Belgian Grand Prix: 11 September

Kuali Baba SG

It's a McLaren front row! Mr. Green And The Minardis trounce the Jordan-Midland team again! Laughing

MONTOYA McLaren 1m46.391s
------------------------------ RAIKKONEN McLaren 1m46.440s

TRULLI Toyota 1m46.596s
------------------------------ ALONSO Renault 1m46.760s

R.SCHUMACHER Toyota 1m47.401s
------------------------------ M.SCHUMACHER Ferrari 1m47.476s

MASSA Sauber 1m47.867s
------------------------------ BUTTON BAR 1m47.978s

WEBBER Williams 1m48.071s
------------------------------ SATO BAR 1m48.353s

COULTHARD Red Bull 1m48.508s
------------------------------ BARRICHELLO Ferrari 1m48.550s

FISICHELLA Renault 1m46.497s*
------------------------------ VILLENEUVE Sauber 1m48.889s

PIZZONIA Williams 1m48.898s
------------------------------ KLIEN Red Bull 1m48.994s

DOORNBOS Minardi 1m49.779s
------------------------------ ALBERS Minardi 1m49.842s

MONTEIRO Jordan 1m51.498s
------------------------------ KARTHIKEYAN Jordan 1m51.675s

* forfeited 10 places due to engine change

Gedanken SG

Hmm – my guess is that JPM and Trulli are running light. Either way, I expect team orders to come into play, so it’ll be a question of Alonso getting past JPM. At this rate, McLaren could well take the lead in the WCC.

Kuali Baba SG

Spa-Francorchamps is a fraction of its original length but it's still the longest track in the calendar today. This and the weather in the Ardennes mountains can make set-ups and tyre changes very tricky - one side of the track can be soaking wet while the other, sunny.

And who could forget these incidents in history?

- Sir Jackie Young Stewart had a massive crash at Eau Rouge, trapped in the car and soaked in petrol before the medical crew took him to the "medical centre" - a concrete floor covered with cigarette butts!

- Michael Schumacher carved through the field in 1992 after starting 16th and won the race in a Benetton, one year after he made his debut for Jordan in the same race.

- David Coulthard triggered a 14-car pile-up at the start of the 1998 race. when it was restarted, he and Michael Schumacher collided and when the pitted, the latter turned on him.

- Damon Hill took Jordan's first Grand Prix victory, leading teammate Ralf Schumacher and Sauber's Jean Alesi to the checquered flag.

- David Coulthard barged past Mika Häkkinen at the start of the 1999 race and went on to lead the 1-2 victory. The Flying Finn sulked through the press conference and would only give the reply, "No comment".

- Häkkinen himself took the chequered flag in 2000 after spinning at Stavelot and then performing a spectacular overtaking move on Michael Schumacher on the run-down to Les Combes...diving down the inside of Ricardo Zonta as the Ferrari took the outside line.

BrUtUs SG

alonso will win… cos kimi too pressured to win here tat he might fumble…

Gedanken SG

Hmm – interesting. I just looked at the qualifying times and the McLarens aren’t as far ahead as they’ve been in the last few qualifying sessions. The Renaults might be able to give them a run for their money this time round.

[email protected] SG

the Renaults look horrid in the 2nd sector tho. And Fisi is going 10 places down. Personally I thought Alonso shouldn't have gone for the last min adjustment because he looked worse than Fisi did in the 2nd sector despite keeping it cleaner looking than Kimi.

Oh btw Ged, was wondering if u caught that comment last week by Tony Jardine of ITV? He called Alonso a tatical driver. And it does seem that Alonso has recently gone into tatical mode while Kimi into full balls-out mode. I wonder wots the implication of Alonso being stuck behind Trulli while just in front of Ralfie. It seems like the worse place to be on the grid!

Gedanken SG

Well, in FA's position, going tactical may not be the most exciting thing to do, but it is the wisest. Rather than chasing for the lead, his key priority is to ensure that Kimi gains as few points as possible, so there's no percentage in gunning for the lead, putting himself out and losing 10 points to Kimi.

Last week, Kimi was on the charge, and those Macs were stunningly faster than anybody else, so FA made the smart move in avoiding a tangle. Even if he did try to hold Kimi up, Kimi would eventually have gotten at least fourth anyway.

I don't think Trulli can hold FA off for long. Spa's got a few good overtaking spots, so I expect that FA can move up, and if not, it'll be done in the pitstops. The real question is whether or not the Renault's fast enough to take on the Mac. Montoya's eventually going to have to make way for Kimi, but I doubt he'll make it easy since he has his own position within Mac to protect. Best outcome I can see for FA is JPM giving Kimi a hard time and FA taking advantage of it.

Kuali Baba SG

Tonight's race is going to be very wet and late...it's pouring buckets at Spa and there have been big shunts in the support races and GP2. We'll see who are the men and who are the boys. Neutral

ditzy SG

What a lousy year for M schumacher, sato clipped his car's rear and they stopped to kiss, literally. Laughing

iveco SG

Looks like someone forgot to show the circuit map. Here it is.

Gedanken SG

Some rather baffling calls by Toyota and Sauber in getting their leading drivers to come in for dry tyres. The smart money would have been on getting their number two drivers in for drys, and if it worked, to get Ralf and Massa in for the change. Absolute waste of positions.

Sato's not doing himself any favours at all - at this rate, I'd be quite surprised to see him at BAR next year. In any case, he's been given a 10-grid-spot penalty.

Good show by Button - it's been a while since I saw someone overtaking on the outside of the curve.

Montoya - ah well. He's burning the wrong brand of candles for the gods that decide his fate, methinks. Either that or he's taken over DC's role in McLaren as the brain fade man.

Nice, safe performances by both KR and FA. The WDC's going to have to be settled another day, but there was never much chance of that anyway. Tough luck for McLaren in not taking the WCC lead today.

SBS9828X SG

woo... toopid hws keeping me back from me forum tt KB had to make this thread Embarassed Thx KB Mr. Green

Well intermediate tyres was a must yest... disaster for ralphie... he shudnt hv chg... Macca was indeed genius... they waited for teams to chg b4 they did... Well fisi, schumi and Sato was unlucky esp the latter 2... they kalang kabo got SC then accident Laughing Montoya 1... dunno hw to say... unlucky sia... If michael was there, he cud be chlg Alonso for 3rd and cud really help Kimi... Kimi really unlucky

[email protected] SG

urgh. why's monty always getting clipped by backmarkers?

cor those were some nice moves by button but fisi sure had a big one.

anyone noticed that 3 thru 6 in the championship standings all failed to finish? Michael, Monty, Trulli, Fisi Laughing

iveco SG

Results from the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps:

Pos No Driver Team Laps Time/Retired Grid Points

1 9 Kimi Räikkönen McLaren-Mercedes 44 1:30:01.295 2 10

2 5 Fernando Alonso Renault 44 +28.3 secs 4 8

3 3 Jenson Button BAR-Honda 44 +32.0 secs 8 6

4 7 Mark Webber Williams-BMW 44 +69.1 secs 9 5

5 2 Rubens Barrichello Ferrari 44 +78.1 secs 12 4

6 11 Jacques Villeneuve Sauber-Petronas 44 +87.4 secs 14 3

7 17 Ralf Schumacher Toyota 44 +87.5 secs 5 2

8 18 Tiago Monteiro Jordan-Toyota 43 +1 Lap 19 1

9 15 Christian Klien Red Bull Racing 43 +1 Lap 16

10 12 Felipe Massa Sauber-Petronas 43 +1 Lap 7

11 19 Narain Karthikeyan Jordan-Toyota 43 +1 Lap 20

12 21 Christijan Albers Minardi-Cosworth 42 +2 Laps 18

13 20 Robert Doornbos Minardi-Cosworth 41 +3 Laps 17

14 10 Juan Pablo Montoya McLaren-Mercedes 40 +4 Laps 1

15 8 Antonio Pizzonia Williams-BMW 39 +5 Laps 15

Ret 16 Jarno Trulli Toyota 34 Accident 3

Ret 14 David Coulthard Red Bull Racing 18 Engine 11

Ret 1 Michael Schumacher Ferrari 13 Accident 6

Ret 4 Takuma Sato BAR-Honda 13 Accident 10

Ret 6 Giancarlo Fisichella

Last year's race at Spa-Francorchamps was also won by Kimi Raikonnen.

Drivers' standings after the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps:

Pos Driver Nationality Team Points

1 Fernando Alonso Spanish Renault 111

2 Kimi Räikkönen Finnish McLaren-Mercedes 86

3 Michael Schumacher German Ferrari 55

4 Juan Pablo Montoya Colombian McLaren-Mercedes 50

5 Jarno Trulli Italian Toyota 43

6 Giancarlo Fisichella Italian Renault 41

7 Ralf Schumacher German Toyota 37

8 Rubens Barrichello Brazilian Ferrari 35

9 Jenson Button British BAR-Honda 30

10 Mark Webber Australian Williams-BMW 29

11 Nick Heidfeld German Williams-BMW 28

12 David Coulthard British Red Bull Racing 21

13 Jacques Villeneuve Canadian Sauber-Petronas 9

14 Felipe Massa Brazilian Sauber-Petronas 8

15 Tiago Monteiro Portuguese Jordan-Toyota 7

16 Alexander Wurz Austrian McLaren-Mercedes 6

17 Narain Karthikeyan Indian Jordan-Toyota 5

17= Christian Klien Austrian Red Bull Racing 5

19 Christijan Albers Dutch Minardi-Cosworth 4

19= Pedro de la Rosa Spanish McLaren-Mercedes 4

21 Patrick Friesacher Austrian Minardi-Cosworth 3

22 Antonio Pizzonia Brazilian Williams-BMW 2

23 Takuma Sato Japanese BAR-Honda 1

23= Vitantonio Liuzzi Italian Red Bull Racing 1

Constructors' standings after the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps:

Pos Constructor Points

1 Renault 152

2 McLaren-Mercedes 146

3 Ferrari 90

4 Toyota 80

5 Williams-BMW 59

6 BAR-Honda 31

7 Red Bull Racing 27

8 Sauber-Petronas 17

9 Jordan-Toyota 12

10 Minardi-Cosworth 7

Kuali Baba SG

I think he's trying 'the chop' as well...unfortunately he's practising with the backmarkers and he's tripped spectacularly twice. Laughing

Anyway, Pizza's been fined 8 grand ones, Heidfeld got injured while mountain biking and Sato's starting 10 places back in Brazil.

[email protected] SG

he always gets rammed by backmarkers. Even back in 2001 in Brazil.

ohhh well it seems interesting. heidfield got injured again? more pizza then.