Ferrari 1-2 answer to McLaran.

After a years absence the Formula1 circus returns to Spa Francorchamps a real driver circuit universally liked by all the drivers. It is also the longest lap of the year at 4.325 miles, which makes it a 44-lap race.

The circuit itself boasted a new pit complex and changes to the track, the first corner La Source was widened creating more run off area. The bus stop chicane at the end of the lap had also been altered the bus stop chicane had been altered front a tight left, right, right left, to a wider right, left chicane. Whilst those changes were liked amongst the drivers causing concern however was the way of getting into the new pitlane that has a tight entry and the drivers had to come off mid-chicane. It was a worry that there could be ether a crash blocking the pit lane or a collision as one driver entered the pit whilst another would be completing a lap. Only time would tell.

Also changed was the constructor’s championship. Mclaren thrown out after the World Motor Sport Council had deemed Mclaren had cheated in the Ferrari spy saga (see Middlemore on top of $100,000,000) This meant that all Ferrari would have to do this weekend was finish ahead of Bmw and the title was theres. Though the drivers title was unaffected meaning Lewis Hamilton still lead Fernando Alonso by 3 points with the Ferrari drivers Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa 18 and 21 points further adrift with 40 points maximum left.

Qualifying.

BMW’s weekend go off to a bad start when they had to change Robert Kubica’s engine meaning it would be a 10-place grid penalty from where ever he qualified.

Q1 The first knock out session proved to be a fraught affair. All the drivers went up to a second quicker on there second run at the end of the session Adrian Sutil had got his Spyker up to 12th at one stage but such was the improvement in lap times it saw the rookie drop down to 20th. The other Spyker of Yamamoto stayed in his traditional spot of p22 but a disappointed Anthony Davidson was P21 in a super Aguri he described as “undriveable” in Friday practice. His teammate Sato was only in 19th ahead of Sutil 18th in his 250th race was Rubens Barrichello and just missing the cut was Torro Rosso’s Sebastian Vettel in 17th. It was almost disaster for Ferrari however Massa was stuck in the pits for the first 10 minuets of the session whilst the mechanics were looking at the rear of the car, Luckily he was able to set a time in the final moments of the session that would put him into Q2…

Q2 The second knockout session saw Alex Wurz knocked out and in 16th, The Austrian still not getting on top of qualifying, 15th was Vitantonio Liuzzi, The second Honda of Button was next then David Coulthard, Ralf Schumacher and in 11th was the Renault of Fisichella. At the Front Raikkonen set the fastest time of the weekend 1:45.070 showing the Ferrari’s pace, Hamilton 2nd quickest that session did a 1:45.132.

Q3 The top 10 shoot out saw he Ferrari’s dominate the front row for the first time this season with Raikkonen on pole from Massa then Alonso who on his first run spun his Mclaren at Rivage, 4th Hamilton Kubica was 5 but would drop 10 places because of his engine change, an impressive 6th for Rosberg who was ahead of Heidfeld in 7th 8th was Mark Webber 9th was Trulli in the Toyota and 10th the Renault of Kovalainen.

The Race.

11th on the grid became last for Fisichella who had to change his engine after qualifying which meant starting from the back. Then with just before the start the Renault mechanics pushed his car into the pits, Fisichella would be starting with the spare car. Starting from the pitlane too would be Anthony Davidson.

On the grid smoke was coming out of Massa’s break coolers surely not a good sign for the race? The lights went out quickly however and Raikkonen lead from Massa into the modified 1st corner La Source. Alonso decided to show that he had enough of his teammates starts making sure this time Hamilton would not make up any places off the grid. Alonso held his line into La Source forcing Hamilton onto the outside of the track and over the new extra tarmac, Hamilton no doubt glad of the extra run off area. The rookie however was not finished with his teammate. He kept his foot down and used the runoff to his advantage getting along side Alonso heading up to the daunting Eau Rouge corner. Side by side and neither prepared to give way as they approached the 170mph corner Alonso was able to hold his line however and Hamilton had to back out slightly mid corner. Unhappily for Lewis he would not be able to get near the No.1 Mclaren all day. Fisichella’s charge from the back lasted until the end of the 2nd lap, Fisichella had gone off the track trying to make up places and damaged his suspension. Game over for the Italian. Alex Wurz spun on lap 3 at the new bus stop chicane dropping to the back and staying there after another mistake and taking to the grass at Les Combes until his retirement on lap 36. On lap 9 Vettel came into retire his car not steering properly.

Having his best race to date however was Adrian Sutil in the Spyker, He had already jumped up from 20th to 15th he then moved up the grid some more, eventually passing Trulli for 12th! Not content with that he began hassling Coulthard for 11th all over the Red Bull trying his best, sadly Sutil showed his other side and like Wurz made a mistake out braking himself going into Les Combes bumping over the grass and rejoining the track.

Raikkonen was happily racing away from the Mclarens and Massa, The Ferrari mechanics briefly came out of the pits early in the race as if there was a problem with one of the cars, there was frantic action in the Ferrari garage, possibly something to do with Massa’s brakes smoking at the start. In the end there seemed to be nothing wrong and the mechanics calmed down and walked back in to the garage. Raikkonen continued to pull away steadily from Massa who was steadily pulling away from the Mclarens.

Heidfeld had dropped back at the start was able to pass Kovalainen and then jump Webber and Rosberg in the first stops. Kubica was desperate to make up ground after his engine penalty but after a long race of fighting hard he finished in 9th one place out the points. Not finishing in the points or at all was the Honda of Jenson Button, after another tough race which saw him passed by the Super Aguri of Takuma Sato in the Honda from last year, Even more embarrassing was that Sato made it look easy by going round the outside of him at Les Combes. Button eventually retired with hydraulics failure as did the Red Bull of Coulthard. The Red Bull team still not able to sort there reliability out.

At the Front Raikkonen was in for his first stop on lap 15 and Alonso Pitted on lap 16 a lap later both Massa and Hamilton pitted. The Mclarens took on extra fuel compared to the Ferraris but they had no answer to ether Raikkonen or Massa who ran away at the front. It also seemed Hamilton had no answer to his main championship rival Alonso, even though Hamilton was able to go 5 laps longer than Alonso in the second stops he still lost ground to the Spaniard, Still pushing Hamilton had a scary moment on the penultimate lap running wide at the fast sweeping Pouhon losing 3 seconds on that moment alone. At the front it seemed Massa refused to accept 2nd place closing the gap down bit by bit to under 2 seconds setting the fastest lap with a 1:48:036, but it was too little too late as Raikkonen took a dominant win, his 3rd at spa with Massa 2nd Alonso 3rd Hamilton a disappointed 4th Heldfeld taking his best of the rest slot in 5th Rosberg had a quiet but strong race to 6th, in 7th was the remaining Red Bull of Mark Webber and last of the points scorers was Kovalainen in 8th.

Race Bits

• Ferrari 2007 Constructor Champions?
  The 1-2 for Ferrari clinched then the constructors title from BMW, Though all that depends if Mclaren decide to appeal the decision, this at the moment seems unlikely however Mclaren Boss Ron Dennis saying he wants, “Closure” on the whole matter. Does this mean an end to the whole saga now? Unlikely but lets hope so.



• Hamilton, fighting Alonso is getting tough.
  Fernando Alonso has slowly ebbed away Hamilton’s title lead getting it down to just 2 points now. Alonso has had the better pace over his teammate in the last 2 races also does the rookie have it in him to beat his teammate in the last 3 races? Only time will tell.
  
  
• …Not to mention the added Ferrari threat.
  With Raikkonen taking 4 points out of Hamilton and the Ferrari’s looking strong at the next races Hamilton has double trouble on his hands. Ferrari now also has the comfort of putting all its efforts behind Raikkonen. Whilst not admitting it Massa has now slipped to far behind with 3 races to go. His Dnf at Monza and finishing behind Raikkonen means that his title hopes are now remote. Ferrari’s last hope for the title means they have to go for Raikkonen and hope Mclaren have a dnf but Mclaren has managed to get both there cars home in every race. But never say never.



• Hondamentalism - does that mean making a car slower than last years?
  Hondamentalism bit of a mouthful but the advertising campaign of Honda that talks about its heritage in motor sport. Trouble is the “mental” part to me equals being 14 rounds into the season and still being beaten by last years car in the form of Super Aguri. Sato’s pass on Button was shameful for the Japanese company. This time last year after 14 rounds Honda had 58 points and a race win. This year it has 2 points and is behind its B team. Rubens Barrichello started his 250th race and looks set to have his first season not scoring a point since his debut in 1993. Even more alarming is the fact that the chassis itself seems to be backwards in its set up take this quote from Barrichello himself, “On my last run I requested more front wing and the car just gave me more understeer” Oh dear oh dear…




• Not a good race if you wanted to keep your job guys part 2.
  Once again, Fisichella, Wurz and Schumacher had poor races Fisichella being out-qualified by his teammate and ending his race after 1 lap, Wurz making numerous errors and nowhere near the top 10 all weekend while his teammate Rosberg scores points. Ralf Schumacher did beat his teammate however he finished 10th and Trulli 11th. But still was unable to out qualify him. 10th doesn’t help your chances of getting a nice big retainer though Ralf…

Champ of the race: Raikkonen, made it look easy to keep his title hopes alive.

Chump of the race: Wurz, for someone of such experience he made too many errors and his qualifying form is still way off of Rosbergs.

Move of the race: There were some good moves but Sutil gets it for passing Trulli’s Toyota, which is a team that is estimated to have a $500 million dollar budget.