2008 Belgian Grand Prix Race Report

By Effwun - FOAS #65

Felipe Massa was declared the winner of the Belgian Grand Prix after an action packed and controversial end to the race, which saw several drivers spin off in wet conditions and Lewis Hamilton, who crossed the line first, penalised for cutting a chicane and gaining a competitive advantage. He would ultimately be declared to have finished third, behind Nick Heidfeld. Title contender Kimi Raikkonen's race ended on the penultimate lap when he spun off and crashed.

After a somewhat dull race in Valencia at one of F1's newest venues, the flying circus returned to one of the oldest and most challenging circuits on the calendar - Spa-Francorchamps. With fearsome corners such as Eau Rouge/Raidillon, Pouhon, and Blanchimont, large elevation changes, and its sheer physical size, Spa is perhaps the ultimate test of driver and car.

It was no surprise, therefore, that in Friday's first practice session, the timesheet was headed by the two Ferraris and the two McLarens - Massa, Raikkonen, Hamilton, Kovalainen, with 6 tenths covering the top 4. Immediately behind them was Fernando Alonso, who put in another good Friday practice performance, whilst the next three cars were from the Red Bull stable - Webber, Bourdais, and Vettel, thus demonstrating the improvements those cars have made over the course of the season.

Fernando Alonso continued his Friday practice form in P2, topping the timesheet with a time of 1:48.454, just edging Massa by 5 hundredths. Behind them were Kovalainen, Hamilton, Raikkonen, and Rosberg.

The times were significantly slower than in P1 due to rain, which punctuated the session early on. Although the rain would cease, the track remained wet, and little running was accomplished until the end of the session. In the damp conditions, Kimi Raikkonen spun his Ferrari and backed it into the tyres, tearing off his rear wing. Moments later, Giancarlo Fisichella spun at the same place and quite heavily damaged his car, which precipitated a red flag. After the session resumed, Nelsinho Piquet span in exactly the same place also.

Saturday morning's P3 session was also afflicted by rain, which got steadily heavier throughout the session. The rain did ease off though, and the track began to dry out towards the end of the session, resulting in a kind of rush hour on track as drivers attempted to set lap times in the dry. In the end, it was Nick Heidfeld who topped the time sheet, ahead of Kovalainen (who had been there or thereabouts in all the practice sessions so far), Alonso, Hamilton, Massa, Vettel (who continued to show excellent speed) and Raikkonen.

By the time qualifying started, the track had dried out, although the threat of rain was still hanging in the air. Q1 saw both Hondas and both Force Indias eliminated - a woeful performance yet again from Honda - along with Kazuki Nakajima, who struggled to find grip in his Williams. Q2 was disappointing for Toyota, with both cars eliminated, the eliminees being Trulli, Piquet, Glock, Coulthard, and Rosberg. So it came down to Q3. There was little doubt that it would be a fight between McLaren and Ferrari, but precisely who would take pole was uncertain. Massa set the early pace, but was quickly bettered by first Raikkonen then Hamilton. The drivers all pitted for fresh rubber and a final stab at pole position. Massa set fastest sector times, but almost as soon as he did, he was bettered by Hamilton. Massa took provisional pole, but Hamilton zipped across the line a few moments later to secure pole by 3 tenths, with Kovalainen third and Raikkonen fourth, ahead of Heidfeld, Alonso, Webber, Kubica, Bourdais, and Vettel.

Qualifying had stayed dry, but as the cars lined up on the grid for the race, there were predictions of rain for the end of the race. Moreover, there had been rain before the race, and the track was still very damp in places, including the start/finish straight. Most teams opted to start on the Option tyres (that is dry weather tyres). When the lights went out, Hamilton got a good start, and shot off into the lead. Further back, there was some pushing and shoving, and Alonso and Raikkonen got shuffled out at the La Source hairpin. Jarno Trulli got a blinding start from 11th on the grid to launch into 6th place. However, it would come unstuck for the Italian at the the end of the lap - he spun at the Bus Stop chicane and dropped down to 14th place.

Elsewhere, Kovalainen got a poor start and dropped to 11th, while Raikkonen forced his way past his team mate to take second place. At the beginning of lap two, with a comfortable margin over Raikkonen, Hamilton span at La Source. He was able to recover quickly, but not before Raikkonen had snatched the lead. It was a crucial mistake from Hamilton - he needed to be able to control the pace of the race because he would be pitting before his Ferrari rivals.

Now in control of the race, Raikkonen eased away from Hamilton, and had pulled out a two second margin in the opening laps. The pair traded fastest lap times as each tried to stamp their authority on the race. Meanwhile, Hamilton's team mate Kovalainen was battling through the field after his poor start. By lap 11 he had clawed his way up to 7th, but then made a clumsy lunge at Mark Webber at the Bus Stop chicane, causing the Australian to spin. Kovalainen kept going, but a few laps later the stewards decided that the incident was avoidable contact, and handed down a drive through penalty for the Finn. He elected to take his penalty after his first pit stop, and the combination of the two dropped him all the way down to 15th.

On lap 12, Hamilton pitted from 2nd place. It was a quick stop, which suggested that he was running a short middle stint. This moved Felipe Massa up into 2nd place, although he was several seconds adrift of his team mate in the lead. On the very next lap, Kimi Raikkonen pitted from the lead, and Massa inherited the lead. Such was the field spread in the damp conditions that Raikkonen was able to rejoin the race in 3rd place. He soon regained the lead when Massa and Alonso pitted from 1st and 2nd respectively.

After the pit stops cycled through, the order was Raikkonen, Hamilton, Massa, Alonso, Bourdais, Kubica, Vettel, Heidfeld. Raikkonen lead Hamilton by some six seconds. In the middle stint of the race, it appeared as though Felipe Massa was able to find some more grip and some more pace, and started to set fastest sector times. However, he was only able to maintain the gap, and in fact his team mate Raikkonen set fastest lap, and Hamilton closed the gap to Raikkonen by about half.

On lap 25, both Raikkonen and Hamilton pitted, and both switched to the harder Prime tyre. The switch to harder rubber seemed to suit Hamilton, and he soon started reeling Raikkonen in, and by lap 30 had got the gap down to just under 2 seconds. Meanwhile, Massa pitted from the lead and took on the Prime tyre too. Massa's pace also seemed to improve after the switch to the harder rubber. The gap between Raikkonen and Hamilton waxed and waned in the next few laps, but remained at around 2 seconds.

Then the race took a sudden and dramatic turn. As so often happens at Spa, rain began to fall. With four laps of the race left, a light rain was affecting parts of the ciruit, mostly the low parts between Fagnes and La Source. Raikkonen began to struggle in the slick conditions; Hamilton began to shine.

By lap 42, Hamilton was right on Raikkonen's tail, and lined the Finn up for a pass at the bus stop. Raikkonen appeared to brake a touch early, and Hamilton jinked to the left to take the outside line. They were side-by-side as the rounded the first part of the Bus Stop, but Raikkonen was just a fraction ahead. He closed the door on Hamilton, as he is entitled to do, and Hamilton aborted the attempt by cutting across the chicane. He emerged from the corner significantly ahead of Raikkonen, thus had to yield to the Finn to avoid being penalised for gaining a competitive advantage. He let Raikkonen by, but immediately ducked in behind, then jinked out under braking for La Source to take the lead. Hamilton got a light touch from behind from Raikkonen as they negotiated La Source, but it was of no consequence.

So, Hamilton finally retook the lead, after looking like he had blown his chances earlier on. But the drama was far from over. The rain was really starting to beat down, and both Hamilton and Raikkonen skated off track at Pouhon. They rejoined with no trouble, but came thundering down to the Fagnes chicane only to find a spinning Williams in the middle of the track. Both Hamilton and Raikkonen had to take emergency evasive action - Hamilton ended up on the grass, whilst Raikkonen was able to brake and avoid the slower car. Thus, Raikkonen retook the lead whilst Hamilton was skipping across the grass back on to the track. Seconds later, Raikkonen spun at the exit of Fagnes, handing the lead back to Hamilton! By now, the rain was pouring down, and the drivers were tip-toeing around the circuit.

It was the penultimate lap of the race, and around 5 miles of the race were left. The conditions were treacherous, and the race had been turned into an exercise in survival. Hamilton had a major twitch as he negotiated Blanchimont; so too did Raikkonen. However, Raikkonen ran wide, then the rear snapped away from him. He skidded a long, wide arc before making contact with the inside wall. His race was done. Hamilton led, but he still had to bring the car home. So too did Massa, who was now in second place. Both drivers gingerly eased their cars around the circuit - Massa would later state that he was driving like a grandmother just to keep the car on track.

Meanwhile, there was drama elsewhere on the track. Nick Heidfeld had pitted for wet (intermediate) tyres, and stormed around the track whilst others were creeping around. On the last lap he managed to pass four people to end up in a superb third place. Sebastien Bourdais, who had been looking good for a potential podium finish, struggled on the last lap and dropped down to 7th - a huge disappointment after an impressive drive. Heikki Kovalainen had worked his way up to 7th place after his poor start and drive through penalty, but suffered transmission failure on the last lap and would finish tenth. And not to be forgotten, Sebastian Vettel drove a solid race in tricky conditions to bring the car home an excellent 5th.

But it was Lewis Hamilton who crossed the line first, and stood on the top step of the podium. However, there was yet more drama to come. Shortly after the end of the stewards announced that they were investigating the incident involving Hamilton and Raikkonen at the Bus Stop chicane. Sure enough, two hours after the race, the stewards imposed a 25 second penalty on Hamilton, dropping him from 1st to 3rd, and handing the win to Felipe Massa. McLaren announced their intention to protest the penalty, and the incident set off a fire storm of criticism and accusation. The matter is yet to be decided, but whatever the weather it was one of the most thrilling and entertaining finished to a grand prix ever.

- effwun 

Final Classification 

1. Massa 1:22:59.394 11. Coulthard +1 Lap
2. Heidfeld +9.3 12. Rosberg +1 Lap
3. Hamilton * +10.5 13. Sutil +1 Lap
4. Alonso +14.4 14. Nakajima +1 Lap
5. Vettel +14.5 15. Button +1 Lap
6. Kubica +15.0 16. Trulli +1 Lap
7. Bourdais +16.7 17. Fisichella +1 Lap
8. Webber +42.7 18. Raikkonen Lap 43
9. Glock * +67.0 19. Barrichello
Lap 20
10. Kovalainen
Lap 44 20. Piquet Lap 13

* - Driver received a post-race 25 second penalty.

Fastest lap - Kimi Raikkonen: 1:47.930 (lap 24)

 

The Alternative Podium Ceremony

1st - The John Watson Award for most places gained in the race: Sebastian Vettel (10th - 5th) and Kazuki Nakajima (19th - 14th, 5 places)

2nd - The Olivier Grouillard Award for best roadblock: Nico Rosberg (for neatly getting in the way of Hamilton and Raikkonen at a critical time)

3rd - The Philippe Alliot Award for most pointless crash: Kimi Raikkonen (but to be fair it was wet)

Constructors - The David Coulthard Award for outstanding achievement in the field of complaining: Lewis Hamilton (for his week long whinefest over his penalty).