Ferrari
"We are very disappointed for Kimi, who had driven a great race and deserved the win, especially at this rather difficult time," said team boss Stefano Domenicali. Very much on the bright side, however, title contender Felipe Massa's second place on the road, achieved by driving admittedly very cautiously, became victory in the stewards' room, turning a potential 8 point deficit to Hamilton to just 2. "This was a very strange race," the Brazilian surmised.
BMW-Sauber
Nick Heidfeld's weekend has been the perfect rejoinder to the speculation about his future, but it was his inspired strategy decision to change to wet tyres with just 2 laps to go that netted him the podium, which became second place after Hamilton's penalty. "It paid off. It was a hero or zero decision," he enthused. Teammate Robert Kubica, sixth, was actually ahead of Heidfeld until a pitstop refuelling delay.
McLaren-Mercedes
Like Raikkonen and Massa, Hamilton's was a tumultuous race; an early half-spin at La Source that allowed Raikkonen to snatch the lead after Eau Rouge, and then the incredible events of the closing laps, where the Briton took the win but was subsequently demoted to third. "The team has registered its intention to appeal this decision," said a statement issued by engine partner Mercedes-Benz. Heikki Kovalainen, who had a bad start and served a drive-through penalty for his collision with Red Bull's Mark Webber, retired with a gearbox failure on the last lap but was classified 10th. On his clash with Webber, the Finn said: "It was a racing accident."
Renault
Like Heidfeld, Fernando Alonso also switched to wet tyres in the closing stages and finished a solid fourth. "We have shown that we can be the third strongest team in the championship," he enthused. Nelson Piquet spun into the barriers at the high speed Fagnes chicane on lap 15.
Toro Rosso-Ferrari
Sebastien Bourdais, despite hitting Toyota's Jarno Trulli at the start, had a good weekend and capped it off with two points. But with his teammate Sebastian Vettel fifth at the flag, the Frenchman was disappointed on Sunday afternoon when the late race rain chaos cost him places. "It was definitely his best race for Toro Rosso and I am very happy for him," said team boss Franz Tost, who was seen embracing the multiple Champ Car champion in the paddock.
Red Bull-Renault
Mark Webber re-claimed his eighth place only in the stewards room, as the FIA officials penalised Toyota's Timo Glock for overtaking while yellow flags warned about the Raikkonen crash. The Australian was also lucky to survive the crash with an optimistic Kovalainen. David Coulthard finished 11th. "We have poor drivability," the veteran said.
Toyota
Jarno Trulli was sixth at La Source on lap one, but hit in the back by Bourdais and lucky to drag his damaged car to the chequered flag. "The car was undriveable," said the Italian. Glock finished eighth but FIA stewards took away his point for overtaking Webber under yellow flags.
Williams-Toyota
The British team's rain-dance came too late, meaning that Nico Rosberg and Kazuki Nakajima's switch to wet tyres did not deliver any points. "We are confident Monza will suit us better," said Rosberg.
Force India-Ferrari
Giancarlo Fisichella was the last to see the chequered flag, after a crash with Nakajima at the first corner required a visit to the pits. Adrian Sutil, who finished the race with dry tyres, split the wet-tyred Williams cars at the end, for 13th place. "I could pass Button and some other guys. I am quite happy with this race," said the German.
Honda
Rubens Barrichello's bad weekend ended on lap 21, when the team retired his car to save his engine for Monza following a gearbox problem. Button finished 15th.
Qualifying Results
Championship leader Lewis Hamilton cruised to the top of the time charts at today’s round of qualifying for the Belgium GP – his fifth pole position of the season. Starting in second will be Felipe Massa, Ferrari’s best chance for winning the overall series, followed by Heikki Kovalainen in third and Kimi Raikkonen in fourth. BMW’s Nick Heidfeld, contending with speculation that he might be dropped next year due to his recent poor performance, was fifth at the end of qualifying.
McLaren-Mercedes
After a slightly low-profile Friday, McLaren dominated Ferrari on day two at Spa-Francorchamps, Lewis Hamilton marginally trailing his teammate Heikki Kovalainen in Q1 and Q2 before taking an emphatic pole. "After Valencia we knew we had to improve and that's what we did," said the championship leader. Behind Ferrari's Felipe Massa, Kovalainen is third. "I didn't quite do enough to make it onto the front row," said the Finn, who looked disappointed despite apparently running a bit more fuel than Hamilton in Q3.
Ferrari
After looking quickest on Friday, Valencia winner Massa found himself chasing fellow title protagonist Hamilton's pace throughout qualifying. "I did a great lap, but it was not enough," said the Brazilian. Kimi Raikkonen has seemed slightly more competitive at his favourite circuit than at recent races, but the world champion is still the slowest of the 'big four' marquee runners. "Fourth place is far from ideal to go looking for the win, but it doesn't mean I've given up hope," he said.
BMW-Sauber
If Nick Heidfeld is fighting to keep his seat for 2009, he won the battle at Spa-Francorchamps on Saturday -- quickest of all in the morning practice drizzle, and out-qualified only by the 'big four' drivers. Robert Kubica is P8 on the grid, with team boss Mario Theissen insisting things are "just not right" for the Pole this weekend.
Renault
Third in the morning and P6 on the grid leaves Fernando Alonso "satisfied" with his weekend so far. Nelson Piquet (P12) was about half a second slower in Q2 so he missed the final top-ten segment.
Red Bull-Renault
David Coulthard was just 2 tenths slower than teammate Mark Webber in Q2, but the margin meant Webber make the Q3 cut and qualified a worthy seventh, while Coulthard is stranded P14 on the grid. "It's so tight in the midfield," the Scot noted.
Toro Rossi-Ferrari
Of the STR duo, Sebastian Vettel usually has the most to cheer about, but after qualifying at the very top of the order in the Q1 segment, Sebastien Bourdais - fighting to keep his seat for 2009 - let his feelings be known as he whooped-up the in-car radio airwaves. "It was nice to see my name at the top of a timesheet. It's been a long time!" the Frenchman enthused after also going faster than Vettel in Q2 and Q3, although Vettel is definitely carrying more fuel for the start of the race. "It's beginning to come together. I feel this track and its corners suit me better," Bourdais added. Vettel's explanation for being behind his teammate this weekend was very much a backhanded compliment: "I was struggling a bit on those sections where the driver doesn't have to do much. I could not find the pace my teammate had," the German said.
Toyota
Jarno Trulli (P11) and Timo Glock (P13) were very evenly matched for pace in qualifying, but the TF108 wasn't fast enough to put them in the hunt for the top-ten. "We knew we would be struggling a bit today given these low temperatures," said Trulli, referring to the difficulty in getting heat into the harder compound tyres on a cold track. The Italian also explained after qualifying that, because the engine in his car was also used at Valencia, the handicap on the long straights at Spa is an incredible 4 tenths per lap. But technical boss Pascal Vasselon was surprised. "Obviously we got something wrong in our preparation work," he said.
Williams-Toyota
Kazuki Nakajima is having a poor weekend, and his 7 tenths deficit to teammate Nico Rosberg in Q1 leaves him on the very back row of the grid. "I just couldn't find any grip and I am still not able to understand why," said the Japanese. Rosberg (P15) at least made it into Q2, but was 6 tenths short of graduating into the final qualifying segment. "We knew Spa was not going to be our best track but being this far back is unexpected," said the German.
Honda
The frustration in Jenson Button's eyes at Spa on Saturday was obvious, after his car broke down just a few hundred metres into morning practice and then qualified behind his teammate Rubens Barrichello. The unhurried RA108s did at least pull off the very last row of the grid, but remain among the Q1 rabble. "We have to be pleased with what we achieved today, particularly given that we have been pretty much at the bottom of the timesheets so far this weekend," said Barrichello.
Force India-Ferrari
Split by Nakajima's Williams, the two Force Indias are at the back of the grid, but - propelled by the mighty Ferrari engine - not far off the pace of the struggling Hondas. "Tomorrow there is a good chance to move up some places," said Giancarlo Fisichella, who qualified last.
Reader Comments
Sun Sep 7 2008 2:04 AM
Jake says
We don't write about the "France GP", we write about the "French GP". So why on earth does everyone always write about the "Belgium GP" instead of the "Belgian GP"???!
Sun Sep 7 2008 8:41 PM
NaBUru38 says
Blank eyes, I suppose, jake.
With the best Brazilian F1 driver as Ferrari's first driver, the torcida must be really happy. Hamilton is under hard pressure. Kimi is in deep trouble.
Mon Sep 8 2008 1:39 AM
bambam says
the ruling does not make sense, McLaren did not break any race rule at all here.
The race result should stand. L Hamilton should be first and Masa second.
if the FIA keeps this decision to penalize the L Hamilton, they should also change the current rules and declare it that next time something like this happens the driver must drop back behind the overtaken vehicle for more the 10 sec, LOL.
blame it on Kimi Raikkonen for falling a sleep (Hamilton was behind him).
I wanted kimi Raikkonen to win here but if he can't why blame it on Lewis Hamilton.
Mon Sep 8 2008 10:43 AM
Spyke says
You fail to mention that after Hamilton cut the corner he let Raikkonen pass him to go back into 1st
I really dont understand F1 now! all the FIA have done with this ruling is say that Ferrari's can't lose!
Mon Sep 8 2008 12:34 PM
gino says
Ferrai owns the FIA and will encourage any means to win the F1 championship.
Last year it was the "scandal".
Had it been Kimi or Felipe, no such decision would have been made.
Mon Sep 8 2008 2:39 PM
Steve says
what about the fact that as Hamilton backed of to let Kimi back past he pulled across and nerfed his front left wheel onto Kimi's rear right giving the Ferrari a huge tank-slapper of a wobble.
The ruling should be altered to say that the car that went offline and gained advantage should let the car overtaken past and then wait UNTIL the following corner has been past before any overtaking attempt.
Mon Sep 8 2008 10:02 PM
W says
Hamilton's front wheel did not touch Kimi's rear wheel when H backed off from K after that chicane. Look at the video again and you can see Kimi was just desperately defensive (very twitchy).
McLaren stated Hamilton was going slower than Kimi after crossing the line and simply out braked Kimi into the corner.
Isn't that fair with the current rules? No touch and typical outbraking passing.
Even if people want to amend the rules, the current rules are still active.
Tue Sep 9 2008 1:35 PM
CK says
The staggering penalty levied on Hamilton at last weekends Spa Grand Prix has left me disgusted with the way F1 is managed. As far as I could see Hamilton behaved rather well, given the conditions, conceding the lead over Raikonnen immediately after the 'controversial' manoeuvre. He certainly behaved rather better than the 'officials' that consider his actions worthy of any penalty.
If Massa were any kind of sportsman he would refuse the extra points.
If this is the way Formula 1 and the FIA choose to conduct themselves, I shall not watch F1 GP's anymore, in site of being an avid fan for many years.
I wish Hamilton the best of luck in spite of the obvious bias against him and hope that he moves to a different motorsport that doesn't need to resort to race-fixing to artificially create a title competition.
Sun Sep 14 2008 2:45 AM
Steve says
Well it seems like my suggestion for altering the rule isnt needed - as the FIA clarified the rule as it stands during the drivets briefing at monza - and the rule states that ANY driver that cuts a chicane and gains a place MUST let the other driver back in front ( Which Hamilton DID do ) and wait until next corner has been taken ( in the case of Spa was the La Source hairpin - which Hamilton DIDNT do ) before trying another passing manouvre - soo I say that the penalty fittied the rulebreaking.
and to be honest - I am bored as a brit of the constant sycophantic derriere kissing of Hamilton that the commentators and presenters of all the f1 coverage in the UK do - any1 would think that he is the only driver on the grid. Yes hes winning races - but how much of that is down to him and how much is the car -- If he had signed up for a team like Force India or the like - he would of been overlooked just the same as other british drivers of previous seasons.
Personally i hope Massa wins the title with Raikonenn 2nd and Hamilton behind Kubica. might make him realise the world of FI1 is bigger than his self inflated ego.
Leave a Comment
Login or register to leave comments.
Please keep your comments on topic. Your involvement is governed by our Privacy Policy and Terms.