Spa-Francorchamps, 29 August


Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro had hoped that a race complicated by rain might see its drivers regain some of the places lost in a less than satisfactory qualifying performance yesterday. It worked in part, as Felipe Massa produced a faultless drive to finish the Belgian Grand Prix in fourth place, having started sixth, but Fernando Alonso had a very unlucky day: on the opening lap, the Spaniard was the innocent victim, as Rubens Barrichello, in his three hundredth grand prix appearance, lost control of his Williams, crashing into the F10 at the chicane, so that Fernando had to limp back to the pits rejoining in eighteenth place, after the mechanics fitted intermediate tyres to deal with rain that was much less intense that expected. This meant he then had to make a further stop to return to slicks. From then on, he battled his way up the order, but it all came to nothing with a spin seven laps from the flag, that left his F10 beached on a kerb, parked across the track. The race was won by Lewis Hamilton for McLaren, with Mark Webber second in the Red Bull, ahead of the Renault of Robert Kubica. The Scuderia is still third in the Constructors’ classification, but the gap to second placed McLaren has now grown. However, two of the main contenders for the Drivers’ championship, Sebastian Vettel and Jenson Button failed to score points today.


The race started in the dry, with pole man Webber slow to get away, so that Hamilton took a lead he would never lose throughout the 44 laps, while Felipe had briefly moved up to fourth as the Safety Car came out after various incidents, including the one involving Fernando. When the race resumed on lap 4, the order at the front was Hamilton, Button, Kubica, Vettel, Webber, Massa. By this stage, several cars had fitted intermediate tyres, when a brief shower arrived, although in fact, the track dried so quickly, that those drivers, including Fernando, had to re-pit to return to slicks. In the dry, Fernando started to carve his way through the slower cars. While Hamilton built up a comfortable lead, behind him, everyone from Button to Felipe were all very close; too close in the case of Vettel, who crashed into Button, forcing the McLaren man to retire on lap 15. This meant that by lap 17, Felipe was fourth behind the leading trio and Fernando had moved up to ninth. The Brazilian pitted for fresh tyres on lap 23, at which point, Webber moved into second, as Kubica had a poor pit stop, but not poor enough for Felipe to get by him.

The rain returned on lap 33 and gradually built in intensity, to the point that extreme rain tyres would be the ideal choice, but by then Fernando had his spin, which meant the Safety Car came out again, as his car was blocking the track, the race resuming for a short sprint for four laps. Felipe’s fourth place was not under threat, as for much of the race, the Brazilian had a lonely race, too far behind to mount a threat for third place, but comfortably ahead of fifth placed Sutil.