2007 Belgian Grand Prix: Report

By Effwun - FOAS #65

Kimi Raikkonen eased his way to a win at Spa Francorchamps on Sunday, heading his teammate Felipe Massa home to a Ferrari 1-2 - the Ferrari points haul now guarantees them the constructors' title. Drivers' title protagonists Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton came home in third and fourth places respectively.

The build-up to the Belgian Grand Prix was dramatic and emotional. A meeting of the World Motor Sport Council in Paris on Thursday heard new evidence in the spying scandal that had Formula 1 in a headlock for the last three months, and the outcome was the deduction of all of McLaren's constructors' championship points and a record fine of $100 million. The new evidence was emails between Fernando Alonso, McLaren test-driver Pedro de la Rosa, and the disgraced McLaren designer Mike Coughlan. The nature of how these emails were revealed was astounding - Ron Dennis himself confirmed that Fernando Alonso had brought them up during the events of the turbulent Hungarian Grand Prix weekend in a suspected attempt to threaten Ron Dennis into submission over the question of the number one status within the team. Thus, the talk of the paddock this weekend was not only McLaren's exclusion from the constructors' championship, but also Fernando Alonso's future with the McLaren team.

Given the political events of the week leading up to the Belgian Grand Prix, it was somewhat of a relief when the cars finally took to the track on Friday morning. In P1 it was mostly a case of the usual suspects - Kimi Raikkonen was fastest with a time of 1:47.339; Lewis Hamilton was second fastest, half a second slower than the Finn; and Fernando Alonso was third fastest, a tenth slower than his teammate. The following drivers were a bit of a surprise though - the BMW of Nick Heidfeld, followed by Nico Rosberg in the Williams, followed by their respective teammates Robert Kubica and Alex Wurz. More surprising though was Felipe Massa - the Brazilian failed to set a time after going off course and beaching his car in the gravel at Rivage. In P2, it was the McLarens' time to shine, with Alonso leading the way with a time of 1:46.654. Lewis Hamilton was a tenth slower; Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen were third and fourth respectively. The order was reversed for P3 however - Raikkonen fastest (1:46.137), followed by Massa, Alonso, and Hamilton. Kovalainen found himself a somewhat surprising fifth.

Qualifying was much of the same. Q1 again saw the usual suspects eliminated - Yamamoto, Davidson, Sutil, Sato, Barrichello, and Vettel - although Rubens Barrichello must have been bitterly disappointed to have been eliminated so early on at the track where he earned his first ever pole position. Q2 saw the elimination of Wurz, Liuzzi, Button, Coulthard, Schumacher, and Fisichella, whose teammate Kovalainen managed to squeak into Q3. The result of Q3 was never really in any doubt. Having set the fastest time in Q2 (1:45.070 - which would be the fastest lap of the entire weekend), Raikkonen stormed to Pole Position with Felipe Massa second, Fernando Alonso third, and Lewis Hamilton fourth. Behind them, Robert Kubica put in an excellent performance for fifth place (although he would start in 14th due to an engine change penalty), as did Nico Rosberg, who would ultimately start in fifth. Nick Heidfeld would line up sixth, ahead of Mark Webber, Jarno Trulli, and Heikki Kovalainen. Fisichella, who would have started 11th, took an engine change penalty to drop him to 21st.

The race looked as though it could be a hard fought battle between the Ferraris and the McLarens, depending on their respective fuel loads. In the end, it turned out to be a simple affair for the Ferraris. At the start, it was the red cars with the advantage, but the real action was between the McLaren teammates. Lewis Hamilton attempted an outside pass on Alonso at La Source, but Alonso was having none of it, and swung to the edge of the track, forcing Lewis onto the run-off area. It was forceful driving, but he was within his rights to do so. The run-off area allowed Hamilton to keep his momentum, and the two streamed down the hill towards Eau Rouge side by side. One of them would have to yield if they were both to survive the first lap. In the end it was Hamilton who had to yield, and Alonso blasted past up the hill into third place. Although the two of them would not battle again during this race, this battle will definitely continue.

So, the Ferraris streamed off into the distance and were never challenged during the race - Raikkonen only briefly yielded the lead during the pitstops, and the McLarens simply could not keep pace. However, there was a lot of action in the mid-field. On lap 3, the hard charging Mark Webber muscled his way past Heikki Kovalainen on the Kemmel Straight, holding the Finn to the inside and dirty line to upset his braking. Robert Kubica soon found his way up the order. The Pole had a spirited battle with Kovalainen (who was running longer on a 1-stop strategy) - he looked more like a prize fighter for most of the afternoon, but then he looks like a prize fighter anyway! Other drivers that entertained were Adrian Sutil in the revised Spyker, who fought his way up to 12th at one point, but would ultimately finish 14th after some clumsy driving. Sato looked scrappy later on in the race, audaciously overtaking Button in the works Honda around the outside of Les Combes in a move reminiscent of his fight with Alonso in Montreal. However, Button was struggling with a hydraulic problem, and would retire not long afterwards - the same fate had befallen David Coulthard in the Red Bull a few laps earlier.

Up front, though, the Ferraris were untouchable. Having been asked to cool off after the last round of pit stops, the order would remain Raikkonen first, Massa second. The McLaren drivers were too far apart from each other to enjoy a fight - Lewis seemed off the pace from the moment the lights went out, and even a strategy which included a very late second stop could not get him any closer to Alonso. The young Brit, in a vain effort to engage his world champion teammate, pushed hard in the closing laps, but a mistake at Pouhon signified that he was perhaps pushing too hard. It also suggested, perhaps, that he had not found the right balance during the weekend, as his car seemed a touch loose, to use the oval racing terminology.

So, after the drama during the week, the race was somewhat soporific. Raikkonen cruised home to an easy win ahead of Massa, Alonso, Hamilton, and Heidfeld, who managed an under-the-radar drive to an excellent fifth place. Rosberg impressed with sixth, ahead of Mark Webber, with Kovalainen - who wins the Olivier Grouillard Award for being the best roadblock of the race - taking the last points paying position. After fighting hard all race, Kubica missed out on the points in ninth place, and the Toyotas endured anonymously to finish tenth and eleventh. Liuzzi managed to bring his Toro Rosso home in a better-than-expected 12th, ahead of Barrichello, who by now must be feeling that his career - at least with Honda - is nearing its end. Adrian Sutil came home 14th, Sato 15th, Davidson (who bags the John Watson Award for most places made up in the race - 6) 16th, and the last runner was Yamamoto in 17th. The retirees were Button, Wurz (who had a torrid race, and whose numerous off-track excursion earned him the Philippe Alliot Award), Coulthard, Vettel, and Fisichella, who retired at the end of lap 1 with suspension damage.

Ferrari, then, have wrapped up the constructors' championship, albeit because of McLaren's penalty. The drivers' championship is still wide open however, with Alonso now just 2 points behind Hamilton, and Raikkonen a further 11 points back. Although the 2007 Belgian Grand Prix may have been a bit of a snoozer, there was an important take home message: there will be a fierce fight between Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso for the title, as evidenced by their first lap tussle. If the question was what is Fernando's future at McLaren, I think we now have our answer. He has quit playing nice. I see no future for him at McLaren.

Effwun

 

Full results:

Position   Driver Time      Position   Driver Time 
1 Raikkonen 1hr20:39.066   12  Liuzzi +1 Lap 
2 Massa +4.6   13 Barrichello +1 Lap 
3 Alonso +14.3   14 Sutil +1 Lap
4 Hamilton +23.6   15 Sato +1 Lap
5 Heidfeld +51.8   16 Davidson +1 Lap
6 Rosberg +76.8   17 Yamamoto   +1 Lap 
7 Webber +80.6   18 Button Lap 36 
8 Kovalainen +85.1   19 Wurz Lap 34
9 Kubica +85.6   20 Coulthard Lap 29 
10 Schumacher   +88.5   21 Vettel Lap 8 
11 Trulli +103.7   22 Fisichella Lap 1