2009 F1 : Raikkonen wins Belgian GP

2009 ING Belgian Grand Prix winner : Kimi Räikkönen - Ferrari

SPA FRANCOSCHAMPS : August 30, 2009 - Kimi Räikkönen (Ferrari) won the Belgian GP at Spa on Sunday after a lap-one incident eliminated four cars including world champion Lewis Hamilton.


Räikkönen hit the front on the fourth lap but he was hounded from start to finish by pole man Giancarlo Fisichella who finished in second place, less than a second behind.

Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull-Renault) was third, 2.9 sec behind.

It was Force India's first championship points and underlined Fisichella's pace in qualifying when he took pole position.

Despite five mediocre races in a row, Jenson Button, who failed to finish at Spa after being eliminated on the first lap, was able to retain his lead in the drivers' world championship by 16 points.

Giancarlo Fisichella took the lead in the Belgian GP at Spa on Saturday after taking pole position on Saturday.

Rubens Barrichello, who was fourth on the grid, was left standing at the start as most cars got through the La Source hairpin without incident. Kimi Räikkönen (Ferrari) went wide at the hairpin and rejoined the track in third place. Fisichella was leading and being chased by Robert Kubica (BMW Sauber) but Räikkönen had a run at him down the back straight and got past into second.

The top few cars got through Le Comte, but Jenson Button (Brawn-Mercedes) got hit from behind by rookie Romain Grosjean (Renault) under braking and Button spun. causing the cars behind to brake hard and Lewis Hamilton (McLaren-Mercedes) was hit by Jaime Alguersuari (Toro Rosso-Ferrari), all four cars retiring on the spot as the safety car was deployed.

The race got back under way on the fourth lap, and Räikkönen used the advantage of the Kinetic Energy Recovery System on his Ferrari to power past Fisichella on the back straight and take the lead.

Barrichello, still recovering from his poor start, got past Luca Badoer (Ferrari) into 13th place on lap 5.

Giancarlo Fisichella had placed his Force India-Mercedes on pole, his team's first ever, but he had been fuelled light and only Rubens Barrichello (Brawn-Mercedes) was lighter of the top ten cars on the grid.

With a clear track ahead and his tyres now up to working temperature, Räikkönen reeled off a series of fastest laps with a 1'49.090 on lap 6 as Barrichello got past Kazuki Nakajima (Williams-Toyota) into 12th. Räikkönen set a new target of 1'47.749 on the eighth lap.

Glock and Kubica were the first cars to make a routine stop for fuel and tyres, rejoining inside the top ten.

Nick Heidfeld (BMW Sauber) was fourth and easily able to match the pace of the race leader and he set a new fastest lap of 1'47.738 on lap 132.

Jarno Trulli had placed his Toyota on the front row of the grid, but was running down in 12th place.

On lap 13, Webber and Heidfeld pitted together. Heidfeld left his pit and came down the pit lane, but Webber dived out of his pit in front of the German, forcing him to brake and swerve, and the Australian was given a drive-through penalty for dangerous driving.

Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull-Renault) was next to have a go on the quickest time, setting a 1'47.646 on lap 14 and taking the lead as his tanks emptied. He pitted two laps later dropping back into eighth place.

After the first round of pit stops, Räikkönen regained the lead. It was his 150th grand prix and he was the only driver on the grid to have won at Spa.

Fisichella was easily able to match the pace of Räikkönen and the Force India-Mercedes was just a second behind the Ferrari after 20 laps of racing, with Kubica a further 6.1 sec back.

On lap 23, Trulli returned to the pits and was wheeled into the Toyota garage and retirement, a sad result from his front-row start.

On lap 24, Fernando Alonso (Renault) pitted but there were problems with his left front wheel spinner after a lap-one incident had damaged it. The long stop cost him about 20 seconds and he rejoined the race in 14th place. The spinners give cars an advantage of just 0.1 sec a lap and they will be banned from next year. Alonso's pit crew radioed Alonso to tell him to return to the pits due to a problem with the front left wheel. Alonso was penalised after a similar incident in Hungary when a wheel not properly tightened by his pit crew fell off his car. He pitted and retired for the second time in two races with the same problem.

Fisichella was still maintaining maximum pressure on race leader Räikkönen and was just a second behind. Kubica was still in touch, five sec behind Fisichella, with Vettel four seconds adrift.

There was a nice dice for seventh place between Glock and Webber who was just 0.7 sec behind. Behind them, Heikki Kovalainen (McLaren-Mercedes) and Sébastien Buemi (Toro Rosso-Ferrari) were disputing ninth place.

Kubica pitted on lap 30, releasing Vettel to be able to try to reel in second-placed Fisichella.

On the next lap, race leader and second-placed Räikkönen and Fisichella pitted together. There was slick work by both pits and the Finn retained his lead one second ahead of the Italian. Vettel now became the race leader as he had further to go before his second pit stop.

Heidfeld was down in fifth place, 3.9 sec behind Kubica, and homing in on the cars ahead, setting a new fastest lap of 1'47.541 on lap 34. He repeated the feat on the next lap with a 1'47.371.

Räikkönen was back in the lead after Vettel's final stop and he still had Fisichella less than a second behind him with Vettel in third, 5.0 sec behind.

With three laps remaining, Barrichello was right behind Kovalainen and trying to get past into sixth place, but the Brazilian's engine began smoking and his pit crew told him to back off and save the motor. He did so and let Kovalainen off the hook.

With two laps left, Barrichello's car began smoking badly as Rosberg and Webber closed in for the kill. But the Brazilian held on to the line, with the two pursuers crossing the line right behind him.

Race Result : Formula 1 - 2009 ING Belgian Grand Prix

Pos	No	Driver	Team	Time	Pts
1	4	Kimi Räikkönen	Ferrari	1:23:50.995	10
2	21	Giancarlo Fisichella	Force India-Mercedes	+0.9 secs	8
3	15	Sebastian Vettel	RBR-Renault	+3.8 secs	6
4	5	Robert Kubica	BMW Sauber	+9.9 secs	5
5	6	Nick Heidfeld	BMW Sauber	+11.2 secs	4
6	2	Heikki Kovalainen	McLaren-Mercedes	+32.7 secs	3
7	23	Rubens Barrichello	Brawn-Mercedes	+35.4 secs	2
8	16	Nico Rosberg	Williams-Toyota	+36.2 secs	1
9	14	Mark Webber	RBR-Renault	+36.9 secs	-
10	10	Timo Glock	Toyota	+41.4 secs	-
11	20	Adrian Sutil	Force India-Mercedes	+42.6 secs	-
12	12	Sebastien Buemi	STR-Ferrari	+46.1 secs	-
13	17	Kazuki Nakajima	Williams-Toyota	+54.2 secs	-
14	3	Luca Badoer	Ferrari	+102.1 secs	-
Ret	7	Fernando Alonso	Renault	Retired	-
Ret	9	Jarno Trulli	Toyota	Brakes	-
Ret	22	Jenson Button	Brawn-Mercedes	Accident	-
Ret	8	Romain Grosjean	Renault	Accident	-
Ret	1	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren-Mercedes	Accident	-
Ret	11	Jaime Alguersuari	STR-Ferrari	Accident	-

Driver Championship Standings :

Pos	Driver	Nationality	Team	Points
1	Jenson Button	British	Brawn-Mercedes	72
2	Rubens Barrichello	Brazilian	Brawn-Mercedes	56
3	Sebastian Vettel	German	RBR-Renault	53
4	Mark Webber	Australian	RBR-Renault	51.5
5	Kimi Räikkönen	Finnish	Ferrari	34
6	Nico Rosberg	German	Williams-Toyota	30.5
7	Lewis Hamilton	British	McLaren-Mercedes	27
8	Jarno Trulli	Italian	Toyota	22.5
9	Felipe Massa	Brazilian	Ferrari	22
10	Heikki Kovalainen	Finnish	McLaren-Mercedes	17
11	Timo Glock	German	Toyota	16
12	Fernando Alonso	Spanish	Renault	16
13	Nick Heidfeld	German	BMW Sauber	10
14	Giancarlo Fisichella	Italian	Force India-Mercedes	8
15	Robert Kubica	Polish	BMW Sauber	8
16	Sebastien Buemi	Swiss	STR-Ferrari	3
17	Sebastien Bourdais	French	STR-Ferrari	2
18	Adrian Sutil	German	Force India-Mercedes	0
19	Kazuki Nakajima	Japanese	Williams-Toyota	0
20	Nelsinho Piquet	Brazilian	Renault	0
21	Luca Badoer	Italian	Ferrari	0
22	Jaime Alguersuari	Spanish	STR-Ferrari	0
23	Romain Grosjean	French	Renault	0

Constructor Championship Standings :

Pos	Team	Points
1	Brawn-Mercedes	128
2	RBR-Renault	104.5
3	Ferrari	56
4	McLaren-Mercedes	44
5	Toyota	38.5
6	Williams-Toyota	30.5
7	BMW Sauber	18
8	Renault	16
9	Force India-Mercedes	8
10	STR-Ferrari	5

[Source : Super Wheels , F1 Official]