Belgium Grand Prix 2012

Despite much talk about so many Grand Prix World Champions in play, at Spa those aging F1 Champs were sitting right next to the pretenders to the throne six rows deep on the grid. There was young and eager Kobayashi opposite Jenson Button, right on the front row. What? Well, we’ve mentioned him many times in the past, and at Spa, of all places, Koby’s light really began to shine. Former Champ Button was on the pole, but that in itself was surprising given his performances in the past few months. Which is like less than zero.

Not unexpectedly F1 Champ Kimi Räikkönen (and if we hear one more reference to Eugene O’Neil we are going to puke) was on the second row, but who was that next to him but the Rodriquez heir-apparent Perez. In the third row where Massa would normally hold court, was F1 Champ Alonso, and next to him was another non-F1 Champion, Pastro Maldonado. Go one more row back and watch out for second stringer Grosjean, rubbing shoulders with another F1 Champ Hamilton. And let’s take that two more rows, for behind them sat Vettel next to Di Resta, and Weber next to Hulkenberg.

Now, with the gift of rear vision, what might expect during the start with a grid like that? Move over old guys! When Grosjean pressed the point on Hamilton, there was nowhere for the ex Champ to go. Oops. There went four cars careening and flying insanely off the track even before they came to La Source. Out was Grojsean, Hamilton, Alonso, and Perez. Kobayashi drove through the mess like Fangio at Monaco only to fall back to 19th place from second. Button escaped the carnage by being ahead of it all and from then on, never lost the lead.
Which in a way was good for Hamilton and Alonso, both in hot pursuit of the championship; Button gets the points but is so far down it doesn’t matter…not yet, anyway.

We will slow here to mention the tire status, which previously has aggravated us no end. At Spa, there appeared to be none of the dreaded tire degradation, no one was truly caught off guard by tire performance falling off a cliff, perhaps because the entire race was performed with the use of hard and medium compound tires. Furthermore, it was a one and two stop strategy run, with Button making only one stop to change from hard to medium tires on lap 20. Notably, his tire change lasted a mere 2.6 seconds, and allowed him to retain his lead over Vettel. Spa was to be a race rather than a rubber derby. We are thankful for that.

Only Räikkönen apparently had tire grip issues and was passed by Schumacher on lap 11 for third place. Schumi was having a good day; he started from row seven and after the first lap debacle was thirteenth. He still shines at tracks like Spa, while teammate Rosberg was well down in the field. Schumacher was even up to second place by lap 15. Schumi’s current nemesis, Kobayashi, brought his Sauber up to 13th and stayed there the entire race.

The Räikkönen / Schumacher battle was probably the highlight of the race. While Button was way gone and Vettel in a secure second, the Finn and the Kraut were having a nice little fight, the epicenter of which was Räikkönen’s pass on Schumacher at the bottom of Eau Rouge…my god that guy can drive when he gets the grip.

Somewhere around lap 35, the leaders were Button, Vettel, Räikkönen, Schumacher, and Hulkenberg. Schumacher’s fine drive was ruined around lap 40 by the loss of sixth gear. He dropped back to seventh and Massa picked up the slack, garnering some needed Constructor’s points by then placing fifth.

In the end, the battle between the newbies and the F1 Champs went to the establishment, with only Hulkenberg breaking up the list of World Champions.

Our F1 expert Philipe Defechereux wants us to point out that Mr. Grosjean has been banned by the stewards from the Monza race next week and that (it is now official), he’ll be replaced there in the second Lotus by Belgian driver Jérôme D’Ambrosio.

Just deserts all around.

Race Results

1	BUTTON	McLaren-Mercedes	1h29m08.530s
2	VETTEL	RBR-Renault	+ 13.6s
3	RÄIKKÖNEN	Lotus-Renault	+ 25.3s
4	HULKENBERG	Force India-Mercedes	+ 27.8s
5	MASSA	Ferrari	+ 29.8s
6	WEBBER	RBR-Renault	+ 31.2s
7	SCHUMACHER	Mercedes	+ 53.3s
8	VERGNE	STR-Ferrari	+ 58.8s
9	RICCIARDO	STR-Ferrari	+ 62.9s
10	DI RESTA	Force India-Mercedes	+ 63.7s
11	ROSBERG	Mercedes	+ 65.1s
12	SENNA	Williams-Renault	+ 71.5s
13	KOBAYASHI	Sauber-Ferrari	+ 1 lap
14	PETROV	Caterham-Renault	+ 1 lap
15	GLOCK	Marussia-Cosworth	+ 1 lap
16	PIC	Marussia-Cosworth	+ 1 lap
17	KOVALAINEN	Caterham-Renault	+ 1 lap
18	DE LA ROSA	HRT-Cosworth	+ 1 lap
19	KARTHIKEYAN	HRT-Cosworth	+ 15 laps, accident
20	MALDONADO	Williams-Renault	+ 40 laps, accident
21	PEREZ	Sauber-Ferrari	+ 44 laps, accident
22	ALONSO	Ferrari	+ 40 laps, accident
23	HAMILTON	McLaren-Mercedes	+ 40 laps, accident
24	GROSJEAN	Lotus-Renault	+ 40 laps, accident
Fastest Lap	SENNA	Williams-Renault	1m52.822s

Note: Post-race, Grosjean was handed a one-race ban for causing the first-corner collision that also eliminated Alonso, Hamilton, and Perez.

Driver’s Championship Standings

1	ALONSO	Ferrari	164 Points
2	VETTEL	RBR-Renault	140 Points
3	WEBBER	RBR-Renault	132 Points
4	RÄIKKÖNEN	McLaren-Mercedes	131 Points
5	HAMILTON	McLaren-Mercedes	117 Points
6	BUTTON	McLaren-Mercedes	101 Points
7	ROSBERG	Mercedes	77 Points
8	GROSJEAN	Lotus-Renault	76 Points
9	PEREZ	Sauber-Ferrari	47 Points
10	SCHUMACHER	Mercedes	35 Points
11	MASSA	Ferrari	35 Points
12	KOBAYASHI	Sauber-Ferrari	33 Points
13	HULKENBERG	Force India-Mercedes	31 Points
14	MALDONADO	Williams-Renault	29 Points
15	DI RESTA	Force India-Mercedes	28 Points
16	SENNA	Williams-Renault	24 Points
17	VERGNE	STR-Ferrari	8 Points
18	RICCIARDO	STR-Ferrari	4 Points

Constructor’s Championship Standings

1	RBR-RENAULT	272 Points
2	McCLAREN-MERCEDES	218 Points
3	LOTUS-RENAULT	207 Points
4	FERRARI	199 Points
5	MERCEDES	112 Points
6	SAUBER-FERRARI	80 Points
7	FORCE INDIA-MERCEDES	59 Points
8	WILLIAMS-RENAULT	53 Points
9	STR-FERRARI	12 Points