Raikkonen Takes Victory in Spa

Kimi Raikkonen won his first Grand Prix of 2009 in Spa this afternoon, just about managing to hold off the Force India of Giancarlo Fisichella.

Raikkonen, who started from sixth on the grid, got a clean getaway to get up to second on the first lap, but it appeared it was Fisichella, who despite losing the lead following the restart on lap five, who had the faster car, keeping the Finn pushing all the way to the end.

As usual, the Spa-Francorchamps circuit provided a thrilling race, and as always there was first lap carnage.

The La Source hairpin is usually renowned for its first corner collisions, but it was turn five, Les Combes, that saw a four-car pile-up involving championship leader Jenson Button, and current champion Lewis Hamilton. Button was tagged by Romain Grosjean, who out-breaked himself at the end of the straight going in to turn five, and Hamilton, who had been trying to keep clear of any contact, was tagged from behind by Jaime Alguersuari, resulting in the end of the race for the four drivers, and the safety car being deployed.

While pole sitter Fisichella got a clean getaway off the grid, leading behind the safety car after the first lap drama; at the restart, it was Kimi Raikkonen who claimed the lead, taking advantage of a good slipstream and his KERS button, passing Fisichella at the top of Eau Rouge.

Leading into the first round of pitstops, Raikkonen kept Fisichella behind him, but in the second round of pitstops, the pressure was on for Raikkonen to maintain the lead, with the Force India having maintained the gap in the second stint. Raikkonen maintained the lead on the exit of the pits, and finished less than a second ahead of Fisichella.

Sebastian Vettel, who started the race from eighth, came through to finish third, with Robert Kubica and Nick Heidfeld finishing fourth and fifth for BMW. Heikki Kovalainen, Rubens Barrichello and Nico Rosberg finished sixth, seventh and eighth, respectively, rounding off the points scorers. Mark Webber who went in to the race third in the drivers standings, finished just outside the points in ninth.

Aside from the four retiring in the first corner, Jarno Trulli and Fernando Alonso also failed to finish the race. Alonso, who was on a one stop strategy, and had been running well in the Renault, retired shortly after his pitstop, where there had been problems with securing his front-left wheel, which was a result of contact in the first corner. The decision to retire was made by the team, who it seemed were keen to avoid a repeat of the loose wheel incident in Hungary.

For Button, it was all down to damage-limitation, with closest championship rival and teammate Barrichello, scoring only two points, bringing the gap down to just 16 points in the championship. Vettel’s third place puts him back into third in the standings, 1.5 points ahead of Webber.

Raikkonen’s win elevates him to fifth in the standings, and Fisichella’s second place gets him and Force India their first points of the season.

 

The next race takes place in Monza in two weeks time, with qualifying on Saturday 12th September, and the race live on BBC One at 1pm on the 13th.

Fisichella Takes Surprise Pole in Spa

Giancarlo Fisichella pulled a surprise pole out of the bag in Spa this afternoon, in an exciting, yet shocking qualifying session.

The Italian, who it is rumoured may replace Luca Badoer at Ferrari from the next race in Monza, shocked everyone when he topped the time sheets in quali one, and again in quali three, lapping the track in 1:46.308.

Fisichella’s teammate, Adrian Sutil, will start in 11th, having narrowly missed making it into Q3.

Jarno Trulli will start the race second in the Toyota, with the  BMWs of Nick Heidfeld and Robert Kubica third and fifth respectively. Rubens Barrichello is the first Brawn on grid in fourth. Kimi Raikkonen will start sixth, with Timo Glock seventh, the Red Bulls of Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber eighth and nineth, and Nico Rosberg in tenth.

Jenson Button failed to make it through to Q3 for the first time this season, and will start down in 14th. Lewis Hamilton, who qualified on pole just a week ago in Valencia, also failed to make it into Q3. Despite being the fastest through sectors one and three, his McLaren struggled through sector two and he will start in 12th, with teammate Heikki Kovalainen down in 15th.

Luca Badoer will start what may possibly be his last Grand Prix from the back of the grid for the second race in a row, after beaching his Ferrari as the clock stopped at the end of Q1.

With the weather frequently having a part to play in the outcome of a race in Spa, whether it rains or shines tomorrow, one thing is for certain, that once again, one of the best circuits on the F1 calendar is likely to produce an exciting race where just about anything can happen, just as it did in qualifying this afternoon.