Stat Attack: Belgium (post-race)

Fisichella's firsts for Force India

Giancarlo Fisichella took Force India's maiden pole position, making it the 39th team in Formula 1's history to take a pole. Force India was the only team on the current F1 grid not to have taken a pole before Spa.

It was Fisichella's fourth pole and his first since the 2006 Malaysian GP - it was the first time he'd qualified in the top 10 since the 2007 Japanese GP.

Jarno Trulli completed the front row at Spa, making it the first all-Italian front row sweep since the 2005 Australian GP (when the pair started from the same positions) and only the fourth time in the last 50 years. The other occasions were Brazil 1984 (Elio de Angelis and Michele Alboreto) and Europe 1983 (de Angelis and Riccardo Patrese). Though two Italians were on the front row for the first ever championship race, at Silverstone in 1950 (Nino Farina and Luigi Fagioli).

Fisichella's was the 48th pole position for an Italian driver, tying Finland for fifth place in the all-time list, and also the seventh different driver to take a pole this year - the highest since 2005 when nine different drivers qualified first.

He went on to score Force India's first points and first podium, and put to an end the longest pointless streak of his career - 31 races, from the 2007 Chinese GP. His best result since then was ninth at Monaco this season. It was Fisichella's first podium since Japan 2006.

Kimi is back

Kimi Raikkonen scored his 18th victory at his 150th start, ending a drought of 25 races - the second longest of his career. His maiden victory was at Sepang in 2003 and he had to wait another 27 races for his second, at the 2004 Belgian GP. His last win before Spa was in the 2008 Spanish GP.

It is the fourth time Raikkonen has won at Spa, moving him alongside Jim Clark in third place on the all-time list behind Michael Schumacher (six) and Ayrton Senna (five).

The victory was Ferrari's 210th, first of 2009, and third in a row at Spa. The record for consecutive wins at Spa by one team belongs to McLaren, which won five times in a row from 1987 to 1991, once with Alain Prost and four times with Ayrton Senna.

Qualifying notes

• Jenson Button failed to make Q3 for the first time this year, ending an 11-race streak of top 10 starts. Sebastian Vettel is the only driver to have started every race this year inside the top 10.
• Nick Heidfeld's third on the grid was his best qualifying since the 2007 Hungarian GP, when he was second. BMW-Sauber had both cars inside the top 10 since the first race of this season.
• Sebastian Vettel qualified lower than fourth for the first time in 10 races.
After three consecutive races inside the top 10, McLaren didn't get either car into Q3.
• Fernando Alonso's 13th place was his worst qualifying performance since the 2008 Singapore GP when he won from 15th on the grid.
• Luca Badoer started last on the grid for the 12th time in his career, tying his countryman Arturo Merzario at third place on the all-time list. Tarso Marques leads the way with 18. It was the first time in F1 history that a Ferrari has qualified last in back-to-back races.
• With just 0.665s between Giancarlo Fisichella in first and Lewis Hamilton 15th, it was the closest Q1 session of the season - despite Spa being the longest track on the calendar.

Race notes

• Jenson Button posted his first retirement of the season and his first finish outside the points in 12 races. Before Spa, Button was the only driver to have completed every lap of the season.
• Nick Heidfeld finished for the 40th consecutive race.
• Luca Badoer made his 50th race start.
• BMW-Sauber had both cars in the points for the first time since the 2008 Chinese GP.
• Lewis Hamilton posted his first retirement since Canada 2008.
• Jarno Trulli's brake failure was the first mechanical failure for Toyota since the 2008 Singapore GP, when he suffered a hydraulic failure.

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- The Autosport.com Team

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