Belgian Grand Prix, August 29th, 2010

There is an old joke on what the chances of rain are at the Spa Circuit. Insiders that have been to the dense forest region always answer, yes. And this weekend’s racing was no different, with rain, heavy at times, showing up during both qualifying and the race. Some like the drama that the weather can bring into an F1 race and claim that it brings out the best in drivers. Herr Schumacher was longingly referred to as the rainmeister during his early days, and the legions of tifosi would pray for rain when the car was not up to the task. The cynic in some of us usually says “ah phooie”. The wet cuts both ways, but it is usually the lucky on whom fortune shines rather than the skillful. Most of the time it is the luck of being out of the way rather than eking the best of the car that brings drivers to be called experts.

Lewis Hamilton demonstrated some skill to keep his McLaren more or less on the racing line during this week’s race. The drive was not a brilliant one, but was just clean enough to keep it out of the guard rails and out of the way of the less skillful drivers and their poor car handling skills. The Brit passed pole sitter Webber at the start and never really looked back. The Australian managed to get going again and was able to finish second. It was, however, not enough to hold onto the lead in the championship. The season is going to come down to the now usual suspects, McLaren and Red Bull. The cars seem to be relatively evenly matched with no real easy favorite yet visible. Bernie and company will like this as it means more eyes glued to TV screens world wide deep into the season.

Robert Kubica drove a strong race until he attempted to knock over an airbottle in the pit lane and lost time to Webber during a pit stop. The Pole could play a spoiler, as it does seem that Renault has figured out how to get both more power and grip out of the car. Felipe Massa drove another clean race, not brilliant, but good enough to finish in fourth place. It will be ironic if the Brazilian is able to move up in the standings after being told to let his team mate pass a few weeks ago. Alonso had his first DNF of the season when he kissed the guardrail late in the race. Looking down the Ferrari pit lane, the sense of doubt has started to creep in. Are they really supporting the better driver? Can’t wait to see all of the Italian papers later this week.

Adrian Sutil finished in fifth with the Force India car. It doesn’t seem like much until you realize that he finished in front of both Mercedes Benz cars. Likewise, Kobayashi-san’s eighth place finish doesn’t wow fans until he mentions that he was less than a second and a half back from the rainmeister. Nortbert Haug has started to make the rumbles that major changes may need to be made to the team if they plan on having the three pointed star continue to participate. Could it be that they may need to find someone that is willing to 1) push the car harder and 2) provide better development feedback? Then again, maybe it is Herr Haug’s job that is one the line. If the global economy doesn’t pick up, the board is less likely to continue to want to support the sport, even if they have their dream driver. But there was a silver lining in the grey cloud, when it really gets ugly and the safety car needs to come out, there is a Mercedes Benz leading the field…

Rubens Barrichello was hoping to get a few more laps in on his 300th start, but ended up being the first one out. Burinho can’t even seem to buy a break. At least it wasn’t Schumacher that punted him out this week.

Racing goes to Italy in two weeks in a return to Monza. Expect the tifosi to be out in scores for the last European race of the season.

Race Results

1	HAMILTON	McLaren-Mercedes	1h29m04.268s
2	WEBBER	RBR-Renault	+ 1.5s
3	KUBICA	Renault	+ 3.4s
4	MASSA	Ferrari	+ 8.2s
5	SUTIL	Force India-Mercedes	+ 9.0s
6	ROSBERG	Mercedes GP	+ 12.3s
7	SCHUMACHER	Mercedes GP	+ 15.5s
8	KOBAYASHI	BMW Sauber-Ferrari	+ 16.6s
9	PETROV	Renault	+ 23.8s
10	LIUZZI	Force India-Mercedes	+ 34.8s
11	DE LA ROSA	BMW Sauber-Ferrari	+ 36.0s
12	BUEMI	STR-Ferrari	+ 39.8s
13	ALGUERSUARI	STR-Ferrari	+ 49.4s
14	HULKENBERG	Williams-Cosworth	+ 1 lap
15	VETTEL	RBR-Renault	+ 1 lap
16	KOVALAINEN	Lotus-Cosworth	+ 1 lap
17	DI GRASSI	Virgin-Cosworth	+ 1 lap
18	GLOCK	Virgin-Cosworth	+ 1 lap
19	TRULLI	Lotus-Cosworth	+ 1 lap
20	YAMAMOTO	HRT-Cosworth	+ 2 laps
21	ALONSO	Ferrari	+ 7 laps, accident
22	BUTTON	McLaren-Mercedes	+ 29 laps, accident
23	SENNA	HRT-Cosworth	+ 39 laps, suspension
24	BARRICHELLO	Williams-Cosworth	+ 44 laps, accident
Fastest Lap	HAMILTON	McLaren-Mercedes	1m49.069s

Driver’s Championship Standings

1	HAMILTON	McLaren-Mercedes	182 Points
2	WEBBER	RBR-Renault	179 Points
3	VETTEL	RBR-Renault	151 Points
4	BUTTON	McLaren-Mercedes	147 Points
5	ALONSO	Ferrari	141 Points
6	MASSA	Ferrari	109 Points
7	KUBICA	Renault	104 Points
8	ROSBERG	Mercedes GP	102 Points
9	SUTIL	Force India-Mercedes	45 Points
10	SCHUMACHER	Mercedes GP	44 Points
11	BARRICHELLO	Williams-Cosworth	30 Points
12	KOBAYASHI	BMW Sauber-Ferrari	21 Points
13	PETROV	Renault	19 Points
14	LIUZZI	Force India-Mercedes	13 Points
15	HULKENBERG	Williams-Cosworth	10 Points
16	BUEMI	STR-Ferrari	7 Points
17	DE LA ROSA	BMW Sauber-Ferrari	6 Points
18	ALGUERSUARI	STR-Ferrari	3 Points

Constructor’s Championship Standings

1	RBR-RENAULT	330 Points
2	McLAREN-MERCEDES	329 Points
3	FERRARI	2550 Points
4	MERCEDES GP	146 Points
5	RENAULT	123 Points
6	FORCE INDIA-MERCEDES	58 Points
7	WILLIAMS-COSWORTH	40 Points
8	BMW SAUBER-FERRARI	27 Points
9	STR-FERRARI	10 Points