The 2007 Belgian GP Review

The World Motor Sport Council's decision to remove all of McLaren's 2007 constructors' championship points made it virtually inevitable that Ferrari would win this year's teams' title - and Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa's crushing one-two in the Belgian Grand Prix provided final confirmation.

It also kept Ferrari's hopes of sneaking the drivers' championship just about alive. Raikkonen gained five points on Hamilton at Spa, and is now only 13 adrift with three races remaining.

"We haven't given up and we are still in the hunt," he said. "We reduced the gap again. We lost a little bit in the last race but I think anything can happen. There are still three races to go.

"Everybody is so close and for sure we're going to fight hard. Something can go wrong for all of us. We just keep pushing and see what happens. If we can do it, it would be amazing. It's going to be difficult, but we don't give up."

The mathematics therefore say Raikkonen has a chance, but it is unlikely that the Finn will win in Fuji, Shanghai and Interlagos - with Lewis Hamilton not reaching the podium in any of the three races (and Fernando Alonso having a similarly poor run). The balance of power has steadfastly refused to remain with one team or the other all year, and the fact that McLaren could go from dominating Monza to trailing at Spa just seven days later suggests the unpredictability will continue all the way to Brazil.

But the ultra-close title battle is not producing ultra-close racing, for after the flurry of activity - and moderate controversy - of the opening two corners, the Belgian GP settled into a processional routine. Ferrari were faster than McLaren, Raikkonen was faster than Massa, and Alonso was faster than Hamilton. As they were already running in that formation, all they were going to do was drift further apart for 80 minutes before Raikkonen could celebrate his third consecutive Spa win, the absence of the track from last year's schedule interrupting a hat-trick that began when he beat Michael Schumacher in the dramatic 2004 race.

"For sure it's my favourite circuit, it was even before I came into Formula One," said Raikkonen. "So it's nothing to do with if I win or lose here. I just like it here."

After the high drama and politics of the preceding days, the race itself was extremely muted - as if all Formula One's energy had been expended in the build-up and then reaction to events in the Paris court. The quiet Sunday afternoon also suited the sombre mood that pervaded all of motorsport in the wake of Colin McRae's tragic death the previous day.

Jean Todt's post-race press briefing may have been dominated by Ferrari's dissatisfaction with the WMSC verdict, but it began with a minute's silence to remember McRae.

"Unfortunately, these kind of things allow us to give more importance to real things," said Todt.

It was a reminder that as high as the stakes were in the FIA court hearing, the scandal that has had such a stranglehold over F1 in recent months was not a matter of life and death.

With McLaren increasingly unlikely to appeal, it seems that the spotlight can finally return to what remains an intriguing title battle.

"I'm pleased that nothing silly came out of the race, no controversy," said Ron Dennis, who preferred to try and smooth away the tension arising from Hamilton and Alonso's first corner brush.

"Let's move on to motor racing for the next three Grands Prix."

Practice

Practice one - Friday am

Ferrari had a presence at both ends of the timesheets in the first session of the weekend, as Kimi Raikkonen dominated throughout the morning, while his teammate Felipe Massa got as far as Rivage on his first flying lap before going straight on, across the gravel and nudging the tyre wall. The Brazilian had to sit and watch the remainder of the session.

Toro Rosso's Vitantonio Liuzzi ultimately came to keep Massa company with a crash at the same spot, whereas Sakon Yamamoto chose the new Bus Stop chicane as the location for the spin that ended his morning slightly early.

The McLarens were second and third fastest, with Lewis Hamilton 0.542 seconds slower than Raikkonen. The BMWs and Williams shared the best of the rest positions.

Practice two - Friday pm

After Ferrari had commanded the morning, it was McLaren's turn to lead the way later on. Fernando Alonso was fastest with a 1:46.654, seven tenths of a second better than Raikkonen's session one benchmark. The Finn ended up fourth this time, behind Hamilton and Massa.

BMW and Williams' earlier speed had proved deceptive, as both teams' drivers were unhappy with their cars' handling in the afternoon and dropped down the order. The same was true at Honda. Jenson Button may have been a promising 10th in the first session, but his reports about the car were far from positive at the end of the day, and he slipped to 14th.

As they all went backwards, it was the contented Toyota duo who moved up to fifth and sixth, followed by Renault's Giancarlo Fisichella and Red Bull's Mark Webber. The Australian's teammate David Coulthard was only 13th after stopping on track with a hydraulic problem.

Yamamoto atoned for his morning spin by being the fastest of the backmarkers in 17th place. This time it was Adrian Sutil's turn to crash, as he went off on the exit of Les Combes in the final half hour.

A problem with the rear of his Toro Rosso meant Liuzzi only completed nine laps and ended the day slowest of all - behind even the disgruntled Super Aguris, as 21st-placed Anthony Davidson lamented his "undriveable" car.

Practice three - Saturday am

Ferrari returned to the fore in the final session, with Raikkonen on top again and beating Massa by 0.251 seconds. In their wake, Alonso missed the opening runs with an oil leak but eventually took third from Hamilton on his final lap.

Kovalainen beat Jarno Trulli to fifth this time, with Nico Rosberg and Nick Heidfeld showing more typical form in seventh and eighth.

But BMW's session was marred when Robert Kubica pulled off with an engine failure before he could set a lap time. A new V8 would be required, and he would therefore go into qualifying facing a ten place grid penalty.

"After yesterday's disappointing day, this morning was even more disappointing," said Kubica.

Spyker's mixed weekend continued - both Sutil and Yamamoto showed better-than-usual pace during the session, but the morning ended with more damage to repair after a brake problem sent Yamamoto into the wall at Fagnes.

Qualifying

Part one

Toro Rosso and Spyker had hinted that they might spring a surprise all weekend, and when Vitantonio Liuzzi, Sebastian Vettel and Adrian Sutil jumped to sixth, seventh and 12th respectively with their final Q1 laps, it looked like this would be a fine afternoon for the underdogs.

But Q1 at Spa saw an unusual degree of improvement on drivers' second laps, and as the works teams came through, all bar Liuzzi were shuffled back down outside the cut-off point.

Both Vettel - who missed 16th by a mere 0.005 seconds - and Sutil were left ruing slight errors. But while although Sutil tumbled right back to 20th place, he remained positive about how the revised Spyker had performed at Spa.

"We are quicker on the straights and the downforce is much better through the quicker corners," he said.

"It was very close and in the end we dropped down the order a little bit, but the car was definitely good enough to take P18 or better."

His teammate Sakon Yamamoto took his regular 22nd place, after a call to the weighbridge meant he only had time for one qualifying run.

While Jenson Button managed to coax enough speed from his Honda to reach Q2, Rubens Barrichello was a puzzled 18th.

"It's been very strange the whole weekend because one car hasn't matched the other on the numbers on the aerodynamics and we don't understand why," he said.

At least he managed to out-pace both Super Aguris. Takuma Sato took 19th but felt more optimistic than he had in practice, while Anthony Davidson's choice of set-up change made his handling problems worse, leaving him 21st.

Part two

The second session largely followed the established 2007 pattern: qualifying specialists Jarno Trulli, Nico Rosberg and Mark Webber all launched themselves into the top ten, while their respective teammates Ralf Schumacher, Alex Wurz and David Coulthard did not.

Wurz fared worst, citing a lack of straightline speed as he lapped 0.9 seconds slower than Rosberg in 16th place. That meant he would start behind Liuzzi, a result that left the Toro Rosso driver very satisfied.

Schumacher took 12th, feeling that he would have found the missing tenth of a second he required had he warmed his tyres and brakes better on his out-lap, while Coulthard rued a minor error in 13th. His countryman Button would join him on row seven, which the Honda driver felt was a "reasonably positive" result given the team's lack of pace at this track.

The only slight surprise of the segment was that Giancarlo Fisichella failed to reach Q3 for the fourth time in the last five races.

"I was already struggling a little with the car this morning, and didn't feel fully comfortable, and unfortunately, I had the same problem in qualifying," he said. "The car was sliding a lot, and it meant I just couldn't carry the speed through the corners like I wanted to."

The Italian's day would get worse, as Renault discovered that his engine needed changing before the race and that he would consequently have to start last.

Part three

Friday afternoon excepted, Kimi Raikkonen had shown somewhat imperious form throughout the Spa weekend. He didn't push until he had to in qualifying - settling for third in Q1 and then only topping Q2 by a few hundredths - but he showed his true pace when it mattered at the end of the hour and produced an initial flying lap half a second faster than his rivals could manage.

But the battle for pole wasn't over, for Felipe Massa improved by a whole second on his final run and beat Raikkonen's previous benchmark by 0.522 seconds.

And having spun away his first run when he got on the dirty line at Rivage, Fernando Alonso gathered himself for a second attempt and set Ferrari-rivalling sector times.

This pole was destined to be Raikkonen's, however. The Finn found another six tenths of a second to beat Massa by 0.017 seconds despite being slightly unnerved by his Ferrari.

"After the first run I found the car was not the same as it was," said Raikkonen. "I think there is a little problem at the rear of the car but I still decided to try and improve my lap time and I managed to do it, but it doesn't feel exactly right. But we can check it later."

As he pondered his teammate's slender pole margin, Massa wondered if an error at the Bus Stop had proved critical.

"I was pretty happy on my lap until I got to the last corner and maybe I just was a little bit too enthusiastic, but I lost a little bit," he said.

Alonso looked like he might split the Ferraris in the middle of his lap, but ultimately ended up third, also within 0.097 seconds of Raikkonen. After his earlier rotation, he was relieved simply to set a representative time on his last run.

"I had only one chance, at the end, so I was a little bit worried that something might happen on that single lap," he said.

His teammate Lewis Hamilton did not feature in the pole battle, and lapped four tenths of a second off the pace on the way to fourth.

Robert Kubica was fifth on the timing screens but knew that would become 15th once his engine change penalty was applied.

So it was Williams' Nico Rosberg who would occupy the inside third row position - having leapt up from eighth with his second run.

"Qualifying was super, it really went well and I am very happy," Rosberg said. "I am a bit surprised as well, to be honest, because I didn't think we'd be so far up as it was very tight to make it into the top ten in Q2."

Rosberg managed to beat Nick Heidfeld by 0.075 seconds, and the BMW was in turn 0.115 seconds ahead of Mark Webber's Red Bull. While Heidfeld was unmoved by that result, both Webber and ninth-placed Jarno Trulli were moderately happy with their laps.

Heikki Kovalainen brought up the rear of the top ten but his distinctly slow lap time - 2.5 seconds off the pace and 0.7 seconds adrift of Trulli - already hinted that Renault were trying an alternative fuel strategy.

Qualifying results

* Robert Kubica changed his engine before qualifying and therefore dropped to 15th on the grid

The Race

As part of the package of circuit changes at the revamped Spa, more space had been created at the La Source hairpin. This was just as well at the start, as the Ferrari and McLarens duos both went into the corner wheel to wheel.

Felipe Massa had got away faster than Kimi Raikkonen and was level with the polesitter on the outside going into the corner, but dropped into line on the exit.

Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton's dice was more controversial and spectacular. The controversy came in the opening yards, as Alonso immediately edged left to deter his teammate, and then eased Hamilton onto the run-off area as they accelerated out of La Source.

"He pushed me wide, quite deliberately," said Hamilton, who had earlier hinted at his "complete shock" at Alonso's role in the latest developments in the McLaren/Ferrari spying controversy.

"He has gone and swiped me and pushed me as wide as he could," the unhappy points leader continued. "I was just really lucky there was a run-off area so I could take that."

The truly spectacular moment was what followed, as Hamilton found sufficient traction off-track to power back on slightly ahead of Alonso. He had both the momentum and the inside line for the left hand element of Eau Rouge, but Alonso stayed abreast on the outside and swept through into third when the road turned right a moment later.

"It's impossible to take two Formula One cars through there without taking each other out, so I just lifted," Hamilton said.

"I was lucky to be on the inside and to get the position there. In this situation I was quite confident and happy with my position into that corner. I was not too worried," said Alonso.

Team boss Ron Dennis, who has had enough to worry about in recent days without his title-contending drivers having a 190mph bravery contest into F1's most revered corner, shrugged the incident off.

"It was absolutely fine," he said. "They weren't too aggressive, and they're racing drivers, that's what they do. No-one would blink at it if they were opposing teams. They didn't touch each other, it's motor racing, no problem. You get used to it."

Sadly for the spectators, those first few seconds contained all the excitement that the lead battle would produce.

This time dirty air and a lack of passing opportunities had nothing to do with it. It was simply that the top four were already running in speed order, and proceeded to inch away from each other.

The Ferrari was at its best at Spa, as was 2004/5 race winner Raikkonen. He wasted no time in establishing a four second cushion over the oversteer-afflicted Massa, which remained fairly static until after their second pit stops. Massa then set the fastest lap of the race and briefly halved Raikkonen's lead - not as an act of late-race showboating, but because the Brazilian's car came alive when Ferrari fitted the softer tyres.

"In the end, the car was just perfect on the soft tyres, so maybe it was a little bit the wrong choice (of strategy)," mused Massa.

Raikkonen was also pleasantly surprised by the speed of the softs, but by that time he had no need to push, and could cruise home to win his fourth race of 2007, lead Ferrari's third one-two of the season, and clinch their 15th constructors' championship. He even managed to celebrate with a 'doughnut' spin as he turned the car into the presentation area at La Source.

"I have always wanted to do one and here it is much easier. And it was the second race engine, so it doesn't really matter if you make life harder for it," he said.

And the rear end problem that had puzzled him in qualifying?

"We never found anything, so it was probably in my head."

McLaren's hopes of keeping in touch with the Ferraris in race trim had been swiftly dashed.

"I tried quite hard in the first stint to keep pace with Felipe, just hoping around the pit stop time to make the position," said Alonso. "But slowly they were disappearing, and after the first stop we didn't see them anymore."

Indeed the Ferraris were 20 seconds clear of Alonso by the middle of the race, and it was soon clear that McLaren's strategy of running slightly longer before their final stops would not pay off.

Alonso ran two laps further than Raikkonen before pitting for the last time on lap 33, while Hamilton had enough fuel to go another four laps before his final stop.

The rookie had done very well to match Alonso's pace despite the extra weight in the middle of the race. But the plan did not work because Alonso's out-laps on fresh soft tyres were as much as 0.8 seconds quicker than Hamilton's in-laps with a light car. He rejoined six seconds behind his teammate and closed in only a little before running very wide at Pouhon and giving up the chase.

The rest of the field provided some compensation for the lack of action amongst the top four, as there was plenty of overtaking mid-pack.

Nico Rosberg held on to his fifth position at the start, with Heikki Kovalainen getting away well to move up to sixth - Mark Webber having followed Hamilton across the La Source run-off as he tried to resist the Renault on the outside.

Nick Heidfeld tried to swoop around them all into the hairpin, but braked too late and ran a little wide. As he pulled back across to slot in behind Webber, he inadvertently blocked Jarno Trulli, whose run of mediocre starts had continued. The loss of momentum meant Ralf Schumacher and David Coulthard both accelerated past Trulli on the way down the hill - bad news for the two-stopping Italian as both men were pitting just once.

Kovalainen was also running heavy but would struggle to resist his lighter pursuers. Webber slipstreamed down the outside on the Kemmel Straight on lap three, then squeezed the Renault approaching Les Combes to ensure Kovalainen did not try to retaliate under braking.

The Finn would be passed by both BMWs in the opening stint too, with Heidfeld going down the inside at the Bus Stop on lap four, and Robert Kubica making the move on the outside seven laps later. The charging Pole had already passed Jenson Button, Trulli, Coulthard and Schumacher by that time as he strained to make up for his grid penalty.

He wasn't the only rising star hacking through the field. But while the displaced BMW's charge was predicted, few expected Adrian Sutil to overtake Vitantonio Liuzzi, Button and Trulli and move up to an astonishing 12th.

"It was crazy - I could take one car after another," said the delighted German, who proceeded to give 11th-placed Coulthard an extremely hard time before pitting on lap 16. Sutil had admittedly been running lighter than most of his victims (except Trulli, who stopped two laps sooner even than the Spyker), but that didn't detract from his performance in the slightest.

"Adrian drove a storming race," said Spyker's chief technical officer Mike Gascoyne "It's good to be racing and overtaking some of the works teams and, as a small team and a true constructor, I think we can be very proud of what we have done today."

Some other, more experienced, names were failing to shine. Giancarlo Fisichella started from the pit lane in a Renault with an overtaking-friendly low downforce set-up, but only reached Les Combes on the first lap before sliding into the barrier and doing irreparable damage to his front suspension.

"I braked and the car just didn't slow down," said Fisichella.

Renault engineering boss Pat Symonds suspected that the pit lane start had meant the brakes were insufficiently warm.

Alex Wurz was also having a poor afternoon, spinning from 15th to last at the Bus Stop on lap two. Struggling with fuel pressure problems, the Austrian made little progress, and was even re-passed by Sakon Yamamoto after running wide at Les Combes. Williams hoped that an additional pit stop might cure the fuel pressure issue, but over-fuelling made no difference and Wurz retired from last on lap 34.

The opening stint saw the best of the racing, as the field separated once the strategies played out. Having passed Kovalainen, Heidfeld closed in on Rosberg and Webber, then jumped ahead of both by making his first pit stop four laps later. He duly secured another fifth place.

Rosberg managed to edge away from Webber, but the real challenge for both was to pull out a sufficient gap over the one-stopping Kovalainen. They ultimately managed to do so with several seconds to spare, and came home sixth and seventh.

The result particularly delighted Rosberg, whose fourth successive points finish moved him ahead of teammate Wurz and into ninth in the standings.

"Today we were again the fourth placed team and it really shows that we are making progress from one race to the next," said Rosberg. "A good car allows me to show what I can do."

Kubica didn't have chance to pull quite far enough ahead of Kovalainen before pitting, having lost more time when he rejoined behind Coulthard's one-stopping Red Bull after his first stop. The BMW rapidly closed in on Kovalainen in the final laps and tried myriad passing moves, but to no avail.

"Sometimes you push and get nothing," Kubica admitted.

Eighth place - especially behind a Williams and a Red Bull - was far less than Renault had hoped for, and the one stop strategy was held responsible.

"It felt like I drove half of the race with my mirrors today - and when I had a clear track, the car was too heavy to be able to do the lap times we needed to make our strategy work," said Kovalainen.

"To be honest, with a different strategy, I think we could have achieved a better result today because the car was definitely more competitive than it looked."

Symonds believed Kovalainen had been let down by the team's tactics.

"I think we gave him a hard job to do today," he said. "We took the deliberate decision to go for a different strategy to our rivals and at first sight it appears we didn't take the right option. Nevertheless, he drove a determined, tenacious race, and his defence against Kubica in the faster BMW was exemplary."

Schumacher had a very uneventful run to 10th, finishing 15 seconds ahead of teammate Trulli - whose poor first lap wrecked his two stop strategy. He rejoined 19th after his first stop, but had enough speed to pull away from the one-stoppers after their pit visits.

Coulthard was set to split the Toyotas, but a hydraulic failure eliminated him with 15 laps to go.

Further back, the struggling Hondas spent the race under siege from backmarkers. Button was pressured by Liuzzi for much of the afternoon and was even passed around the outside at Les Combes by Takuma Sato as the lighter two-stopping Super Aguri tried to make up ground before its second stop. Hydraulic problems eventually ended Button's race too, and moved Liuzzi up to a praiseworthy 12th.

Barrichello finished 12 seconds behind the Toro Rosso, only just ahead of the battling Sutil and Sato.

Sebastian Vettel might have joined the giant-killing, had a steering problem not eliminated his Toro Rosso after just eight laps.

Anthony Davidson and Yamamoto completed the finishers. The Briton had started from the pit lane after a last minute set-up change on his Super Aguri, but the car remained off the pace in the race. Yamamoto couldn't emulate teammate Sutil's charge on a similar two stop strategy, but did manage to put Barrichello's heavier Honda under pressure early on.

Race results

44 laps; 308.176km;
Weather: Sunny.

Classified:

Pos  Driver        Team                      Time
 1.  Raikkonen     Ferrari              (B)  1h20:39.066
 2.  Massa         Ferrari              (B)  +     4.695
 3.  Alonso        McLaren-Mercedes     (B)  +    14.343
 4.  Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes     (B)  +    23.615
 5.  Heidfeld      BMW Sauber           (B)  +    51.879
 6.  Rosberg       Williams-Toyota      (B)  +  1:16.876
 7.  Webber        Red Bull-Renault     (B)  +  1:20.639
 8.  Kovalainen    Renault              (B)  +  1:25.106
 9.  Kubica        BMW Sauber           (B)  +  1:25.661
10.  R.Schumacher  Toyota               (B)  +  1:28.558
11.  Trulli        Toyota               (B)  +  1:43.633
12.  Liuzzi        Toro Rosso-Ferrari   (B)  +     1 lap
13.  Barrichello   Honda                (B)  +     1 lap
14.  Sutil         Spyker-Ferrari       (B)  +     1 lap
15.  Sato          Super Aguri-Honda    (B)  +     1 lap
16.  Davidson      Super Aguri-Honda    (B)  +     1 lap
17.  Yamamoto      Spyker-Ferrari       (B)  +     1 lap

Fastest lap: Massa, 1:48.036

Not classified/retirements:

Driver        Team                      On lap
Button        Honda                (B)    37
Wurz          Williams-Toyota      (B)    35
Coulthard     Red Bull-Renault     (B)    30
Vettel        Toro Rosso-Ferrari   (B)    9
Fisichella    Renault              (B)    2


World Championship standings, round 14:

Drivers:                    Constructors:
 1.  Hamilton      97        1.  Ferrari              161
 2.  Alonso        95        2.  BMW Sauber            90
 3.  Raikkonen     84        3.  Renault               39
 4.  Massa         77        4.  Williams-Toyota       28
 5.  Heidfeld      56        5.  Red Bull-Renault      18
 6.  Kubica        33        6.  Toyota                12
 7.  Kovalainen    22        7.  Super Aguri-Honda      4
 8.  Fisichella    17        8.  Honda                  2
 9.  Rosberg       15
10.  Wurz          13
11.  Webber        10
12.  Coulthard      8
13.  Trulli         7
14.  R.Schumacher   5
15.  Sato           4
16.  Button         2
17.  Vettel         1

Team-by-Team

MCLAREN-MERCEDES

After the drama of the FIA verdict and punishments, plus the shocking revelations about Alonso's involvement in the latest developments, McLaren needed a good weekend on the track. Instead they are left breathless in the Ferraris' wake, Alonso and Hamilton qualifying and finishing a distant third and fourth, and become the centre of another row after Alonso's robust defence of third from Hamilton on the first lap.

Kovalainen qualifies 10th on a one-stop fuel load, but the strategy does not work in the race. He jumps to sixth at the start but cannot hold off the lighter cars, and falls back to eighth at the flag. The only bright spot is that he manages to resist the flying Kubica at the end. Fisichella has a disastrous time.

He qualifies 11th then has to change his engine and falls to the back. He starts from the pit lane in the spare, which is set up for a charge through the field, but only gets to Les Combes on lap one before going off and damaging his suspension.

An utterly dominant weekend sees Raikkonen leading two of the three practice sessions, taking pole and dominating the race. Massa has an awful start to the meeting - crashing on his first flying lap on Friday. He recovers to qualify second, and finishes in the same position after being slightly outpaced by Raikkonen.

Honda's recent progress is not much in evidence at Spa, where both drivers - particularly Barrichello - struggle for speed all weekend. Button qualifies 14th, Barrichello 18th. They run one stop strategies and end up racing amongst the Spykers, Super Aguris and Toro Rossos, with Barrichello fending off Sutil and Sato for 13th, and Button retiring from a potential 12th with hydraulic problems.

Now assured of second in the constructors' championship, BMW are off their usual pace in practice but improve in qualifying, with Kubica fifth and Heidfeld seventh. But an engine failure on Saturday morning means Kubica must take a ten place grid penalty.

He charges hard in the race on a two stop strategy, but loses too much time behind one stoppers and cannot overcome Kovalainen for eighth in the closing stages. Heidfeld falls to eighth when he runs wide at the first corner. But he overtakes Kovalainen, then jumps both Rosberg and Webber by going four laps further before his first stop. He then pulls away to finish fifth.

Fifth and sixth in second practice bodes well for Trulli and Schumacher, but it proves to be the highlight of their weekend. The two-stopping Trulli qualifies ninth, but loses ground at the start and is stuck behind one-stoppers - teammate Schumacher included - for much of the afternoon.

He does well to recover from 19th after his first stop to 11th at the flag. Schumacher is 12th fastest in qualifying, gains places from Kubica and Fisichella's engine penalty, then has a quiet race to 10th.

A good weekend for Webber, who is eighth-fastest in qualifying then has a very competitive race. He loses out to Kovalainen at the first corner but soon repasses the heavy Renault, before chasing Rosberg for the rest of the afternoon.

Both are passed by Heidfeld in the first stops, and Webber finishes seventh. Coulthard is halted by hydraulic problems in both Friday practice and the race, although he has a trouble-free qualifying and is 13th fastest. Until he retires on Sunday, he is set to take 11th place after a consistent run on a one stop strategy.

The team are perturbed by a lack of pace on Friday afternoon, but Rosberg is outstanding for the rest of the weekend - qualifying fifth and finishing sixth, having lost out to Heidfeld in the first stops. By contrast, it's a disastrous GP for Wurz.

He is only 16th on the grid and suggests that his post-qualifying complaint about poor straightline speed was probably "just a racing driver's moan." He spins to the tail of the field early on then grapples with a fuel pressure problem that eventually causes his retirement after an extra pit stop fails to cure it.

Liuzzi crashes on Friday morning then has a mechanical problem with the rear of the car in the afternoon. But he then rebounds to qualify 15th and race competitively to 12th, pushing Button hard before a slightly slow second stop splits their battle up.

The Honda then retires anyway, elevating Liuzzi. Vettel is quicker in practice but misses the Q1 cut and has to settle for 17th. A steering problem ends his race early on.

Sutil incurs the team's displeasure by crashing on an in-lap on Friday, but stars in the race. Only 20th in qualifying, a superb charge on a two stop fuel load takes him past the likes of Trulli and Button and into 12th in his first stint.

He finishes 14th, chasing Barrichello. Yamamoto spins and stalls in first practice, then crashes in the third session after a brake failure. He qualifies and finishes last, but continues the progress he showed in Monza, setting some respectable lap times and battling with Barrichello and Wurz.

Sato and Davidson are troubled by abysmal handling in practice. It gets slightly better for Sato, who qualifies 19th and races hard to 15th on a two stop strategy - passing Button with a neat outside line move along the way.

Davidson detects a problem with his car on the way to the grid and starts from the pit lane following a set-up change. He stops just once, struggles for pace throughout, and finishes 16th, half a minute behind his teammate.

Lap-by-Lap

Pre-race: Anthony Davidson (20th) starts from the pits. Giancarlo Fisichella (down from 11th on the grid to 21st in the wake of an unscheduled engine change) is wheeled off the grid to start from the pits, too.

The start of the Belgian Grand Prix © Reuters

Lap 1: Pole position qualifier Kimi Raikkonen sprints away to beat team-mate Felipe Massa into the first turn. Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton run side by side to and through Eau Rouge, before settling into third and fourth.

Nico Rosberg is fifth from Heikki Kovalainen, Mark Webber, Nick Heidfeld, Ralf Schumacher, David Coulthard, Jarno Trulli, Jenson Button, Robert Kubica (relegated from fifth to 14th on the grid following an unscheduled engine change), Tonio Liuzzi, Adrian Sutil, Alex Wurz, Rubens Barrichello, Sebastian Vettel, Takuma Sato, Sakon Yamamoto and Davidson. Fisichella retires to the pits. Raikkonen leads by 1.3s

Lap 2: Raikkonen continues to lead Massa by 1.3s. Kubica passes Button. Sutil passes Liuzzi. Wurz spins at the new chicane and drops to the tail of the field.

Lap 3: Webber passes Kovalainen for sixth. Kubica passes Coulthard and Trulli for 10th. Sutil passes Button for 13th. Vettel passes Barrichello.

Lap 4: Raikkonen extends his lead to 1.7s. Alonso is 1.9s behind Massa. Heidfeld passes Kovalainen. Sato passes Barrichello.

Lap 5: A new benchmark from Raikkonen: 1m48.515s. Kubica passes Schumacher. Sutil passes Trulli.

Lap 6: Raikkonen laps in 1m48.500s. Massa is 2,3s adrift.

Lap 7: Raikkonen goes faster again: 1m48.498s. Vettel pits.

Lap 8: Kubica tries to pass Kovalainen but the Finn holds him off. Vettel pits to retire.

Lap 10: Raikkonen leads Massa by 3.7s and Alonso by 7.9s.

Lap 11: Kubica passes Kovalainen at the final chicane. Wurz passes Davidson.

Lap 12: Raikkonen ups his pace: 1m48.095s. Hamilton is slowly closing on team-mate Alonso.

Lap 13: Alonso starts to edge away from Hamilton again.

Lap 14: Rosberg, Webber and Trulli pit.

Lap 15: Raikkonen, Alonso and Kubica pit. Massa leads from Hamilton.

Fernando Alonso running ahead of Lewis Hamilton © LAT

Lap 16: Massa and Hamilton pit. They rejoin behind their respective team-mates, with Heidfeld, third, separating the Ferraris and McLarens. Sutil pits, too.

Lap 17: Sutil runs wide at Les Combes. Hamilton does likewise at the final chicane. Yamamoto pits.

Lap 18: Heidfeld pits.

Lap 20: Raikkonen leads Massa by 4.5s, Alonso by 15.0s and Hamilton by 17.5s. Schumacher pits. The closest on-track battle is between Coulthard and Kubica, for 10th.

Lap 21: Sato and Wurz pit.

Lap 22: Kovalainen pits. Barrichello runs wide at the last chicane.

Lap 23: Wurz runs wide over a kerb and loses a place to Yamamoto.

Lap 24: Button and Liuzzi pit.

Lap 25: Coulthard and Davidson pit.

Lap 26: Raikkonen is 4.9s clear of Massa, 18.9s clear of Alonso. Davidson runs wide at Les Combes. Barrichello pits.

Lap 27: With everyone having pitted, Raikkonen leads Massa, Alonso, Hamilton, Heidfeld, Rosberg, Webber, Kubica, Kovalainen, Schumacher, Trulli, Coulthard, Sutil, Button, Sato, Liuzzi, Barrichello, Yamamoto, Wurz and Davidson.

Lap 30: Rosberg and Sutil pit. Coulthard stops to retire.

Lap 31: Raikkonen pits. Massa leads. Sato passes Button at Les Combes. Yamamoto pits.

Lap 32: Massa pits. Alonso leads temporarily. Wurz pits.

Lap 33: Alonso pits, as do Kubica and Sato.

Chris Dyer, Felipe Massa, Kimi Raikkonen, Fernando Alonso © Reuters

Lap 34: Massa posts a 1m48.036s. Heidfeld pits. Wurz comes in again, this time to retire.

Lap 36: Button retires to the pits.

Lap 37: Hamilton pits. He rejoins fourth, behind Alonso.

Lap 38: Raikkonen leads Massa by 3.1s, Alonso by 17.2s and Hamilton by 23.6s.

Lap 43: Hamilton runs wide at Pouhon and loses three seconds.

Lap 44: Raikkonen wins by 4.6s from Massa, Alonso, Hamilton, Heidfeld, Rosberg, Webber, Kovalainen, Kubica, Schumacher and Trulli. Liuzzi, Barrichello. Sutil, Sato, Davidson and Yamamoto are lapped.