

Maldonado had another desperate lunge at team-mate Zuber on the Bus Stop on the final lap, but Zuber held on for the final podium position behind Parente in second and Grosjean, who had finally ended his awful run of luck and mistakes with a fine drive in very difficult conditions, setting the fastest lap in the process. Petrov came home 5th ahead of Buemi, Soucek and Conway, while Senna’s superb recovery drive from 24th after his penalty could only elevate him to 12th, or so we thought.

A few hours after the race, the stewards made their second and third big decisions of the weekend when they announced that Andi Zuber has been disqualified from third for illegal repairs, promoting everyone below him one place (meaning Jerome D’Ambrosio, now 8th, would take Pole for Sunday). Far bigger than that though was the news that Giorgio Pantano had not only been excluded from Saturday’s race but would also be prohibited from starting on Sunday! The stewards cited “unsportsmanlike behaviour and reckless driving” as their reasons, saying that Pantano had overtaken under the safety car as well as harpooning Di Grassi out of the race. Senna was also very disappointed with the stewards’ decision, saying the win had been taken away from him.

D’Ambrosio then was on Pole for his home race, and led the field into the first corner. Mike Conway in second had a terrible start and lost numerous places. Soucek was the man challenging D’Ambrosio into Les Combes, but was forced across the run-off area, resuming still second ahead of Buemi, Petrov, Parente and Maldonado. Maldonado passed Parente at his favourite corner, Les Combes, on the second lap, while Senna had remained 11th and a terrific start from Di Grassi had elevated him to 12th.

D’Ambrosio was under huge pressure from Soucek as Buemi, trying to avoid the slowing Marko Asmer, slowed up the hill at Raidillon and was swamped by Petrov and Maldonado, with the Venezuelan passing Petrov for third on the 5th lap at Les Combes yet again. Parente passed Buemi at the same corner for 5th, but at the end of the lap it was curtains for Conway, who spun into the wall on the exit of the Bus Stop.

Next time around Valerio hit the damp kerb on the exit of Malmedy and spun into the wall, bringing out the safety car. While it was out Parente had a massive lock-up on the way into the Bus Stop, and ran head on into the barriers, although he emerged unscathed. Meanwhile Di Grassi overtook Kamui Kobayashi under the safety car, but conceded the position again when racing got back underway with D’Ambrosio still leading from Soucek and Maldonado, Petrov, Buemi and Grosjean. But before it had even got back underway Filippi was in a spin again, although this time it wasn’t his fault, for Diego Nunes harpooned him.

Senna and Di Grassi were having a superb scrap for 7th and 8th, while Buemi and Grosjean were doing the same for 5th and 6th. Grosjean went around the outside at Blanchimont but got on the damp astroturf, letting Senna past him and giving him a run at Buemi, but there was no room and Senna touched the back of the Swiss driver’s car, spun off the track and crawled into the pits to retire, meaning he took no advantage of Pantano’s absence.

Grosjean had got past Buemi in the end, but threw it away when he put a wheel on the kerb at Stavelot, spinning him down out of the points. Di Grassi was now all over the back of Kobayashi for 6th, and Maldonado took Soucek at his favourite place for second with 5 laps to go. On lap 15 Buemi and Petrov had a superb scrap for 4th, with the Russian hanging on, and Di Grassi passed Kobayashi for the final points position into Les Combes.

With 3 laps to go Andy Soucek crashed out of third on that same kerb at Stavelot, putting Petrov into third ahead of Buemi, Di Grassi and Valsecchi. But Maldonado was closing all the time on D’Ambrosio, and the inevitable happened on the final tour as Maldonado made his final manoeuvre down the inside into Les Combes to take the lead, which he held to the flag to take his and Piquet Sports’ first win of the season, setting fastest lap too. D’Ambrosio was happy to be second, ahead of Petrov, Buemi and Di Grassi. Kobayashi took Valsecchi at the final chicane, although he missed the corner in the process, meaning the stewards penalised him 25 seconds after the race, dropping him to 14th.

With only two races at Monza next weekend to go then, Pantano’s position in the championship has incredibly been strengthened despite a failure to score a single point. That’s because a variety of problems and incidents for Senna and Di Grassi allowed them to score just two points each. Those three, together with Romain Grosjean, will battle it out for the drivers’ championship. Meanwhile in the teams’ championship, Campos take a 2 point lead over iSport.

* - Penalised 25 seconds for overtaking someone.

Drivers Championship Standings -
1 Pantano 71pts, 2 Senna 60pts, 3 di Grassi, Grosjean 53pts, 5 Maldonado 48pts, 6 Buemi 44pts, 7 Petrov 39pts, 8 Parente 34pts, 9 Zuber 32pts, 10 Chandhok 31pts, 11 Conway 20pts, 12 D'Ambrosio 18pts, 13 Soucek 14pts, 14  Kobayashi 10pts, 15 Villa 8pts, 16 Tung 7pts, 17 Rodriguez, Filippi 6pts, 19 Buurman, Valles 5pts, 21 Valsecchi  4pts, 22 Nunes, Yamamoto 3pts, 24 Carroll, Hanley 1pt.