August 30, 2009

Finn Kimi Raikkonen rode his luck to claim Ferrari's first win this year when he held off a strong challenge rom Force India's veteran Italian Giancarlo Fisichella in a dramatic Belgian Grand Prix.

It was the 2007 world champion's 18th career win but his first since the 2008 Spanish Grand Prix - a welcome fillip for the Ferrari team after a torrid year.

The race was overshadowed by a multiple accident on the opening lap which wrecked the hopes of drivers championship leader Jenson Button and defending champion and fellow Briton Lewis Hamilton, of McLaren Mercedes, both of them crashed out.

Fisichella, who had grabbed his Force India team's maiden pole position on Saturday, came home second, just nine-tenths of a second behind Raikkonen.

He scored the team's first points and first podium.

German Sebastian Vettel came home third for Red Bull to go third in the title race with 53 points behind Button on 72 and his Brawn GP team-mate Brazilian Rubens Barrichello on 56 with five races remaining.

Pole Robert Kubica was fourth for BMW Sauber ahead of his team-mate German Nick Heidfeld with Finn Heikki Kovalainen sixth for McLaren Mercedes.

Barrichello was seventh, nursing his car stricken by an oil leak over the closing laps, and German Nico Rosberg eighth for Williams.

Red Bull's Mark Webber finished ninth to drop back to fourth in the standings on 51.5 points.

After the extraordinary drama of Saturday's qualifying session, the 44-laps race managed to produce even greater spectacle on the opening lap.

Pole-sitting Fisichella made a clean start, but behind him mayhem took place as the field escaped from the La Source hairpin and raced through Eau Rouge and up the hill towards les Combs.

In an initial incident, Raikkonen's Ferrari collided with Kubica's BMW, but this was just an appetizer for what lay ahead when, seconds later, the two rookies - Frenchman Romain Grosjean of Renault and Spaniard Jaime Alguersuari of Toro Rosso - collided with Button and Hamilton.

All four were removed from the contest in a cloud of debris close to the trackside barriers, the two luckless Englishmen climbing unscathed from their cockpits shaking their heads in disbelief.

Button said: "I got a very good start. I got past Lewis, I made up four places. As we were going down the straight through turn five, Grosjean out-braked himself. It is so frustrating to be taken out like that.''

Hamilton shrugged off his fate, commenting: "It's just one of those days.

"I got off to a really bad start, the anti-stall kicked in. I tried to recover but I got hit at the first corner and lost a bit of my front wing. Then I saw Jenson and backed off to avoid it all, but got hit from behind.''

The safety car was sent out until lap five when, on the resumption, Raikkonen's Ferrari powered past Fisichella and into the lead amid wildfire paddock rumours that the veteran Italian would be joining the Finn in the Ferrari team in time for next month's Italian Grand Prix.

On lap 14, Raikkonen, Fisichella, Webber and Heidfeld all pitted with Webber pulling out in front of the German and having to allow him to re-pass him out on the track. It cost him a drive-through penalty as Vettel took over in the lead before he pitted after 17 laps, handing the lead to Rosberg.

Raikkonen held second ahead of an inspired Fisichella until Rosberg pitted after 18 laps and the Finn regained control.

Both Jarno Trulli and Fernando Alonso were then forced to retire after respectively a jammed fuel rig and tyre problem.

After 31 laps, the front pair were back into the pits together again with Raikkonen and Ferrari emerging back in front but with Fisichella pushing hard in second place.

The Italian driver's pace was amazing everyone and Ferrari were struggling to pull clear with Vettel, third, enjoying a relative return to form for Red Bull after two pointless races.

All of this left Raikkonen, revelling in his form on one of his favourite tracks, holding on to his narrow lead from Fisichella over the closing laps.

Belgian Grand Prix Results
1. Kimi Raikkonen (FIN/FER) 1hr 23min 50.995sec
2. Giancarlo Fisichella (ITA/FOR) +0.939
3. Sebastian Vettel (GER/RBR) 3.875
4. Robert Kubica (POL/BMW) 9.966
5. Nick Heidfeld (GER/BMW) 11.276
6. Heikki Kovalainen (FIN/MLA) 32.763
7. Rubens Barrichello (BRA/BRA) 35.461
8. Nico Rosberg (GER/WIL) 36.208
9. Mark Webber (AUS/RBR) 36.959
10. Timo Glock (GER/TOY) 41.490
11. Adrian Sutil (GER/FOR) 42.636
12. Sebastien Buemi (SUI/TOR) 46.106
13. Kazuki Nakajima (JPN/WIL) 54.241
14. Luca Badoer (ITA/FER) 1min 42.177
Not classified: Fernando Alonso (ESP/REN) 18 laps
Jarno Trulli (ITA/TOY) 23 laps
Jenson Button (ENG/BRA) 44 laps
Jaime Alguersuari (ESP/TOR) 44 laps
Romain Grosjean (FRA/REN) 44 laps
Lewis Hamilton (ENG/MLA) 44 laps


F1 Drivers Ladder
Driver Team Pts
1 Jenson Button (GBR) Brawn 72
2 Rubens Barrichello (BRA) Brawn 56
3 Sebastian Vettel (GER) Red Bull 53
4 Mark Webber (AUS) Red Bull 51.5
5 Kimi Raikkonen (FIN) Ferrari 34
6 Nico Rosberg (GER) Williams 30.5
7 Lewis Hamilton (GBR) McLaren 27
8 Jarno Trulli (ITA) Toyota 22.5
9 Felipe Massa (BRA) Ferrari 22
10 Heikki Kovalainen (FIN) McLaren 17
11 Timo Glock (GER) Toyota 16
12 Fernando Alonso (ESP) Renault 16
13 Nick Heidfeld (GER) BMW Sauber 10
14 Giancarlo Fisichella (ITA) Force India 8
15 Robert Kubica (POL) BMW Sauber 8
16 Sebastien Buemi (SUI) Toro Rosso 3
17 Sebastien Bourdais (FRA) Toro Rosso 2
18 Adrian Sutil (GER) Force India 0
19 Kazuki Nakajima (JAP) Williams 0
20 Nelson Piquet Jr. (BRA) Renault 0
21 Luca Badoer (ITA) Ferrari 0
22 Jaime Alguersuari (ESP) Toro Rosso 0
23 Romain Grosjean (FRA) Renault 0


Team Pts
1 Brawn 128
2 Red Bull 104.5
3 Ferrari 56
4 McLaren 44
5 Toyota 38.5
6 Williams 30.5
7 BMW Sauber 18
8 Renault 16
9 Force India 8
10 Toro Rosso 5