Belgian Grand Prix: Rate the race
30th August 2009, 14:34 by Keith Collantine 86 Comments »
Kimi Raikkonen returns to the top step of the podium, Giancarlo Fisichella grabs a first point – and seven more – for Force India, and Rubens Barrichello finishes seventh in a bonfire.
What did you think of the Belgian Grand Prix? Rate the race and leave a comment below.
Rate the 2009 Belgian Grand Prix out of ten
- 1 - Terrible (15 Votes)
- 2 - Rubbish (13 Votes)
- 3 - Boring (27 Votes)
- 4 - Often tedious (16 Votes)
- 5 - A bit dull (54 Votes)
- 6 - Not bad (169 Votes)
- 7 - Good (528 Votes)
- 8 - Great (662 Votes)
- 9 - Fantastic (499 Votes)
- 10 - Perfect (288 Votes)
Total Voters: 2,271
Loading ...
Meander said on 30th August 2009, 14:40
“SAFETY CAR COSTS FISICHELLA WIN!”
Right?
Neil Vear-Smyth said on 30th August 2009, 15:38
I disagree, didn’t anyone elase notice that Kimi gained unfair advantage overtaking 3 cars while off track ???
gabal said on 30th August 2009, 16:46
It is legal to go wide in first turn – especially as he did it to avoid the accident.
sato113 said on 30th August 2009, 18:12
what accident? he was never in danger! by going off he got loads of momentum and speed.
slr said on 30th August 2009, 18:34
The BMWs and Trulli were all together and Kimi went off the track to avoid a collision. Anyway going the track puts dirt on your tyres so doesn’t give you any advantage.
gabal said on 30th August 2009, 20:43
2 BMW’s and Toyota were occupying the whole track, he had nowhere to turn but to go wide – he had to pass more distance on inferior asphalt layer. Besides, Button and Badoer used it too few second after him. And if I recall correctly Hamilton did the same thing in 2007 and wasn’t penalised even though he got ahead of Alonso that way. Here is the video to refresh memory.
Cassio said on 31st August 2009, 1:23
He was very smart indeed… I bet he had planned that before the start
Zaphod said on 30th August 2009, 16:35
No, not at all! What ever makes you say that?
MiguelPT said on 30th August 2009, 21:29
Great race not fantastic because the brits lost their 2 drivers that was evident when bbc Jonathan Legard shut his mouth finnaly
MiguelPT said on 30th August 2009, 21:31
Great race not fantastic because lewis and jenson were out 1st lap that would make the race even better
MiguelPT said on 30th August 2009, 22:51
kimi drove to relaxed last year and this year its a fact but now after the resing he really improved still he doesnt looks happy massa is moree passioned about it he races always for 1st theres no doubt that ferrari team is great kimi is one of the best in my opinion ferrari doenst need that spanish is too arrogant
MiguelPT said on 30th August 2009, 22:57
nobody can say that fisi would have won fisi matched kimis pace still with the turbulence effect but this is a very low downforce circuit so the turbulence shouldnt make the same effect considering the more speed more force needed and more produced to keep the car rolling with grip its easier to follow somebody adjust the breaking times and power we can talk alot but we cant prove. go ferrari
Steve_P said on 30th August 2009, 14:41
Two laps in had more overtaking than all of Valencia. Ferrari back in top and what a great day for Force India. This was a great race!!!!
MiguelPT said on 30th August 2009, 22:58
agreed valencia looked like a desert
Max should resign now!!! said on 30th August 2009, 14:46
I only gave the race a 9 because I wanted Fisi to win!
Ned Flanders said on 30th August 2009, 15:27
I enjoyed that race. because Fisichella was up there, and because there were a few overtaking moves. But i think everyone who thought that was perfect are gettiing carried away. In reality the second half was a bit processional, and if it wasn’t for the Fisichella factor we might be saying it wasn’t that great
pSynrg said on 30th August 2009, 17:11
Huh? That’s like saying any race is only ever any good because of the action in the race.
sato113 said on 30th August 2009, 18:14
a race is good because of the amount of action in a race.
Ned Flanders said on 30th August 2009, 19:27
No… What I’m saying is there wasn’t much action at all, it was just cars following each other without being able to overtake, and it just so happened that one of the cars at the front of the procession was a Force India
ajokay said on 30th August 2009, 14:52
Voted 7/10. Was expecting more from a Belgian Grand Prix, but I guess I should really stop getting my hopes up before every race. So by this season’s standards, it wasn’t at all bad.
Nice to see the 6th different winner in 6 races, overjoyed to see Giancarlo up on the podium, but the restart cost him the lead.
Listening to Seb in the press conference though… closed my eyes, and found it very spooky how much he sounds like Michael.
sumedh said on 30th August 2009, 14:52
Last 6 races:
Button: 21 points
Rubens: 21 points
Vettel: 30 points
Webber: 32 points
Kimi: 25 points
Rosberg: 23 points
Lewis: 18 points
Massa: 14 points (only raced in 3 of them)
Can you make out who exactly is fighting for the championship from this?
ivz said on 30th August 2009, 15:05
How insane would the season be if it started from the last 6 races! lol
Webber would not be too happy with the last 2 races.
Ned Flanders said on 30th August 2009, 15:28
Yeah it would be great. I believe they do that in Nascar
Giant21 said on 30th August 2009, 15:36
Great race, solid race for Kimi and congrats for Fisi. Being a brazilian, I hope Massa returns as quickly as possible before Kimi returns to full speed lol
As for the championships, Button needs to calm down, the tile is his and he has luck with him, the other drivers swapping the other four positions the difference has yet to go down to 10 points. A few sixth places will already help him enough in the season, but he needs to keep it cool.
As for the Renault controversey, if it is true it will be another sad story for the sport but won’t “rock its foundations” as the brazilian commentator emphatically put it. For one, it’s too old, and second, this is probably nothing really new in the realm of cheating…
rmac923 said on 30th August 2009, 14:56
Over 100 votes, no one gave the race a 5 or Lower. Spa almost always delivers. And Bernie wants to axe Belgium…
BTW, 8 for me.
Andy said on 30th August 2009, 16:33
Bernie always wants to axe everything just to announce the week after that that it doesn’t get axed. It’s all for publicity, nothing else.
chaostheory said on 30th August 2009, 14:57
Let’s see: great battles at start, crash, safety car, great strategy battles in pits, a drive through penalty, late Vettel charge for podium, overtaking, leaders separated by ~1 sec almost through entire race… and all this on classic SPA. Perfect race! It would be even more interesting to see Alonso having his battle with Kubica; where would be Vettel in that situation?
)
I vote for SPA to hold 17 races in season! get rid of all those Tilke tracks! (ok ok leave Monza in calendar too
rfs said on 30th August 2009, 15:05
Don’t forget Interlagos and Suzuka.
mp4-19b said on 30th August 2009, 15:06
Restart definitely cost Fisi the race. Hope he makes for it with a win in monza, in a FORCE INDIA. I was really hoping for kimi to mess it up, but unfortunately it didn’t happen. People actually call the Brawn success a fairy tale, actually it isn’t. Brawn were spoon feed by Honda. Its Force India that deserves all the accolades. Vujay Mallya must be a proud man. I hope they keep up the momentum for the rest of the season. I’m really desperate for the Indian national Anthem to be played on the podium. This is no mean achievement, Force India have challenged the most successful team of all time at arguably the mother of all circuits. I really hope they win at monza.
Mark Hitchcock said on 30th August 2009, 15:18
You say that about Brawn being spoon fed by Honda, and the media do make too much of Brawn being a “new” team. But imagine if this was Honda doing as well as Brawn did, we’d still be just as surprised. They were cruising around at the back with Force India for the last few years.
Obviously the difference is that Force India don’t have the sort of funds that Honda had so this is a proper fairy tale.
8 – great from me for this race. Wasn’t quite as much action as I was expecting from Spa but the battle for the lead was engrossing throughout the race, there were a few more battles down the pack, there was a crash and obviously Force India were amazing.
Can’t wait to see how well they do in Monza!
rfs said on 30th August 2009, 15:21
I think it’ll be Ferrari vs McLaren at Monza. The heavy braking zones and long straights should make the KERS cars fastest there.
Mark Hitchcock said on 30th August 2009, 15:23
True, but the Force Indias have been fastest through the speed traps in most of the races this year so they’ll be challenging for the top 5 at least I think.
DanThorn said on 30th August 2009, 15:30
I can only really think that KERS would be effective out of the first chicane there too. All the other corners seem to me to be either too close together or too fast for it to be really effective.
sandro said on 30th August 2009, 15:14
Guys, there is a new thread, and due to the gravity of the information, you should check it out.
http://www.forumula1.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=6979
Scandal envolving Briatore and Renault
by iFuel » 30 Aug 09, 14:05
Okay.. this is old news.. but it’s an interesting one..
The Globo television network, from Brazil reported about a scandal involving Briatore and Renault in the Singapore GP last year..
Everybody remembers how Alonso was aiming the first row on qualifying.. but then he got only 15th place…
Alonso went to pits on 12th lap.. then in the lap were the race leaders from McLaren and Ferrari were going to pit.. Piquet crashed in a strange way on lap 14..
Well.. everybody knows that… but here is the news… supposedly Nelson Piquet’s crash was intentional and ordered by Flavio Briatore, and thath was the true reason why Piquet senior was present at every GP before Piquet Jr. get kicked by Flav…
The brazilian journalist Reginaldo Leme (the most respected brazilian formula 1 journalist) stated that FIA is already investigating, and hired an independent company to procceed with the investigations, according to him, this scandal will broke later this week (he probably said everything to get a scoop)…
Dunno if this is all true.. I’m waiting to see
But if it is, all my respect for Renaul, Briatore and Alonso (which is almost non-existant) will be gone forever….
ALERT: All this story should be taken with a grain of salt since nothing is confirmed.. I will try to get update on this news soon as I can
Sorry for rough englishiFuel
Posts: 3
Joined: 27 Jul 09, 08:23
E-mail iFuel
sumedh said on 30th August 2009, 15:48
Is this Nelson Piquet still going on and on against Flavio and Renault?
Keith Collantine said on 30th August 2009, 16:52
Thanks for the tip – have written about it here: http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/2009/08/30/nelson-piquet-jnr-fernando-alonso-renault-conspiracy-claim/
Gusto said on 30th August 2009, 15:17
I must of been watching a different race, that was without doubt one of the most boring races Ive ever seen, if you take the Fisi/Kimi fight out it was as exciting as watching paint dry. Thank God I could keep swicthing channels to watch BTCC at Silverstone to get some real racing. Is F1 a sport?, Iam wondering is it even entertaining.
Mark Hitchcock said on 30th August 2009, 15:22
You definitely must have been watching a different race :s
There were battles down the pack and an exciting battle for the lead. They may not have gone wheel to wheel for the lead but Kimi and Fisi were both driving the wheels off the car and trading lap times a tenth of a second apart throughout the race.
That’s about as exciting as a dry F1 race gets these days.
Alianora La Canta said on 30th August 2009, 16:34
Gusto was watching a different race – the one in the midfield (which I will concede was not exactly thrill-a-minute after the first few laps). The race was basically all in the top 5 places.
Though for me the way the top 5 went at it made up for the other 9 who finished (which is why I’ve still given the race a 9).
DanThorn said on 30th August 2009, 15:18
What a race! 9 from me, would have been a 10 if Fisi had won it! Bloody KERS. Leaves you to wonder where Ferrari would be if Massa was still racing, as he arguably had the better of Raikkonen up until his accident.
Nick said on 30th August 2009, 15:23
no, Massa didn’t. kimi scored, first points and podium. Massa was also outqualified by Kimi as well.
DanThorn said on 30th August 2009, 15:37
That doesn’t tell the whole story though, as Kimi’s form was patchy in the races. Yes, he tended to qualify well but Massa was having the consistently better performances. Moving through the pack brilliantly in China, fastest lap in Monaco and a series of strong points finishes up to Hungary.
Perhaps Kimi is happier without a competitive team mate or perhaps it’s to do with what he’s doing next year, but Kimi has been driving well in the last few races.
Indranil Dudhane said on 30th August 2009, 15:54
Kind of agree!Kimi has really stepped up but for some reason I feel the feeling of not having to race and be beaten by Massa has had an effect on Kimi driving.
Kimi before Massa’s accident:
9 Races 10 Points
After:
3 Races 24 Points
Nick said on 30th August 2009, 16:26
Well, in Kimis DNFS Massa picked up 9 points. Massas DNFS, Kimi didnt picked up 0. Monaco? Kimi finished ahead. Also, turkey Massa chopped Kimi at the start costing him 1-2 places.
Massa had better strategy at Silverstone and Kimi got stuck behind trulli.
Anyways, I think without Rob Smedley in the fix against Kimi, he is doing much better.
PINTOJ said on 2nd September 2009, 20:04
Or perhaps MS and company have switched alliances now that MASSA’s car is going in
reverse.
David A said on 30th August 2009, 16:38
Before the Hungarian Grand Prix, Felipe had 22 points to Kimi’s 10.
Nick said on 30th August 2009, 16:53
take away the points Massa gained from Kimi’s DNFS, you’ve got …13-10.
theo said on 30th August 2009, 16:25
exactly, you dont know what your talking about really. Kimi drove a great race, accept it dude
William Wilgus said on 30th August 2009, 15:19
Way to go, Jense!
AJT said on 30th August 2009, 15:20
well done to kimi, pretty solid once he got past, but congrats to fisi, excellent race i am sure both force india fans and non fans be impressed, great ending too with rubens, i rated 8, just would have liked to see lewis and jenson be more invovled in the race i doubt they would have been top 3, but between 3-8 would have been even greater race – well done force india.
Ninad said on 30th August 2009, 15:20
10
LC Coelho said on 30th August 2009, 15:23
nice overtakings….
what the hell happens to RB on starts??
congrats to Fisi and Force India…
and i loved the rumors on the last post! and yeah, reginaldo leme is a guy who know stuff (and has contacts).
another rumor: here in canada, the comentator said he was watching the italian tv (i believe it’s RAI) and they said that fisi will run for ferrari the next GP (monza). any news about it?
Mark Hitchcock said on 30th August 2009, 15:25
Brundle said that as well, must have been from the same source.
Everyone in Fisi’s camp are still saying Ferrari haven’t been in contact though.