 Felipe Massa was the only Ferrari driver
to see the chequered flag at the end of a Belgian Grand Prix that saved
most of its excitement for the final handful of laps. The Brazilian
Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro driver was classified second at first, but
inherited the win, as Lewis Hamilton, first past the flag was given a
penalty for passing Raikkonen by cutting the chicane, which drops him to
third behind second placed Nick Heidfeld.
Kimi Raikkonen had made a
brilliant start in his F2008 from fourth on the grid, to swallow up
Kovalainen, his team-mate Massa and pole man Hamilton by lap 2. From
then on, the man who has won the last three races here controlled the
race, only losing the lead during the two pit stop runs. However, with a
couple of laps remaining, rain threw the race into confusion and in a
controversial move, Hamilton cut the chicane to go into the lead.
Shortly after that, trying to regain the lead, the Ferrari man spun and
ended his race in the barrier. Hamilton still heads the Drivers'
classification but is now only 2 points ahead of Felipe. Ferrari still
heads the Constructors' championship, as the series heads to Monza next
weekend for the Italian Grand Prix.
It had rained on and off throughout the morning and the majority of cars
went out onto the grid on rain tyres, but with the clouds moving off,
the switch to dry weather rubber began before the start, with Felipa
Massa in second place alongside pole sitter, Lewis Hamilton and Kimi
Raikkonen in the other F2008 lining up behind his team-mate, with Heikki
Kovalainen in the second McLaren-Mercedes as his neighbour. All runners
were on the softer of the two types of tyre, apart from Piquet's Renault
that was fitted with the harder ones.
Hamilton got a good start from pole, but Felipe was a bit slow away,
allowing Kimi, who had got the better of Kovalainen, to pass him on the
straight, with Bourdais briefly fourth before being passed Alonso. Kimi
was flying and took the lead, while Kovalainen spun at La Source
hairpin.
After five of the 44 laps had been completed, Kimi led Hamilton by 1.1
seconds with Felipe 3.5 behind the Englishman. Fourth was Alonso,
followed by Bourdais, Webber, Kubica, Kovalainen, Piquet and Heidfeld
completing the top ten. Eleventh was Vettel, followed by Glock, Rosberg,
Trulli, Barrichello, Sutil, Coulthard, Button and Nakajima. Fisichella
was last. On lap 9, Kovalainen and Vettel both moved up a place to
seventh and tenth respectively.
Out in front, Hamilton was 1.2 behind Kimi and Massa was 5.5 behind in
third. Kovalainen's charge up the order after his spin got a set back
when he tried to go down the inside of Webber, spinning the Australian
around. The Finn was given a drive-through penalty for causing the
accident. Hamilton was the first to pit, stopping for 6.8 seconds on lap
11 and Kimi came in next time round, for a 7.1 stop. Felipe came in on
lap 13 (7.6 seconds.) Bourdais pitted from second place on lap 15,
coming out just ahead of Kubica who had also come in on the same lap.
Vettel was the last of the leading bunch to refuel on lap 17, so that
one lap later the order was now, Kimi, 5.7 ahead of Hamilton, Felipe in
third at a distance of 9.5 from his team-mate, followed by Alonso,
Bourdais, Kubica, Vettel and Heidfeld in the last of the points scoring
postions, eighth. Kimi then put in a fastest race lap to extend his
advantage to 6.1s.
 The two leaders made their final pit stops together on lap 25, the
McLaren man's marginally shorter than the Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro
driver, but Kimi was still ahead, although Felipe was the temporary race
leader. Alonso brought his Renault in from fourth place on lap 27 and
Felipe came in next time round, stopping for 7.9. The meant the Kimi was
back at the head of the field, but his lead over Hamilton had been
reduced to 2.4 and then 1.9 on lap 29, with Felipe 4.1 further back in
third, all three of them now doing the obligatory race stint on the
harder Bridgestone tyre. Bourdais pitted from fourth on lap 32, while
the gaps between the top three barely changed as the race came down to
its final ten laps. Kubica came in on lap 33 as did Vettel, the German
overtaking the Pole, by beating him out of pit lane.
So with ten laps to go the order was Kimi still leading, with a 2.2
advantage over Hamilton, while Felipe trailed by 3.3. Alonso was fourth
and with Bourdais and Vettel fifth and sixth respectively in the Toro
Rosso cars, it meant Ferrari had four engines in the top six. With 6
laps remaining a few drops of rain began to fall, but not enough to
require rain tyres and one lap later the gaps at the front were 0.9
between Kimi and Hamilton, with Felipe 6 behind, but comfortably 33.5
ahead of fourth placed Alonso.
But with two laps to go, Hamilton closed right up to Kimi and got past
him but only by cutting across the chicane. Kimi was in front again
going past the pits but again Hamilton got ahead. Further down the road,
Rosberg was recovering from a spin, Hamilton braked very heavily and
Kimi nearly got the upper hand again, but moments later, the Finn spun
off and his race ended in the barriers. He was classified eighteenth.
 The McLaren man was first past the flag, followed by Felipe and the BMW
of Nick Heidfeld, who had stopped to change onto intermediate rain
tyres. Also adopting this tactic was Alonso and it helped the Renault
man to move up to fourth, ahead of Vettel and Kubica who both managed to
get ahead of Bourdais, who suffered the most of this group in the
difficult conditions. The remaining point went to Timo Glock until he
was penalised for overtaking under yellow flags, handing the point to
Mark Webber. Then Hamilton was penalised by the Stewards which handed
the victory to Felipe.
Stefano Domenicali: "I have often said that
the race is not over until the official results are published and that
was the case today. As usual, Ferrari will not comment on the Stewards'
decision. After the race, we were called to the Stewards and we
explained our position. We are very disappointed for Kimi, who had
driven a great race and deserved the win, especially at this rather
difficult time. This result is obviously very important for our
Championship hopes: now we must maintain maximum concentration and
prepare as well as possible for the forthcoming races, starting at Monza
where we will be racing in front of our home fans. We will also need
their support at such a delicate point in the season."
Felipe Massa: "This was a very strange race, with the start and
finish taking place in rather difficult conditions. After the start I
thought Eau Rouge might be wetter and so I was a bit cautious. Kimi
attacked and managed to get by. From then on I realized it would be hard
to pass the two guys ahead of me, even if the lap times were quite
similar. I tried to manage the situation, especially towards the end.
When it started to rain, I had a pretty good margin over my closest
pursuers and I preferred not to take any risks, especially given what
was going on in front of me. Today the car wasn't perfectly balanced. On
Saturday morning, we had slightly reduced the aerodynamic downforce, as
you usually do for the race here, but today's track conditions
definitely did not suit this choice. The hard tyres? They were
definitely slower than the soft ones and lacked grip, which made the car
a bit inconsistent in terms of balance."
Kimi Raikkonen: "I came here to win and I came close. In the
final laps the track conditions were very critical and unfortunately, I
ran wide and when I tried to get back on track, I spun and ended up in
the wall. It was a shame because today the car was working really well.
I got a good start and managed to pass Felipe on the straight and then
overtook Hamilton when he spun at the start of the second lap. On the
soft tyres, I could run at a good pace, while the final set, the harder
ones, was not quite there - definitely not as good in performance terms
as those I'd used in the past couple of days - and the balance of the
car was not as good as earlier. The arrival of the rain definitely did
not help. In these conditions, if you are in front you have to be more
cautious as you don't know how much grip you'll find in each braking
area. That's how Hamilton managed to close on me and then happened what
you all saw. It's the second race in a row that I've failed to score
points. Clearly the championship situation is what it is, but I'm not
the sort to give up that easily."
Luca Baldisserri: "This was a very intense weekend, which only
ended two hours after the chequered flag. Kimi drove a very nice race
and it's a real shame it wasn't crowned with a deserved win after he
attacked all race long. Felipe drove in a very calculating fashion,
without taking unnecessary risks when the conditions were really
critical. The soft tyres worked very well, while the hard ones struggled
a bit, especially with Kimi: we need to establish what caused this. As
for the rest, the F2008 proved to be very competitive and the team
worked in impeccable fashion throughout the race. Now we must continue
to push because we absolutely want to reach our objectives."
Source - Ferrari Media |
