Belgian Grand Prix – Race

There is always drama and a few surprises at Spa Francorchamps, and the 2010 Belgian Grand Prix did not fail to deliver. Round 13 of the 2010 World Championship would get underway under somewhat dry conditions. However, the unusual micro-climate of the Ardennes forest soon threw it’s hat into the ring, and drivers were going wide, left, right and centre.

Yet again, Mark Webber had put the Red Bull on pole position, but a poor start saw him dipping into anti-stall and lose at least four places, the main beneficiary being Lewis Hamilton, who had yet another strong start. Whilst Red Bull are generally strong in Qualifying, they have rarely capitalised on the advantage. But a collision between Fernando Alonso and Rubens Barrichello, who was celbrating his 300th Grand Prix start, saw the first deployment of the Safety Car, bunching all the cars up while the debris was cleared.

Lewis Hamilton had been confident going in to the race, and this showed in his pace, but team mate Jenson Button also benefitted from an excellent start, and before long was in second place behind Lewis, with a one-two for the McLaren team looking a distinct possibility. Despite having his front endplate damaged in traffic, Jenson managed to keep pace with Lewis, but the rain started again on the 16th lap around Blanchimont and Vettel braked too late, lost control and slammed into Jenson, damaging his sidepod and radiators judging by the resulting steam pouring out of the MP4-25. Soon after, it was race over for Jenson, and a possible massive points haul for the McLaren team, no longer even a possibility.

An understandably furious Jenson Button had this to say: “All I felt was a really big bang in the sidepod and I lost drive immediately, I don’t know what he was playing at really. From the point of view of the championship, it’s a massive blow,” .

Vettel’s actions were soon brought to the attention of the Stewards, and it wasn’t long before he was punished with a drive-through penalty for ‘causing an avoidable collision’. This dropped him right back in the field, and thus out of the points. But later on in the race he would touch Liuzzi’s front wing after trying to pass him. His poor performance this weekend shows me he is not yet worthy of being World Champion, he needs to mature considerably before being given that responsibility, and I just don’t see it coming yet.

At three quarter distance Lewis was ten seconds clear of the chasing pack, but the rain was imminent, and when it did start to fall, he lost it at Rivage, narrowly avoiding the barriers. Luckily he was far enough in front to not make too much difference and pitted immediately for inters. He was followed into the pits by both Kubica and Webber, both opting for inters too, but Kubica overshot his pit box and Webber capitalised, and got out of the pits ahead of the Polish driver.

There was yet more drama to come on lap 39 when Alonso spun at the exit of Les Combes leaving his Ferrari stranded in the middle of the track, which caused Race Control to once again deploy the Safety Car. Bernd Maylander certainly had a busy afternoon!

When the Safety Car came in, Lewis had managed to back the pack up and his restart was impeccable, giving him an albeit slight advantage over Webber and Kubica. Hamilton’s composure and racing ability ensured victory at Spa Francorchamps and leapfrog Webber in the standings to sit atop the Driver’s table once more this season.

Lewis said of his victory “I’m ecstatic, a race like that can be a lottery, and I’m so happy to come out on top, it almost feels like this is my first win. It’s just phenomenal! The team did a remarkable job, we’re constantly pushing, we’re not as fast as some of these guys, but it’s great that we maximise what we have.”

With just six races to go in the Championship, Hamilton has a slender lead in the Driver’s standings, and McLaren are marginally behind Red Bull in the Constructor’s. The F1 circus swings into Monza in just under two weeks time in what could prove to be a crucial round for now surely the only two main protagonists in the running for the Driver’s title, Hamilton and Webber. The question is, who will be consistent, I know who my money is on…