RAIKONEN'S TURN
Spa is one of those legendary circuits that is garunteed to produce some degree of insanity and is seen as the ultimate driver test. It is also up in the mountains which is in theory not good for Brawn due to the low temperatures. It is also usually the time of years then various strange rumours start coming up concerning who will drive for who the following year. Currently everyone seems to be turning blue waiting for Alonso to sign for Ferrari for 2010 - personally I'm not. In the mean time, given current results, all bets were off concerning who'd actually win the Belgian Grand Prix, the main question being, could Jenson Button get his mojo back?
So, all eyes on qualifying and again in Q1, well Badoer did put in more of an effort this time but ultimately he once again proved to be useless, the bigger concern though was that both Brits had to dodge bullets. Then came the big shock of Q2 with both Brits getting gunned down, gremlins striking Jenson's car left him starting P14 while Lewis was forced to start P12. That left Q3 feeling a bit unreal but still, on with the show. Raikonen was the one to throw down the gauntlet and he looked to clean up only for Heidfeld to gun him down late on, then Kubica, then Trulli, then 'somehow' Fisichella...and it was the Force India veteran that remained on top when the dust settled, collecting his first pole since Malaysia '06! Trulli started from P2, Heilfeld P3(best grid position since Hungary '07), Barrichello P4, Kubica P5. Raikonen P6, Glock P7, Vettel P8, Webber P9 and Rosberg P10.
As for the race itself, well it started slowly, resulting in a mid grid pile up, Alguersuari went into the back of Lewis and that was the end of the reigning world champion's race. Not what he had in mind. Overall the biggest unanswered question for Lewis and McLaren coming out of this race is "is this just a blip?". Lewis came to Spa off the back of two succsessive podiums, his struggles were meant to have been over. He didn't have the best of starts but the fact that Kovalainen went on to have a decent race suggests that this may just be a fluke for Lewis. Still, whatever happens from here on in he can look back to some good moments in his attempt to defend his title.
Jenson also got caught up in the mid grid pile up, he got whacked by Grosjean and hit the wall a millisecond after Lewis! It was his first non-finish of the season and the first race for ages when none of the drivers I was supporting managed to finish the race. Well that was certainly not the way to get your mojo back and Jenson had to admit that his poor qualifying performance made him vulnerable to this sort of situation. He didn't have that bad a start but clearly Brawn are running into trouble late on in the season. Whatever happens from here on in, Jenson's still leading the championship but on current form he is very lucky to be doing so.
Up front, Fisichella managed to stay ahead of the pack, then came a safety car for the early pile up. That allowed a fast starting Raikonen to close the gap and not long after the green flag, the former world champion dunked on the Force India. From there on in the theory was that Fisi would fade away and Ferrari were as surprised as anyone when he didn't. The Italian driver never did manage to retain the lead but his performance was the shock of the season. Raikonen went on to grab his first win of the season, Fisichella got his best result since winning in Malaysia '06, Vettel 3rd, Kubica 4th(best result of the season so far), Heidfeld 5th, Kovalainen 6th, Barrichello 7th and Rosberg 8th. A very strange race.
So, after all that, Jenson still leads the championship on 72 points but his lead has been cut to sixteen points(he's getting very lucky). Further down, Lewis drops to 7th on 27th points but is still not technically out of the title race.
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