Belgian GP - A podium slips away in the closing stages
Spa-Francorchamps, 28 August - Fernando Alonso finished the Belgian Grand Prix in fourth place and Scuderia Ferrari team-mate Felipe Massa ended the twelfth round of the World Championship in eighth. With Lewis Hamilton crashing out of this race, the Spanish Ferrari driver moves up to third in the Drivers’ championship behind the two Red Bull drivers, while Felipe is still sixth. The team is still third in the Constructors’ classification with seven rounds remaining, starting with the home Grand Prix at Monza in a fortnight’s time.
There had been some discussion in the morning between teams, the FIA and Pirelli, as some of the top ten drivers on the grid had blistered their front tyres during qualifying and wanted to be allowed to change them, normally not permitted within the rules. In the end, the FIA stood firm and no changes, either to the tyres, or to the camber angle of the front wheels was allowed.
As the lights went out, Rosberg got an amazing start from fifth on the grid to lead from pole man Vettel. Felipe also got off the line well going up to third from fourth while Fernando also charged up to fifth from eighth. Alguersuari was the first retirement with a damaged car, having been hit by Senna and actually pushed into Alonso. Fernando was up to fourth by lap three getting ahead of Hamilton, as Button and Webber both had to pit for new noses. On lap 3 Vettel retook the lead for Red Bull. One lap later the order was therefore, Vettel, Rosberg, Felipe, Fernando, Hamilton, Buemi. On lap 5, Felipe was slowed as he tried to pass Rosberg and this allowed Fernando to get past him and then Hamilton in the McLaren also passed the Brazilian. Vettel also made an early stop on lap 5. Lap 7 and Fernando got past Rosberg to lead the race and with the Mercedes slowing the pace, Hamilton and Felipe were losing ground to the Spaniard. Lap 8 and the McLaren man got past Rosberg, who now had Felipe on his tail in fourth as Fernando made his first tyre stop, rejoining behind Webber. Felipe changed tyres on lap 9 and after Webber had passed Sutil, Fernando got by the German and the Australian to go seventh behind Petrov. Hamilton came in from the lead on lap 10, which meant Vettel led again from Rosberg, who pitted that lap, promoting Fernando to second. With much of the field yet to pit, Felipe had plunged down to 13th in a battle with Schumacher and Maldonaldo ahead of him.
On lap 13 the Safety Car was deployed as Hamilton crashed into the barriers as he made a move on Kobayashi. This prompted a rush to the pits for those who had yet to change tyres. The order as the SC went round was now Fernando leading from Webber, Vettel, Massa, Rosberg. When the SC came in Fernando led, but not for long as Vettel managed to pass him and Rosberg relegated Felipe to fifth. The arrival of the Safety Car had not really come at the best of time for the two 150º Italia drivers.
At half-distance, lap 22, Vettel still led, by 4.4 seconds from Fernando who had Webber 2.2 behind him, while Felipe was still fifth just 1.5 behind Rosberg. However, Button was on a charge and on lap 26 he managed to get the better of both these two, taking the McLaren to fourth, with Felipe slipping back to sixth. Fernando made his second stop on lap 29, while his team-mate was still crawling over the back of Rosberg’s Mercedes. Vettel, Rosberg, Massa and Petrov all changed tyres on lap 30, with Button coming in on 32 but at this point, Felipe was back in pit lane with a puncture and from then on his race was pretty much over because of the time lost. The Ferraris were not going well on the harder tyre and from there on the two 150º Italias lost some of their sparkle.
With ten of the 44 laps remaining, Vettel led Fernando by 6.5 seconds, with Webber 4.2 behind the 150º Italia. But Felipe, having stopped three times, had now dropped to eleventh behind the Force India of Di Resta. Webber’s Red Bull clearly had more pace at this stage and by lap 36, the Australian was all over the back of Alonso’s car and got past on the next lap, comfortably pulling away. Further back, Felipe was moving up, getting past Di Resta and then Maldonaldo. With five laps remaning, Fernando’s next threat came from Button who was closing in fast in the McLaren and the Spaniard’s podium challenge ended on lap 42 as the Englishman passed him to take third place behind the two Red Bulls. In fifth place and quite some achievement given he started from the back of the grid, came Michael Schumacher, who was thus able to celebrate the twentieth anniversary of his F1 debut here at Spa in fine style. Behind him came his team-mate Rosberg, with Sutil seventh. Behind eighth placed Felipe, the remaining points went to Petrov in the Renault and Maldonaldo tenth in the Williams.
Credit: Ferrari S.p.A. (www.ferrari.com)
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