Sunday 30th August 2009
Kimi Raikkonen claimed the victory in the Belgian GP, just managing to hold off Force India's Giancarlo Fisichella - and what a race it was.
After Valencia's tedium and snores, Spa-Francorchamps delivered the exact opposite with no fewer than four drivers, including Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton, crashing out at Les Combes on the opening lap.
This brought out the Safety Car with Fisichella, who had started from pole position, leading the way ahead of Raikkonen. But three laps later, with the debris clear and the Safety Car coming in, Raikkonen launched his attack, easily taking the lead from the Force India driver.
Game over - or so many thought...
Race Report
With no rain predicted for the race, in bright sunny conditions, Giancarlo Fisichella led the drivers round on a very slow parade lap. The ambient temperature was at 16C with the track at 30C.
As the lights went out the man in P4 on the grid was immediately in trouble, the anti-stall mechanism on the Brawn kicking in and Rubens failing to get underway for the third time this year and everyone streaming past him on the grid.
Into La Source and Kimi Raikkonen was forced out wide by the gaggle of cars at the apex, while further back Jenson Button also took that route. Polesitter Giancarlo Fisichella had got away cleanly into the lead, but behind him P2 man Trulli was overtaken on the inside by Nick Heidfeld and on the outside by Raikkonen.
Heidfeld, once past Trulli, effectively into P2 or P3 by now, was slow away from La Source and Trulli ran his front wing into him, loosening it but thankfully it remained in place. Heidfeld's lack of pace on the exit was seized upon by Robert Kubica who swept through on the inside and into P2.
Down the hill they charged: Fisichella, Kubica, Raikkonen (joining from the run-off) followed by Heidfeld, Trulli, Glock and the two Red Bulls.
Further back Adrian Sutil had taken a tightish line into La Source only to find Nico Rosberg inside him and Fernando Alonso inside Rosberg. Contact with Rosberg spun Sutil around and as the Williams driver escaped, Fernando Alonso ran over Sutil's front wing.
It seemed as though Alonso had got away with it, but events later in the race would prove otherwise.
Down the hill to Eau Rouge they charged, the rest of the pack trampling over Sutil's front wing. Kimi Raikkonen, using the Ferrari's KERS button, was straight onto the tail of Kubica and easily outdragged him up the hill to Les Combes, although the Ferrari driver was tentative on the brakes into the corner and took a narrower angle than the normal racing line. Slow on the exit, he was almost punted up the rear by Kubica.
Behind them, Nick Heidfeld missed his braking and went over the grass on the inside, losing a place to Glock and Trulli straight away and subsequently Mark Webber.
Behind them, Jenson Button had got a reasonable start and was P11 (from P14) through Eau Rouge. Going up the hill to Les Combes he got on the inside of Kovalainen and was able to outbrake the McLaren on the outside to take P10 - at which point Romain Grosjean's Renault - trying to follow him through- hooked a wheel inside of his and spun the BrawnGP car into the barriers, wrecking his own car against the Armco in the process.
Lewis Hamilton had got a poor start with the anti-stall almost kicking in and was coping with Barrichello coming up on the outside at Les Combes when he was clattered into by the Red Bull of Jaime Alguesuari. Four drivers out in one corner. The stewards decided they would investigate both incidents after the race.
Something they didn't investigate, but surely must, was Rubens Barrichello's overtaking of a pack of cars using the outside escape route at Les Combes. Barrichello recovered maginificently from last place on the grid and dodged round a few cars at La Sourceand in the run down to Eau Rouge. Up the hill into Les Combes he was alongside Hamilton on the outside, realised he wasn't going to make the turn and took the escape road, dodging all the frantic action involving the four wrecked cars.
With four cars out and debris at La Source it was an easy decision to call out the Safety Car. So as Giancarlo Fisichella led everyone over the line the race order was: Fisichella, Raikkonen, Kubica, Glock, Webber, Heidfeld, Rosberg, Vettel, Alonso, Kovalainen.
Vettel was soon on the radio complaining that Rosberg had overtaken him under Safety Car conditions while Trulli, Barrichello and Sutil headed for the pits. Trulli and Sutil needed new front wings and Barrichello took the opportunity of taking on more fuel under Safety Car conditions - the Brawn having gone the lightest in qualifying.
The race was restarted on Lap 5 but already the major dramas were over. Fisichella didn't manage to shake off Kimi Raikkonen in the corners before the start and as the Ferrari followed the Force India car through Eau Rouge, KERS power was easily able to take him past before Les Combes.
From that point on it was assumed that Raikkonen would open a gap to Fisichella in his cruise to his fourth Belgian GP victory - especially when he set the Fastest Lap on Lap 8 with a 1:47.749. It didn't happen.
On Lap 12 the first pit-stops started to unfold and it was assumed that the Red Bulls - who had gone slightly longer on fuel - would start to take advantage. Glock and Kubica came in first and Toyota had to switch to the reserve fuel ring for Glock sending him back down the race order from P4 before the stop.
On Lap 13 Nick Heidfeld showed his intention of getting a place back off Mark Webber by setting the Fastest lap at 1:47.738.
A lap later and both Raikkonen and Fisichella pitted together, their cars separated by an entire pitlane but the positions staying the same. Behind them, Mark Webber and Nick Heidfeld pitted at the same time. Heidfeld got away first and looked to have made up a position, but just as the BMW approached the Red Bull garage the Red Bull lollypop was raised.
It was yet another dangerous Red Bull release and though they had got away with one the race before, this time round Heidfeld had to take avoiding action and brake to avoid running into the back of Webber in the pitlane. Whether that was on the team's mind or not is unknown but Heidfeld was able to overtake Webber going into Les Combes that lap, while Rubens Barrichello pulled a fantastic overtaking move into the high-speed Blanchimont of all places.
The incident must have severely unsettled Webber because the following lap he started to block and move around in the braking zone trying to keep the Force India of Adrian Sutil behind going into Les Combes.
Red Bull team-mate Sebastian Vettel had a much better time of it, jumping Heidfeld for a place and also his team-mate in the process. It was then announced that Webber would have to serve a drive-through penalty for the team's (not his) pitlane mess-up. He emerged from the pitlane on Lap 18 back in P.13.
The positions on Lap 19 were: 1.Raikkonen, 0.9 in front of... 2.Fisichella, 3.Alonso (not stopped), 4.Kubica, 5.Kovalainen (not stopped), 6.Buemi (not stopped), 7.Vettel, 8.Heidfeld, 9.Barrichello, 10.Sutil
Lap 20 and 21 saw a remarkable feat. Luca Badoer set the timing screens to purple setting the fastest first sector on successive laps.
The Ferrari team were keen for Kimi Raikkonen to put a gap between himself and Giancarlo Fisichella, fearful that the Force India could run a lap or two longer in the middle stint. They asked him to push and try and edge him by a tenth of a second a lap (interestingly it was not Kimi's engineer Chris Dyer who passed on the message). This was duly broadcast on television and then relayed back to Fisichella behind.
By Lap 24 the gap was still only 0.7 though, the Force India easily having the legs of the Ferrari. If Force India could run longer, then they were sitting pretty.
Fernando Alonso was still in P3 and yet to have his first pit-stop. On Lap 25 he came in for what would be his solo stop of the race. However his front left tyre wheel would not accept the wheel spinner and after several seconds of wrestling, the mechanic had to give up and use a replacement.
This was the same wheel that had impacted Adrian Sutil's Force India on the first corner, a result of Alonso taking a risky narrow inside line. The delay had dropped him from P3 to a disastrous P14 and a lap later the team brought him back in to retire as the telemetry showed that the wheel might come loose. They were not going to run the risk of what had happened in Hungary.
Towards the end of the second stint Sebastian Vettel started to close on Robert Kubica's P3 and back in P5, Nick Heidfeld began to close on the pair of them. The two BMWs pitted on Lap 30 and Lap 32 while Vettel was able to stay out till Lap 35 and leapfrog past Kubica.
The biggest battle was always going to be Ferrari versus Force India in the final pit-stops. On Lap 31 the Ferrari mechanics came out into the pitlane and must have been very relieved to find the Force India crew out at the same time. Neither made a mistake and though they resumed in P2 and P3, when Vettel stopped four laps later they would resume P1 and P2.
So on Lap 36 the order with gaps in front of the next car was:
1.Raikkonen 0.8
2.Fisichella 5.9
3.Vettel 2.5
4.Kubica 2.7
5.Heidfeld 12.6
6.Kovalainen
7.Barrichello
8.Rosberg
9.Webber
10.Glock
Vettel put in a series of Fastest Laps in a vain attempt to catch Fisichella and Raikkonen but was never close enough. In the closing laps of the race the excitement was provided by Rubens Barrichello's car which started to blow smoke intermittently on lap 42 of 44 and then constantly from Lap 43 onwards. It gave hope to the following Rosberg in P8 and Webber in P9, but Rubens managed to nurse his car to the line and 7th place.
It was the Ferrari team's first win of 2009, but the biggest celebrants were Force India. Having not scored a point all year, they easily had the fastest car in the race and had scored eight in one go. What's more, they stand even more of a chance for a race win at Monza in two weeks' time.
Sebastian Vettel will be relieved to have finished on the podium again, but the Red Bull team will have been hoping for much more from the race. BMW picked up 4th and 5th through Kubica and Heidfeld and Heikki Kovalainen came home unchallenged in 6th.
Yet again it proved Spa's remarkable ability to provide a memorable race. Even without rain.
FH
Results
01 K. Räikkönen Ferrari 1:23:50.995
02 G. Fisichella Force India F1 + 0.938
03 S. Vettel Red Bull + 3.875
04 R. Kubica BMW + 9.966
05 N. Heidfeld BMW + 11.276
06 H. Kovalainen McLaren + 32.763
07 R. Barrichello Brawn GP + 35.461
08 N. Rosberg Williams + 36.208
09 M. Webber Red Bull + 36.959
10 T. Glock Toyota + 41.490
11 A. Sutil Force India F1 + 42.636
12 S. Buemi Scuderia Toro Rosso + 46.106
13 K. Nakajima Williams + 54.241
14 L. Badoer Ferrari + 1:42.177
Did not finish
15 F. Alonso Renault + 18 lap(s)
16 J. Trulli Toyota + 23 lap(s)
17 J. Button Brawn GP + 44 lap(s)
18 R. Grosjean Renault + 44 lap(s)
19 L. Hamilton McLaren + 44 lap(s)
20 J. Alguersuari Scuderia Toro Rosso + 44 lap(s)
Source : Planet F1
Giancarlo Fisichella took an historic and surprising first pole position for Force India in 
