Grand Prix of Belgium

The Scuderia driver showed that he could use every trick in the book, from perfect pit stops to effective blocking, and knowing when to hit the KERS button to keep the Roman from the top spot of the podium. His performance almost made up for the lack of performance out of Luca Badoer. The test driver filling in for the injured Filipe Massa seemed as if he was out for a Sunday drive. The muckrackers in Ferrari fandom wondered out loud if the Italian has been testing for the Scuderia on jack stands for the last ten years. Even Alex Yoong looked more believable in an F1 car when he was running.

Okay, maybe the last line was a stretch, but the performance was so embarrassing that the team has made numerous comments about keeping their options open for Monza. Had the driver held a passport from anywhere except the republic, he would have been fired at the end of the second round of pit stops.

Fisichella had one of the best drives of his career and was nipping at the rear wing of the Ferrari most of the race. The Mercedes lump didn’t have quite enough grunt to push for the lead, but he stayed in there waiting to capitalize on the mistake that never came. Still, the second spot on the podium gave the team their well earned first points of the season.

Sebastian Vettel brought the sugar and caffeine car to the last podium spot, cementing his chances of returning next year.

Rumors abounded up and down pit lane that Toyota’s management gave the ultimatum that the team needed to score a win or risk being withdrawn from the sport. Trulli put the white and red car on the second spot of the grid, but that was as close as the team could get to success. His day ended with a mechanical fault (or embarrassment) and team mate Glock could do no better than 10th. The team’s days have always been numbered, the question was always at what point the shoe would actually fall. The end of 2009’s season is looking like a distinct possibility.

BMW seems to be doing a little better now that they know the propeller will not be on the front of the car next year. Nick Heidfeld managed to finish fourth and Kubica finished in fifth. Maybe the team found some speed when they realized that if they want to keep their jobs next year, they need to be attractive to someone that may have the funds to keep the team closer to the front runners and not relegated to the also ran category.

Brawn didn’t have the speed this weekend and Barichello could do no better than seventh. The team is starting to pay more attention to the points table now that Button’s moment in the sun has come and gone and he is back to his old performance of being president of the mid field fan club. He is lobbying Maranello hard to keep Badoer in the car. The lump managed to hold on for the last two laps and Belgium is claiming to be mosquito free later that afternoon.

The other Finn was happy to get a couple of points for his sixth place finish and will argue that he did in fact finish ahead of Lewis Hamilton. Pay no attention to the fact that Hamilton was caught out on the first lap…

Rosberg grabbed the last points paying position. Williams is just happy that they will get a wee bit more TV money from this result.

With just five races left in the season, the tea leaves are starting to arrange themselves. Brawn is in a strong position to take the constructor’s championship and probably the driver’s championship. Red Bull is definitely trying to play the spoiler. Ferrari has written to the Pope for divine intervention to keep their third place standings, and Renault is going to have to battle a disgruntled former driver who probably accused the team of race fixing. And who says this is a boring sport with no passing? Racing returns to Monza in two weeks.

Race Results

1	RÄIKKÖNEN	Ferrari	1h23m50.995s
2	FISICHELLA	Force India-Mercedes	+ 0.9s
3	VETTEL	RBR-Renault	+ 3.8s
4	KUBICA	BMW Sauber	+ 9.9s
5	HEIDFELD	BMW Sauber	+ 11.2s
6	KOVALAINEN	McLaren-Mercedes	+ 32.7s
7	BARRICHELLO	Brawn-Mercedes	+ 35.4s
8	ROSBERG	Williams-Toyota	+ 36.2s
9	WEBBER	RBR-Renault	+ 36.9s
10	GLOCK	Toyota	+ 41.4s
11	SUTIL	Force India-Mercedes	+ 42.6s
12	BUEMI	STR-Ferrari	+ 46.1s
13	NAKAJIMA	Williams-Toyota	+ 54.2s
14	BADOER	Ferrari	+ 102.1s
15	ALONSO	Renault	+ 18 laps, retired
16	TRULLI	Toyota	+ 23 laps, brakes
17	BUTTON	Brawn-Mercedes	+ 44 laps, accident
18	GROSJEAN	Renault	+ 44 laps, accident
19	HAMILTON	McLaren-Mercedes	+ 44 laps, accident
20	ALGUERSUARI	STR-Ferrari	+ 44 laps, accident
Fastest Lap	VETTEL	RBR-Renault	1m47.263s

Driver’s Championship Standings

1	BUTTON	Brawn-Mercedes	72 Points
2	BARRICHELLO	Brawn-Mercedes	56 Points
3	VETTEL	RBR-Renault	53 Points
4	WEBBER	RBR-Renault	51.5 Points
5	RÄIKKÖNEN	Ferrari	34 Points
6	ROSBERG	Williams-Toyota	30.5 Points
7	HAMILTON	McLaren-Mercedes	27 Points
8	TRULLI	Toyota	22.5 Points
9	MASSA	Ferrari	22 Points
10	KOVALAINEN	McLaren-Mercedes	17 Points
11	GLOCK	Toyota	16 Points
12	ALONSO	Renault	16 Points
13	HEIDFELD	BMW Sauber	10 Points
14	FISICHELLA	Force India-Mercedes	8 Points
15	KUBICA	BMW Sauber	8 Points
16	BUEMI	STR-Ferrari	3 Points
17	BOURDAIS	STR-Ferrari	2 Points

Constructor’s Championship Standings

1	BRAWN-MERCEDES	128 Points
2	RBR-RENAULT	104.5 Points
3	FERRARI	56 Points
4	McLAREN-MERCEDES	44 Points
5	TOYOTA	38.5 Points
6	WILLIAMS-TOYOTA	30.5 Points
7	BMW SAUBER	18 Points
8	RENAULT	16 Points
9	FORCE INDIA-MERCEDES	8 Points
10	STR-FERRARI	5 Points