The complete 2010 Belgian GP review

PRACTICE

Practice 1 - Friday AM

The weather in the first free practice not only typified everything one comes to expect from the Ardennes micro-climate, it also gave the paddock a thoroughly accurate template for the rest of the weekend.

Fernando Alonso set the early pace for Ferrari, and did so for most of the 90-minutes, proving the most adept at finding the grip and learning when was the most appropriate time to switch to intermediates.

A huge downpour half-way through the session brought the field in, but as soon as the rain came, it was gone again - replaced by blue skies and puffy clouds.

Some drivers, like McLaren's Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button, didn't go out again but others, like Adrian Sutil, in the Force India did. The German, always exemplary in changeable conditions, ended the session second fastest for his trouble, having improved on the intermediates. Robert Kubica was third fastest, indicating the potential of Renault's new F-duct.

Practice 2 - Friday PM

Having waited all day for the track to be dry enough to even bolt on a set of Bridgestone primes, Spa threw up yet another variable during second practice, and one that no one could have predicted.

With 15 minutes of the session left to run, Sutil was at the top of the times having taken advantage of the improving track conditions, just as Hamilton and Button had in previous periods on the rapidly drying surface. Then the red flag came out.

A veil of confusion blanketed the pits until it emerged that some children had been climbing up one of the safety fences, and a course car was sent out to look for them. Order was restored after 10 minutes, during which time the session clock had kept running.

The cars were released with minutes to go, only to find the red light stuck on at the end of the pitlane, creating an enhanced sense of urgency with just time for one flying lap remaining. Alonso, at the front of the queue, made the most of this advantage to set the fastest time of the day - 1m49.032s, to deny a Sutil a rare moment in the sunshine. Hamilton was third fastest ahead of an increasingly impressive Kubica.

Saturday Practice

The Saturday morning session was run mostly in the dry, just starting with a damp track and being interupted by a downpour in the last 15 minutes. Mark Webber and Hamilton were fastest in the middle part, followed closely by their team-mates, the Ferraris, Kubica and Sutil.

The late rain allowed some to take to the track on wets in preparation for the expected wet qualifying session later that afternoon, while others chose to sit in the dry and let the clock tick down.

QUALIFYING

1. Mark Webber, Red Bull
Team-mate qualifying battle 6-7

Didn't look great to start with and couldn't match the pace of the McLarens in Q2. But when it mattered he hooked up a superb lap, although in the end it was only a tenth better than Hamilton's reply on a partly damp track.

2. Lewis Hamilton, McLaren
Team-mate qualifying battle 9-4

Fastest of all on the difficult first run of Q1, fastest on both runs in Q2, then slightly off the pace on his first run of Q3. Came back to within a tenth of pole on his final attempt, despite it raining at La Source at the beginning of the lap.

3. Robert Kubica, Renault
Team-mate qualifying battle 12-1

Another day of Kubica keeping Renault up there with the front runners. Briefly went fastest towards the end of Q1, was up there again in Q2 and was ultimately only denied a place on the front row by Hamilton's brilliant late effort

4. Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull
Team-mate qualifying battle 7-6

Was in trouble at the start of Q1 when he waited 45 seconds for a clear track in the mad rush before the rain. He had a clear track, but the delay meant it was sodden by the time he got round and he could only manage 17th. Went straight back out on inters and joined the fray up front. Come Q3 he was up there, but knocked off the front row by Hamilton at the end.

5. Jenson Button, McLaren
Team-mate qualifying battle 4-9

Quiet in comparison to his team-mate, but not far behind in any session. He too left the best of his tyres until it was too late in Q3 and could only climb to fifth in the damp at the end.

6. Felipe Massa, Ferrari
Team-mate qualifying battle 4-9

Another lively wet session for Massa. He was actually third after the trickiest run at the start of Q1, but he lost it in a big way on the way into Stavelot in Q2 and was fortunate to make it to Q3 at all. Once there, he was set for fifth until Button nicked it on his last lap.

7. Rubens Barrichello, Williams
Team-mate qualifying battle 9-4

A great early effort from a long time wet weather expert had him safely through Q1, but he felt the need to go out on slicks at the end anyway - and went third. Nicked a spot in Q3 right at the last and then left it late to jump to seventh.

8. Adrian Sutil, Force India
Team-mate qualifying battle 11-2

In the thick of the melee at Stavelot on the first Q1 lap, but was mighty impressive after that. Went fourth on the lap that mattered in Q1 and was well inside the top 10 to make Q3. Ended eighth but it could easily have been higher.

9. Nico Hulkenberg, Williams
Team-mate qualifying battle 4-9

Kept it together on slicks at the end of Q1 where others failed, then snuck into Q3 at the expense of the Mercedes right at the end. Didn't really put it together in Q3 but that was already enough for ninth.

10. Fernando Alonso, Ferrari
Team-mate qualifying battle 9-4

Decent on inters late in Q1 then survived a trip off the road on slicks on a damp track at the beginning of Q2 to take his place on Q3. But left his only new tyre run until the end of Q3, when rain spoiled it. Though he still lapped 1.6 seconds slower than Hamilton who was on track at the same time on the same tyres.

11. Michael Schumacher, Mercedes
Team-mate qualifying battle 3-10

Did well to avoid several spinning cars at the beginning of Q1, but still had to come back out on slicks at the end to be sure of a place in Q2. He looked set to make Q3 until the last ditch runs of the Williams pair dumped him down to 11th.

12. Nico Rosberg, Mercedes
Team-mate qualifying battle 10-3

Same story as his team-mate, quick at the end of Q1 on slicks but not quite fast enough in Q2 and relegated by the Williams pair in the end.

13. Jaime Alguersuari, Toro Rosso
Team-mate qualifying battle 4-9

A career-best 11th place on the final grid, thanks to a decent pace on slicks in Q2, overshadowed the fact that he was fortunate to make Q2. Like his team-mate, he squandered what might have been a vital opportunity at the start of Q1.

14. Vitantonio Liuzzi, Force India
Team-mate qualifying battle 2-11

His first lap in Q1 was enough to get him through - a good effort and one of the more brave in tricky conditions. Had a spin early in Q2 then couldn't match his team-mate's dry pace.

15. Sebastien Buemi, Toro Rosso
Team-mate qualifying battle 9-4

Both Toro Rossos were fortunate. First on track at the start of Q1 with rain getting heaver, they should have been quickest, but too much caution left them propping up the rest. They were lucky the rain stopped. Buemi later lost three places for impeding Rosberg in Q2.

16. Heikki Kovalainen, Lotus
Team-mate qualifying battle 5-6

Quiet but effective session as he finished best of the new teams in 16th and would start 14th once the Mercedes pair were given their grid penalties.

17. Timo Glock, Virgin
Team-mate qualifying battle 12-1

Continues to take the Virgin as far as it will go - he was even in the top 10 after the what would have been the only laps of Q1 had the rain not relented. He ended up 17th but was penalised five places for impeding Sakon Yamamoto in Q1.

18. Jarno Trulli, Lotus
Team-mate qualifying battle 6-5

Furious to be eliminated in Q1 after feeling he was blocked by di Grassi and then jumped by drivers who did not respect yellow flags as they should have. He might have already assured his place had he not been one of many cars off the road at Stavelot.

19. Kamui Kobayashi, Sauber
Team-mate qualifying battle 6-7

Not a great session for the team as Kobayashi suffered exactly the same fate as de la Rosa. He too slid off the road on the all-important last lap of Q1 and was eliminated.

20. Bruno Senna, HRT
Team-mate qualifying battle 9-4

It looked as though Senna might spring a surprise in changeable conditions when he jumped up to 15th place with three minutes of Q1 remaining. But the flurry of laps on slicks at the end spoiled his party and shoved him back to 20th

21. Sakon Yamamoto, HRT
Team-mate qualifying battle 0-4

A largely uneventful day for the Japanese. He was a momentarily-exciting 13th after the first runs in Q1, but it soon became apparent that the rain wasn't going to last and he predictably tumbled away.

22. Pedro de la Rosa, Sauber
Team-mate qualifying battle 7-6

Any hopes of exploiting the potential of the Sauber were dashed when he stacked it on the all-important final lap of Q1. The excuse was that the circuit was too wet for slicks at the time, but the two Williams and two Mercedes all vaulted into the top five on them.

23. Lucas di Grassi, Virgin
Team-mate qualifying battle 1-12

Didn't make any friends with his blocking of Jarno Trulli and Michael Schumacher in the desperate charge to get out after Petrov's red flag in Q1. He was one of many cars off the road at Stavelot at the end of that first quick lap and didn't get another go.

24. Vitaly Petrov, Renault
Team-mate qualifying battle 1-12

Not great. In the mad rush of everyone piling on track at the start of Q1 to get a lap in before it rained, Petrov dropped it on a wet kerb, spun into the wall and caused a red flag that stopped qualifying just long enough for the rain to arrive.

QUALIFYING RESULTS

Pos Driver       Team                  Q1         Q2         Q3
 1. Webber       Red Bull-Renault      1m57.352s  1m47.253s  1m45.778s
 2. Hamilton     McLaren-Mercedes      1m56.706s  1m46.211s  1m45.863s
 3. Kubica       Renault               1m56.041s  1m47.320s  1m46.100s
 4. Vettel       Red Bull-Renault      1m58.487s  1m47.245s  1m46.127s
 5. Button       McLaren-Mercedes      1m57.981s  1m46.790s  1m46.206s
 6. Massa        Ferrari               1m58.323s  1m47.322s  1m46.314s
 7. Barrichello  Williams-Cosworth     1m55.757s  1m47.797s  1m46.602s
 8. Sutil        Force India-Mercedes  1m58.730s  1m47.292s  1m46.659s
 9. Hulkenberg   Williams-Cosworth     1m55.442s  1m47.821s  1m47.053s
10. Alonso       Ferrari               1m57.023s  1m47.544s  1m47.441s
11. Schumacher   Mercedes              1m56.313s  1m47.874s
12. Rosberg      Mercedes              1m54.826s  1m47.885s
13. Alguersuari  Toro Rosso-Ferrari    1m58.944s  1m48.267s
14. Liuzzi       Force India-Mercedes  2m01.102s  1m48.680s
15. Buemi        Toro Rosso-Ferrari    2m00.386s  1m49.209s
16. Kovalainen   Lotus-Cosworth        2m01.343s  1m50.980s
17. Glock        Virgin-Cosworth       2m01.316s  1m52.049s
18. Trulli       Lotus-Cosworth        2m01.491s
19. Kobayashi    Sauber-Ferrari        2m02.284s
20. Senna        HRT-Cosworth          2m03.612s
21. Yamamoto     HRT-Cosworth          2m03.941s
22. de la Rosa   Sauber-Ferrari        2m05.294s
23. di Grassi    Virgin-Cosworth       2m18.754s
24. Petrov       Renault               no time

THE RACE

There are grands prix that the team with the fastest car will win. It'll qualify up front, survive the first corner and remain out of reach for an hour and a half on a Sunday. Sadly these race are the majority in the modern era, but they're not all of them. Every now and then there's a race where the conditions - usually either weather, the nature of the circuit, a tyre anomaly, or hopefully a combination - blow it wide open. These are the days when someone can make a big difference, where, on reflection, you might say a championship was won and lost. This was Spa.

It's no surprise everybody loves F1's visit to the Ardennes. From the drivers' point of view, it's one of those tracks that reminds you why you loving driving cars fast in the first place - flowing, undulating, daunting, punishing. It gives everyone the opportunity to make the difference. For the teams, it's one of the few where they too can have an impact. A long lap, quickly changing conditions, overtaking opportunities meaning you won't get bottled up behind someone a second slower than you. A smart call on strategy can be the difference between winning and losing. And for the spectators, all of the above plus the entertainment that comes with rain-provoked chaos.

There was no favourite for Spa. McLaren would be strong on the long straights, Red Bull through the all-important middle sector and, after Friday practice, apparently Ferrari was quick everywhere. At least eight drivers lined up on Sunday morning with a chance to win the race (that's counting Felipe Massa, Robert Kubica and Adrian Sutil as outside bets). It would be down to opportunities taken and missed.

The criticism of Red Bull this year is that it has had comfortably the fastest car for the majority of the races but has somehow contrived not to be in a position of strength in either championship. Okay, so Spa and Monza weren't supposed to be circuits the RB6 would be strongest on, but both cars in the first two rows and plenty of pace gave it an opportunity, another opportunity.

Mark Webber fluffed the start and was briefly seventh on the run to Les Combes, before settling into sixth. Sebastian Vettel was unfortunate to be squeezed off the road after Kubica ran wide at Eau Rouge on lap two, but that trip onto the grass at 170mph was about as good as his day got.

He'd said in the run up to the race that all he needed was for his bad luck to turn around. But a lot of luck is self-made and he did himself no favours in Belgium. It was only a split second in which he made the mistake the wiped out Jenson Button, but in a title race this close it's going to be a split second that decides it. If, as in 2008, the champion isn't decided until half a mile from the finish line of the final race, repeatedly chucking away points isn't going to go unpunished.

The incident itself: Vettel seemed to think Button wasn't going to stick to the inside into the braking zone. Once he realised he was, he refused to settle in behind and wanted to snap his car back to the outside to try to force the issue the long way round. Aggression is good, but only when it's controlled aggression. Vettel lost control in an instant and, brilliantly, caught it just as quickly. But that jerked the car back to the right and instead of now having the space to save it, he speared the McLaren's sidepod. There was nothing he could have done about the impact but the error in judgement was inescapable.

Vettel is still young and has plenty of time to learn, but people are starting to wonder whether he is learning from his mistakes. Or simply repeating them. He didn't exactly cover himself in glory for the rest of the afternoon. Even after pitting for repairs and a drive-through penalty, he could have still salvaged points. But he was in trouble again barely 10 laps later, clashing with Vitantonio Liuzzi at the same spot. Liuzzi has to take his share of the blame for that one, but the fact that Vettel had twice tried unsuccessfully to drive around the super-fast Force India meant that this time he came storming up the inside with a point to prove. Had he left more room he would have avoided a puncture and a long crawl back to the pits.

The Red Bull team showed its own shortcomings with Vettel a little later on. When the last rain shower came inside the last 10 laps, Vettel was told he was getting a set of full wets - a call he questioned immediately. He was told that spotters had reported rain around the track and that cars on intermediates were flying off the road (Fernando Alonso). This wasn't giving him the available information and allowing him to make the decision based on what he could see and feel from the cockpit, it was instruction. The rain didn't last, Vettel burnt out his full wets in minutes and was back in for a set of inters.

On the other side of the garage, Webber got away with his error and ended up taking a second place from what could easily have been a missed opportunity. Sixth became fifth when Massa made it clear early on that he wasn't going to be a factor. Then third when Vettel removed himself and Button. And finally second when Kubica overshot his pitbox and squandered a handful of precious seconds.

But Webber wasn't the only one to make a mistake and get away with it. Kubica still stood on the podium, in spite of his pit blunder and also running off the road after enduring a tank slapper in the middle of Eau Rouge when the track was slippery on the second lap.

Even Hamilton wasn't infallable. He had a handy cushion when it started raining the final time and wanted to come in straight away for inters. The team didn't want to jump the gun in case the track didn't get wet enough for them to last until the end so he had to do one more lap. Hamilton ran off the road in the downhill braking zone at Rivage and was a mixture of good and lucky to keep it out of the wall. The advantage he'd built up in the last dozen or so laps was enough to allow him to re-join in the lead.

But on the whole, Hamilton's was an excellent day's work and he got away with his one blemish, supporting the theory that you make your own luck. That was further backed up by the horrible afternoon of the championship's fifth contender, Alonso.

Sure, it wasn't his fault that Barrichello arrived at the damp Bus Stop too quickly on the opening lap and smashed into his Ferrari. But what was he doing down in the pack in the first place when he'd dominated Friday practice? He was one of many caught out by the rain at the end of Q3 but he was on track at the same time as Hamilton set his front row time and was a pitiful 1.6 seconds slower.

It's been a strangely mistake-ridden season for Alonso and, after miraculously surviving the first-lap impact, he failed to rescue four points by crashing just six laps from the end. Conditions were tricky for everyone, but Alonso should know better than to use that much of the Malmedy exit kerb in the wet, and he paid the price as he speared back into the inside wall and climbed out of his stricken car.

There were some performances to remember, too. Sutil revelled in the outstanding low-downforce pace of the Force India and could easily have been higher than fifth. Liuzzi was strong and confident in the other car, but his hopes of points were dashed by his clash with Vettel. The Saubers looked set for a share of the points but Kamui Kobayashi was bundled out by the two Mercedes towards the end and Pedro de la Rosa dropped it at Stavelot two laps from home.

Michael Schumacher and Nico Rosberg gave each other a good race in their ongoing squabble for superiority. Rosberg ran ahead as they came through the field early on, but he was squeezed out at Les Combes by Vitaly Petrov. Schumacher leapt on the opportunity and chopped across the front of his team-mate into Malmedy, ripping off one of the endplates in the process. But Rosberg got his own back late on, slipstreaming Kobayashi out of Eau Rouge and using the run to dive inside Schumacher at Les Combes, forcing him off the road in return.

RACE RESULTS

The Belgian Grand Prix
Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium;
44 laps; 308.052km;
Weather: Mixed.

Classified:

Pos  Driver        Team                       Time
 1.  Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes           1h29m04.268s
 2.  Webber        Red Bull-Renault                 +1.571
 3.  Kubica        Renault                          +3.493
 4.  Massa         Ferrari                          +8.264
 5.  Sutil         Force India-Mercedes             +9.094
 6.  Rosberg       Mercedes                        +12.359
 7.  Schumacher    Mercedes                        +15.548
 8.  Kobayashi     Sauber-Ferrari                  +16.678
 9.  Petrov        Renault                         +23.851
10.  Liuzzi        Force India-Mercedes            +34.831
11.  De la Rosa    Sauber-Ferrari                  +36.019
12.  Buemi         Toro Rosso-Ferrari              +39.895
13.  Alguersuari   Toro Rosso-Ferrari              +49.457
14.  Hulkenberg    Williams-Cosworth                +1 lap
15.  Vettel        Red Bull-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

Not classified/retirements:

Driver        Team                  On lap 
Alonso        Ferrari                   38          
Button        McLaren-Mercedes          16          
Senna         HRT-Cosworth               6          
Barrichello   Williams-Cosworth          1        

World Championship standings, round 13:                

Drivers:                    Constructors:             
 1.  Hamilton     182        1.  Red Bull-Renault          330
 2.  Webber       179        2.  McLaren-Mercedes          329
 3.  Vettel       151        3.  Ferrari                   250
 4.  Button       147        4.  Mercedes                  146
 5.  Alonso       141        5.  Renault                   123
 6.  Massa        109        6.  Force India-Mercedes       58
 7.  Kubica       104        7.  Williams-Cosworth          40
 8.  Rosberg      102        8.  Sauber-Ferrari             27
 9.  Sutil         45        9.  Toro Rosso-Ferrari         10
10.  Schumacher    44       
11.  Barrichello   30       
12.  Kobayashi     21       
13.  Petrov        19       
14.  Liuzzi        13       
15.  Hulkenberg    10       
16.  Buemi          7       
17.  De la Rosa     6       
18.  Alguersuari    3       
       
All timing unofficial

Lap-by-lap as it happened on AUTOSPORT Live

TEAM BY TEAM

McLaren

Near-perfect. Surprised perhaps even itself with its pace in qualifying, right up until rain hit the end of Q3. Lewis Hamilton's last lap was a tremendous effort in the damp, and his victory the following day was a materclass in winning unpredictable races. Jenson Button could well have been involved in the fight up front were he not taken out.

Mercedes

Was up against it from the off with Michael Schumacher's 10-place grid penalty from Hungary and Nico Rosberg taking five of the same when his gearbox failed on Saturday. They raced well through the pack on Sunday and will have been surprised to make it as far as sixth and seventh. Their biggest fights in the race were with each other.

Red Bull

After Mark Webber's fluffed start and Sebastian Vettel's calamity at the Bus Stop it could easily have been another lost weekend for Red Bull. But Webber drove a fine race once he got going and was able to capitalise on the mistakes of others to take a good haul of points back to Milton Keynes.

Ferrari

The weekend promised much for Maranello on Friday when Fernando Alonso was first to hit the sweet spot. But his weekend was all downhill from there and stooped to getting crashed into and then crashing in the race. Felipe Massa didn't do much to save things in the other car, but at least kept himself out of trouble in fourth.

Williams

Both cars into Q3 was a great start to the weekend but it all went wrong on race day. Rubens Barrichello won't remember his 300th too fondly after mis-judging his arrival at the Bus Stop and ramming Alonso. Nico Hulkenberg was well set for a strong points finish until a throttle problem struck his car and hampered his progress all afternoon.

Renault

Robert Kubica continues to fly high for Renault, though at Spa he did get away with a couple of blunders in the process. A sideways off at Eau Rouge and overshooting the pitbox might have cost him that podium on another day. Vitaly Petrov had some making up to do after he stacked it on the out-lap in Q1 but drove a fine race to stay out of trouble and score points from the back of the grid.

Much was expected of the team after Giancarlo Fisichlla's pole position and podium last year, and Adrian Sutil got about as much out of it as he could. Easily inside the top 10 in qualifying, he ran inside the top six all day and was a match for anyone on the straights. Vitantonio Liuzzi wasn't far behind and could have been on for a few points until he clipped the back of Vettel at the Bus Stop and lost his front wing. He got one back after the race when Jaime Alguersuari was penalised though.

A quiet weekend for both drivers. Neither had the speed to bother their midfield rivals, but neither made the errors that hampered them either. A point seemed a fair return for Alguersuari until he was stripped of 10th place for passing Liuzzi off the track.

Jarno Trulli was having a pretty miserable weekend up until the race, with several gripes after qualifying, but he shot up the order in the early stages. He slipped backwards when the race calmed down and then even further with a spin after the final restart. Heikki Kovalainen made a poor start, went backwards and then had to pit for a new front wing. But he made places back up during the afternoon and ended the day first of the new teams.

Not a great one for HRT. Sakon Yamamoto was off the pace throughout and Bruno Senna's best qualifying performance of the year was followed by a suspension failure early in the race which caused his retirement.

It was a hard weekend for Timo Glock's side of the garage after his crash on Friday, but it was a solid race for both him and Lucas di Grassi on Sunday. No major incidents and both cars home safely.

It didn't look good when both Pedro de la Rosa and Kamui Kobayashi binned it in qualifying, but they bounced back well on Sunday. The team was in the hunt for points with both cars until de la Rosa's spin in the closing laps. Four points was a good return for Kobayashi though.