Schumacher climbed 19 places to finish fifth

Michael Schumacher became the seventh different driver to be voted Driver of the Weekend this year.

Championship leader and seven-times race winner Sebastian Vettel is still not among them.

Schumacher had a substantial margin over closest contenders Jenson Button and Vettel in the voting:

Driver of the Belgian Grand Prix Weekend poll – top three

1. Michael Schumacher – 45.1%
2. Jenson Button – 28.2%
3. Sebastian Vettel – 14.7%

The results may suggest that the choice was easy, but the comments show many of the F1 Fanatic readers struggled to choose one driver only:

It’s just so tough again to vote on this. We had Bruno Senna and Jaime Alguersuari doing a superb job in qualifying, but Senna had his (forgiveable, but still) mistake at the start and just a solid drive to bring it home after that. And Alguersuari never got a chance even at that much.

Mark Webber made a sure candidate for the pass of the year, but he just cannot seem to get the Red Bull off the line. Lewis Hamilton started off well, with some nice moves and keeping out of trouble, only for it to end in a collision that needn’t have happened.

Schumacher was really great, lets hope we see him and Mercedes like this more often now (didn’t we say that earlier in his second career as well?). Surely a serious contender for driver of the weekend.

Nico Rosberg made a great start, but got caught by the horribly chosen DRS zone placement. He did his best, but not superb.

Button has a stellar drive, comparable with Canada but this time in the dry and not making a single mistake on his part. And some of his passes were really excellent and gutsy. This is the Button we want to see each weekend. Even the qualifying thing was not really his mistake, so he is a serious contender.

Vettel did a qualifying stunt once again, he was not perfect off the line, but he did get Rosberg with fine employment of DRS as soon as it was there.

He had the safety car exactly come to him and solve his pit stop dilemma for him, and then he made an excellent pass on Alonso before DRS got enabled again (passing Webber on the go somewhere). And he did pass Rosberg again after his first pit stop.
BasCB

Was torn between Button and Schumacher, But Jenson had it for me this weekend. I thought it was a great race with some brilliant performances from loads of drivers. Viva F1!
Trenthamfolk

Michael Schumacher

Schumacher’s 20th anniversary race weekend did not start well as he lost his wheel in Q1 on Saturday and was forced to start the race from the back of the grid.

But he produced a great recovery drive to finish fifth – one place ahead of his team mate.

His performance impressed F1 Fanatic readers so much that he gathered nearly half of the votes in the poll and over three times as many as Vettel. Here are some of your comments justifying the choice of Schumacher as the Driver of the Belgian Grand Prix Weekend:

Hard to do much better than start 24th and last and end up 5th and ahead of your team mate who started 5th.
snowman

Easily Schumacher. Did not put a foot wrong all weekend, whereas Vettel has struggled until Q2 as he admitted, and Button managed not to see the green lights in a critical moment which could well cost him a victory. [...]

It was Schumacher who ran the show on Sunday, I think. Impeccable drive.
Atticus

Jenson Button

Button recovered from an early setback to claim a podium

Button was another driver who was forced to fight his way through the field on Sunday. After a tactical error in qualifying, he started the race 13th, but despite some damage to his car, he managed to secure a podium finish.

Many F1 Fanatic readers found his performance impressive:

I voted for Button as the qualifying error was purely down to bad communication. He had shown some good pace in qualifying before that.

His race was fantastic to follow and he really showed his overtaking skills with many gutsy moves. I was really impressed with the way he attacked the race, it was more like a Hamilton drive rather than Button.
smifaye

Both Schumacher and Button deserve but I voted the later as he showed that he can be a aggressive driver when required and unlike his team mate he is calm and cool.
wasiF1

Sebastian Vettel

Vettel kept on top of tyre trouble to score his seventh win of 2011

The winner of the Belgian Grand Prix took third place in the poll for the Driver of the Weekend.

Vettel clinched yet another pole position on Saturday. Despite blistering tyres he delivered a flawless performance on Sunday with some great passes to win the Belgian Grand Prix for the first time in his career.

The Red Bull pilot won over many fans with his drive:

I never voted for Vettel before but this weekend he showed all his abilities as well as being as clinical as ever. He definitely gets my vote. [...]

Vettel was forced to perform some magic this weekend under huge pressure and he made it look easy.
MW

I too was torn between Button and Schumacher, so I voted for… Vettel. This didn’t seem like a race that was handed to him by any means, he had to defend a bit, he had to pass (more than he usually does).
socalf1fan

I’m also going to be unpopular and say Vettel. He deserves a DOTW but unfortunately a drive through the field is seen as a much better drive than winning from pole.

Still, he didn’t have it easy. He ended up making 3 passes for the lead, one of which wasn’t DRS on Alonso who had better straight line speed. His move on Rosberg was also brilliant.
TommyB89

I’m saying Vettel too. Everyone else had something go wrong at some point, whether it was their fault or someone else’s.

Vettel didn’t, and managed this odd blistering situation fairly well, winning having scored pole. Plus he did some overtaking.
ajokay

2011 Driver of the Weekend results so far

It was Schumacher’s first win in the Driver of the Weekend poll.

The result also mean that the championship dominant leader, Sebastian Vettel, is still yet to win driver of the weekend. However he has appeared in the top three eight times, more than any other driver.

Do you agree with the results so far? Have your say in the comments section below.

2011 Belgian Grand Prix

• Rate the race result: 2011 Belgian Grand Prix
• In the Paddock Club and in the stands at Spa
• Leimer's crash and in the pits at McLaren - fans' videos from Spa
• 2011 Belgian Grand Prix: complete race review
• Vote for your Belgian GP driver of the weekend
• Red Bull: Newey relieved after "scariest race ever"
• McLaren: Button hit by debris in first-lap scare
• Ferrari: Harder tyres still the car's weakness
• Mercedes: Schumacher climbs 19 places to fifth
• Renault: Petrov buoyed by R31 upgrades

Image © Mercedes

Nigel Mansell, Carlos Reutemann, Jacques Laffite, Zolder, 1981

F1 counted the cost of a tragic and shambolic weekend at Zolder 30 years ago today.

Osella mechanic Giovanni Amadeo lost his life in an accident during practice. And viewers looked on in horror as the race began as another mechanic, Dave Luckett, was still on the grid, and was struck by one of his team’s cars.

The row over ‘ground effect’

The 1981 season began with the FIA fighting a battle with many teams over ‘ground effect’ aerodynamics.

The sport’s governing body wanted to ban the skirts used to generate increasingly high cornering speeds. Rules had been drawn up stating the gap between bodywork and road must be no less than six centimetres with suspension at its lowest point.

But by the time of the fifth race of the year at Zolder in Belgium, the reality was virtually every car on the grid failed to conform to the new regulations. Most passed the scrutineers’ checks in the pit but were clearly illegal on track.

A ban on skirts, if successful, would put greater emphasis on engine power to the detriment of those teams using customer Cosworth V8s, such as Lotus, Williams and Brabham. These teams, under the banner of the Formula One Constructors Association (FOCA), wanted to ban the immensely powerful and expensive turbo engines which had been introduced by Renault and, for the first time in 1981, by Ferrari.

Beneath all of this lay a power struggle for control of the sport between the FIA, led by Jean-Marie Balestre, and FOCA, led by Brabham team owner Bernie Ecclestone. The FIA were siding with the manufacturer-run teams in an attempt to topple Ecclestone.

Giovanni Amadeo

Alan Jones, Williams, Zolder, 1981

The narrow pit lane at Zolder had long been criticised. Team managers and mechanics perched on a thin ledge while timing their cars and holding out pit signals. A few weeks before the 1981 race, its organisers announced that new pits and a wider pit lane would be built for 1982.

During Friday afternoon practice, Giovanni Amadeo was struck by Carlos Reutemann’s Williams in the pit-lane. He slipped from the ledge by the outer pit wall, and fell into Reutemann’s path.

The other half of the pit lane was taken up by parked race cars, mechanics and a sea of hangers-on. Reutemann had no time to brake and no room for him to swerve in avoidance.

Amadeo suffered a double skull fracture and, though attempts to resuscitate him in the ambulance were successful, he was not expected to survive. The sad announcement came after the race weekend had finished.

The order after Friday’s official session was Reutemann, Piquet, Pironi, Patrese, Watson, Jones, Villeneuve, Cheever, Laffite and Mansell. Saturday’s rain storm made this the grid.

1981 Belgian Grand Prix grid

Dave Luckett

On Sunday things started to go wrong just before 3 o’clock – at which time the race was scheduled to go live to the world.

After the drivers arrived at the grid, many climbed from their cars in protest with the aim of delaying the start. The drivers were unhappy with the organisers’ refusal to listen to their requests the day before for the maximum number of cars allowed to take part in qualifying to be reduced from 30 to 26. This refusal was the final straw and mechanics and some team owners promptly joined them on track.

The delay and ensuing confusion caused many drivers to become agitated and engines began to overheat. By the time all the cars were on the gird, Ricardo Patrese’s Arrows had stalled and he began to wave his arms in warning to those behind him.

In a scene of pure horror, his mechanic Dave Luckett jumped down onto the track to help start the car just as the race was about to start.

Cars dodged around the stricken Arrows until, in a horrible coincidence, Patrese’s team mate Siegfried Stohr arrived, and ploughed into Patrese and Luckett.

Nigel Mansell witnessed the carnage on track. In his autobiography, he said: “I was right behind them and watched this horror show play out in front of me. I was sure the guy was dead and I thought he’d probably been chopped in half.

“I was numb in the car, my legs wouldn’t work, my arms wouldn’t work and I felt rigid with fear. I felt sick and I was crying my eyes out inside my helmet. I didn’t know what we were doing there. I thought, ‘We’re driving these machines that kill people. That’s two people this weekend’.”

Despite Mansell’s fears, Luckett survived with broken legs.

Autosport’s race reported noted: “It appears there was some confusion among the teams as to whether there would be another orderly, warm up lap, or the start of the race. Whichever, the track was out of bounds when Luckett went to restart Patrese’s car. In fact, the TV cameras clearly showed that Jones, behind the Arrows, was already reacting to the green light before Luckett reached Patrese.”

This video shows what happened:

No signal to stop

Nelson Piquet, Brabham, Zolder, 1981

An ambulance was on the scene within seconds but the race was allowed to continue. Yellow flags were waved but at the end of the second lap, Nelson Piquet was leading by more than ten seconds.

No signal was given for them to stop and it wasn’t until Ferrari’s Didier Pironi slowed down and stopped to applause from the pits, that the organisers were forced to stop the race.

Forty minutes later, when Luckett had been taken to hospital, the cars re-assembled on the gird, minus the two Arrows.

Reutemann led the re-start, but Pironi flew down the inside towards the first corner and was ahead. Piquet and Alan Jones squeezed through but it was short-lived, as Piquet crashed into the catch fencing at the chicane and stormed back to the pits. Jones’ gearbox failed soon after and he ploughed into the barriers and badly burned his thigh when the gearbox oil leaked into the cockpit.

Reutemann regained the lead and kept it until, after 55 laps, rain began to fall and the Belgian Grand Prix was brought to an end. Two-thirds distance had been covered and full championship points were awarded. The rain had stopped by the time the half-hearted presentation took place.

It was Reutemann’s 15th consecutive points finish and his 12th and final victory. It was Mansell’s first podium finish.

In his autobiography, Nigel Mansell says: “It began to rain and as the downpour got heavier the race was cut short. Carlos Reutemann was declared the winner with Jacques Laffite second in the Ligier and I was third. I felt on top of the world. It was an overwhelming experience. The swing of emotion I had experienced in two hours, from the shock and paralysing fear at the start to the ecstasy at the end, was enormous.”

Carlos Reutemann, Williams, Zolder, 1981

His car may have won, but Frank Williams was far from happy. He summed up the fury at the needless injury and bitter wrangling over the technical rules, saying: “Why do people part with money to come in and watch this bloody fiasco any more? Can you give me an answer to that? Because I can’t give you one.

“And I’ll tell you something else. I can’t think of a good reason to persuade my sponsors to stay involved in it, either.

“You can only suppress hypocrisy and lies for so long in this world. Eventually it all bubbles to the surface, and we’ve got it now. We’re paying for the past.”

1981 Belgian Grand Prix results

Were you at this race? Do you remember it? Tell us about it in the comments.

F1 history

• 50 years ago today: F1's worst tragedy at Monza
• "He was on it from the word go" - Schumacher's debut remembered
• Kevin explores Brooklands: the world's first racing circuit
• Williams FW08B: The last six-wheeled F1 car
• 60 years ago today: Ferrari's first F1 win
• McLaren MP4/1: Carbon fibre revolutionary
• Williams FW15C: F1's high-tech pinnacle
• Martin Donnelly gets back in a Lotus 102
• Renault RS01: F1's turbo pioneer
• Ferguson P99: The only four-wheel-drive F1 winner

Spa served up another classic race and could prove a turning point in the world championship as Lewis Hamilton and Mark Webber pulled away from their nearest rivals.

Find all the F1 Fanatic Belgian Grand Prix coverage in one place below – from Friday practice to the post-race review and our live comments on every session.

Race results and reaction

Belgian Grand Prix pictures

Belgian Grand Prix race review – Hamilton wins wet-weather thriller in Spa

Vettel apologises for Button crash – “It was not my intention to destroy his race or mine”

Belgian Grand Prix result – Final classification

Championship points in full – Hamilton takes the lead in the championship again and McLaren move within one point of Red Bull

Alguersuari loses point after penalty – Toro Rosso driver’s penalty promotes Liuzzi

Should Vettel have had a penalty? (Poll) – Vettel got a drive-through for his collision with Button

Race analysis

Who was the best driver of the Belgian Grand Prix weekend? – Vote for the driver who impressed you the most in Spa

Rate the race: Belgium – What did you think of the Belgian Grand Prix?

Belgian Grand Prix analysis – Webber shows starts are still a Red Bull weakness

Belgian Grand Prix fastest laps – Lewis Hamilton set the fastest lap for the third time this year

Belgian Grand Prix pit stops – Red Bull gave Mark Webber the fastest pit stop

Belgian Grand Prix stats and facts – Hamilton’s second lights-to-flag win

Detailed analysis of every team and driver in the Belgian Grand Prix

McLaren race review – Spa chaos claims Button, spares Hamilton
Mercedes race review – Recovery drives
Red Bull race review – Damage limitation for Webber – but not Vettel
Ferrari race review – Ferrari’s practice pace disappears on Sunday
Williams race review – Spa yields nothing
Renault race review – Renault’s latest upgrade gives Kubica a shot at victory
Force India race review – Both cars score
STR race review – No points again
HRT race review – Senna out early
Sauber race review – Points for Kobayashi
Lotus race review – Kovalainen’s bad start
Virgin race review – Unhappy di Grassi

Qualifying

Belgian Grand Prix qualifying
in pictures

Belgian Grand Prix qualifying – Webber pips Hamilton for Spa pole position

Penalty leaves Schumacher 21st – He started from the 11th row for the second time in his career

Alonso urges calm after qualifying tenth – “If there is one track where grid position is less critical than others, then it is this one”

Fuel problem holds Kubica back – Renault driver believed front-row start was possible

Buemi and Glock get grid penalties – Two drivers docked places for impeding

De la Rosa sent to the back of the grid – Sauber driver switches engines

Belgian Grand Prix grid (Updated) – Final grid after five penalties

Belgian GP pre-race analysis – Webber and Hamilton set for Spa showdown

Practice

Belgian Grand Prix practice
in pictures

Alonso quickest in rain at Spa – Few laps in soaked session

FP1 interactive data – Rain makes for little meaningful running at Spa

Alonso fastest again in second session – Ferrari driver fastest on Friday

Webber quickest as rain falls again – Red Bull driver heads part-dry Saturday practice

Live blogs

Belgian Grand Prix Thursday
pictures

How we saw the Belgian Grand Prix as it unfolded:

Belgian Grand Prix live blog
Belgian Grand Prix qualifying live blog
Belgian Grand Prix practice three live blog
Belgian Grand Prix practice two live blog
Belgian Grand Prix practice one live blog

Find coverage of every race this season here: F1 2010 Season

How can we improve our coverage?

What else would you like to see in F1 Fanatic’s Grand Prix coverage? How can we make it better? Please post your suggestions in the comments.

Images (C) www.mclaren.com, Ferrari spa, www.mclaren.com, Red Bull/Getty Images, Williams/LAT

The Belgian Grand Prix is looking very promising with an interesting grid, a chance of rain and, of course, the best circuit in Formula 1.

Both Red Bull drivers will be looking over their shoulder at the McLarens starting right behind them – and Robert Kubica is right in the mix in his upgraded Renault.

We also have the prospect of Fernando Alonso fighting his way up from tenth place. And F1′s most experienced driver has made an interesting call on tyre strategy.

The start

The first corner at Spa has already come under some scrutiny ahead of the race. Drivers have been warned not to try to use the outside of the corner to gain an advantage and the organisers have increased the amount of artificial grass at the corner to discourage drivers from purposefully running wide.

That could be crucial tomorrow as everyone tries to make the best of their advantage to gain places on the opening lap.

That’s especially true of the two championship leaders who share the front row of the grid. Lewis Hamilton knows his best chance to get past Mark Webber will come on the first lap.

Side-by-side passes into Eau Rouge are very hard to pull off – as Hamilton discovered with Fernando Alonso in 2007. His best chance might be to get in Webber’s slipstream on the way out of Eau Rouge and down the Kemmel straight, where he was 3kph faster than the Red Bull driver in practice this morning.

Here’s Webber’s thoughts from the press conference on the opening lap:

Let’s see how the start goes. We don’t know if it’s going to be consistent both sides in terms of grip level, in terms of we’ve seen the right side of the track drying a bit faster than the left side, so if it’s going to be like that then I should get away OK, but if it’s even across both sides in terms of wet or dry then I’m probably expecting Lewis to be pretty close but it’s nothing unusual.

We’ve been there before and we will try and do our best. I don’t think tomorrow’s grand prix will be won and lost on the first lap, to be honest.
Mark Webber

Likewise Jenson Button will be eyeing up an opportunity to demote Sebastian Vettel who starts one place in front of him.

And that’s not to overlook Robert Kubica, who is revelling in his R30 that is now equipped with an F-duct, and Felipe Massa, who has made several uncompromising moves on the first lap this year.

Recent races suggest that neither side of this grid offers a particular advantage. It probably helps that track is frequently washed clean by rain.

The atypical pole position slot is on the inside line for the first corner. In the three F1 races since this part of the track was re-configured the pole sitter has held his position every time.

Fighting from the back

Belgian Grand Prix qualifiyng
in pictures

Alonso is not exactly at the back but he is certainly out of position. From tenth on the grid he is in danger of falling prey to the kind of first-lap mayhem that ended Hamilton and Button’s races last year.

A key target for the Ferrari driver on the first lap is the Force India of Adrian Sutil starting directly in front of him. That car has proved difficult to pass even for the likes of McLaren and Red Bull in races this year.

There are several drivers at the back who should make progress forward – Kamui Kobayashi, Michael Schumacher, Pedro de la Rosa and Vitaly Petrov in 17th, 21st, 22nd and 24th respectively. This should make for an interesting comparison of their overtaking abilities.

Conversely, Heikki Kovalainen starts from Lotus’s best qualifying position this year, 13th. With a little bit of attrition this race could be their best chance of scoring points.

The weather

The skies of Spa have kept the teams guessing all weekend. Showers materialise quickly near the track and the lap is long, meaning a wrong decision on which tyres to use can be very costly.

Some teams may find themselves running short of intermediate tyres if the conditions are persistently damp. They are only allocated four sets at the start of the weekend (and three sets of full wets) and regular rainfall has kept the shallow-cut wet tyres in demand.

Since the beginning of the year teams have found Bridgestone’s new-specification intermediate tyre wears out very quickly. That was clearly illustrated in Shanghai when drivers had to make stops for fresh intermediate tyres.

Inevitably there are rumours that some drivers have set their cars up with wet weather conditions in mind. Nico Rosberg has said his team had “decided to go for more of a rain set-up” but his team mate is believed to have gone the other way.

Barrichello’s gamble

Assuming the race stays dry, we’ll see the top ten drivers start on soft tyres with one exception – Rubens Barrichello.

This is an interesting move and could be based on a gamble that rain will fall late in the race, allowing Barrichello to avoid having to make a pit stop to change slick tyres before then. In which case, drivers in front of Barrichello who start on soft tyres will not want to make their pit stop until they have enough of a gap to come out ahead of him – 18 seconds at the very least.

The Brazilian driver starts from seventh on the grid and those around him will be hoping he fluffs the start as he did here last year. If he doesn’t, he could be in for a very good result in his 300th Grand Prix.

What do you think will happen in the Belgian Grand Prix? Will Hamilton pass Webber at the start? Where will Alonso and Schumacher climb to? Have your say in the comments.

2010 Belgian Grand Prix

• Technical review: Belgian Grand Prix
• From the stands: Carol Treurnicht watches the Belgian GP at Spa
• Liuzzi: "I'd have passed Alguersuari easily"
• Button denies braking early in Vettel crash
• Hamilton "wasn't pushing" when he went off
• 2010 Belgian Grand Prix - the complete F1 Fanatic race weekend review
• Who was the best driver of the Belgian Grand Prix weekend?
• Damage limitation for Webber - but not Vettel (Red Bull race review)
• Ferrari's practice pace disappears on Sunday (Ferrari race review)
• Renault's latest upgrade gives Kubica a shot at victory (Renault race review)

Image (C) Williams/LAT

Discounted British Grand Prix tickets are selling quickly

Buying F1 tickets isn’t cheap but you can get the best deals if you book quickly. Tracks are offering discounts of up to 20% if you buy your tickets within the next few weeks.

Bahrain, Sepang, Catalunya, Silverstone and Spa are all offering discounts for their 2010 F1 races. Here’s where the best bargains can be found and when they run out.

Bahrain Grand Prix – Bahrain

If you’re planning to go to the F1 season opener you’ve got until the end of the month to get a 15% discount on any ticket purchase.

Buy tickets from Bahrain International Circuit

Going to the 2010 Bahrain Grand Prix? Chat with other F1 fans who are going here: 2010 Bahrain Grand Prix discussion

Malaysian Grand Prix – Sepang

Sepang’s special offer also runs out at the end of the year. They’re offering 50% off the price of a second ticket, but it only applies to certain stands.

Buy tickets from Sepang International Circuit

Going to the 2010 Malaysian Grand Prix? Chat with other F1 fans who are going here: 2010 Malaysian Grand Prix discussion

Spanish Grand Prix – Circuit de Catalunya

The Spanish Grand Prix organisers offer two discount periods, with a 20% price reduction available to those who booked before November 30th.

That deadline has passed but you still have until February 28th to get a 10% discount on your booking.

Buy tickets from the Circuit de Catalunya

Going to the 2010 Spanish Grand Prix? Chat with other F1 fans who are going here: 2010 Spanish Grand Prix discussion

British Grand Prix – Silverstone

In the 24 hours since the 2010 British Grand Prix was confirmed 6,500 tickets with a total value of £1.2m were sold. With two British world champions driving for the same team expect the race to be another sell-out.

It’s not clear when their ‘early bird’ discounts end, so if you want to be at next year’s British Grand Prix it’s best to get in there while you can:

25% off Friday and Saturday tickets

Although the site says discounts of up to 20% are available, single tickets for Friday and Saturday appear to be offered at a 25% discount.

10-15% off Sunday tickets

The biggest discounts are on the Gold grandstands (Pits straight, Becketts and Vale) plus the uncovered Silver stands.

10-20% off three-day tickets

Get one-fifth off the price of a three-day general admission ticket. It won’t reserve you a seat, but you can sometimes buy low-cost upgrades on Fridays and Saturday if you get there early enough.

Buy tickets from Silverstone

Going to the 2010 British Grand Prix? Chat with other F1 fans who are going here: 2010 British Grand Prix discussion

Belgian Grand Prix – Spa

All the weekend tickets are discounted by around 9-10% until the end of January. A maximum saving of €55 (£49.60) is available, though of course that’s on the dearest tickets.

Buy tickets from Spa

Going to the 2010 Belgian Grand Prix? Chat with other F1 fans who are going here: 2010 Belgian Grand Prix discussion

Tickets are not yet on sale for every Grand Prix on the calendar so please post in the comments if you spot any other deals on offer and if you find any not mentioned here.

Are you buying F1 tickets for next year soon? Or have you bought them already and got a discount? Leave a comment below.

Read more: 2010 F1 calendar

Tommy got some great pictures at F1's greatest racing circuit

Regular commenter TommyB was at the Belgian Grand Prix and snapped an impressive collection of pictures over the weekend.

See below for shots of Kimi Raikkonen passing Giancarlo Fisichella for the lead – and the win, as it would turn out – plus those limited edition Michael Schumacher caps, and something Fernando Alonso won’t want to see…

To see more of Tommy’s pictures, and to upload pictures of Grands Prix you’ve been to, visit the F1 Fanatic drop.io.

Check out more fan pictures from Snoopy at the Australian Grand Prix and Guio Oblepias at the Malaysian Grand Prix this year.

More Belgian Grand Prix pictures

• Belgian Grand Prix in pictures
• Giancarlo Fisichella scores first points for Force India in Spa (pictures)
• Belgian Grand Prix qualifying in pictures
• Belgian Grand Prix practice in pictures

Kimi Raikkonen has now won 18 F1 races

OK, we all know about Force India’s first points.

But which driver reached his points century at Spa? And which are the only two drivers to win more Belgian Grands Prix than Kimi Raikkonen? Here are the facts and stats from yesterday’s race.

Kimi Raikkonen won his first Grand Prix in 26 races – his last win as at last year’s Spanish Grand Prix.

It was his fourth win in the Belgian Grand Prix, all of which have come in the last five races at the track. He was also leading last year’s race before crashing out with two laps to go.

Only two other drivers have won the Belgian Grand Prix more than four times: Michael Schumacher (six) and Ayrton Senna (five). All of those were on the modern Spa circuit. Jim Clark also won the Belgian Grand Prix four times from 1962-1965 on the old, 14.1km circuit.

It was Raikkonen’s 18th win. He has more than any other driver in F1 today bar Fernando Alonso, who has 21.

Sebastian Vettel set the fastest lap, the second of his career, in addition to the one he scored at Silverstone.

It was a huge weekend for Force India. On Saturday Giancarlo Fisichella gave them their first ever pole position. Before then their best qualifying position had been seventh, set by Adrian Sutil at the Nürburgring this year.

The last time this outfit started from pole position was in the European Grand Prix at the Nürburgring in 1999, when Heinz-Harald Frentzen put Jordan at the front of the grid.

In the race of course, they scored their first points and first podium finish. They also led a race for the first time – but only for four laps behind the safety car at the start.

Fisichella made it to the podium for the first time since the 2006 Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka.

The first-lap pile-up brought Jenson Button’s points-scoring streak to an end after 11 races in the top eight. Nico Rosberg now has the longest running streak of points finishes with eight.

It was also Lewis Hamilton’s first failure to finish a race this year (though of course he was disqualified at Melbourne).

Like Fisichella and Raikkonen, Robert Kubica scored his best result of the year, with fourth.

Heikki Kovalainen has now scored exactly 100 points in his Formula 1 career.

We’ve now had six consecutive races with different winners (Button, Vettel, Webber, Hamilton, Barrichello and Raikkonen) and five with different pole sitters (Vettel, Webber, Alonso, Hamilton and Fisichella).

Have you spotted any interesting facts and stats from the Belgian Grand Prix? Share them in the commenets.

Read more

• Kimi Raikkonen edges Giancarlo Fisichella for win (Belgian Grand Prix review)
• Giancarlo Fisichella scores first points for Force India in Spa (pictures)
• Belgian Grand Prix: Rate the race
• F1 championship points after Belgium
• Belgian Grand Prix race result
• Belgian Grand Prix start crash (Video)
• Belgian Grand Prix: Rate the race

Romain Grosjean didn’t last long in his second Grand Prix. And he’s surely only person who thinks Jenson Button was responsible for their tangle on the first lap:

I made a very good start, moving up to thirteenth place and I was keeping a good pace but then Button took me out at turn five and it was the end for me.

A watching Nelson Piquet Jnr was entertained by Grosjean’s demise. As for the bombshell that dropped about the FIA’s investigation of Renault’s win in the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix, Renault made no mention of it.

Mark Webber is ticked off after his penalty for an unsafe release in the pits, which he thinks cost him a podium finish:

I had done all the hard work on the first lap and picked off both Heidfeld and Vettel and was pulling away from them. I laid the foundations for what could have been a great result and a good haul of points. It [the release] was a costly misjudgement and of course it hurts me a lot – it’s something we won’t get back.

He’s not the only driver with pit stop woes. Timo Glock reveals how a faulty refuelling rig ruined his race:

I made a pretty strong start and was running fourth when the safety car came out so we had a good chance of points. But at my first pit stop we had trouble with the fuel rig which cost me time and positions. The crew did well to quickly change to the back-up rig but nevertheless we lost time. Clearly there was a problem with the fuel rig and we have to analyse what happened and prevent any similar problems in the future. I did my best and the car was quite quick but it wasn’t to be.

Giancarlo Fisichella’s joy at finishing second is tempered by his disappointment at not winning:

It’s been another great day and it was an amazing result today. Before coming to Spa if you had asked all the team if we would have been happy to finish eighth we would have said it was a fantastic result but second is a dream, just great. Actually if I can be honest I am a little disappointed as I felt we could have won the race. I was unlucky with the safety car when Kimi came past me at the restart and overtook me with the KERS. Actually behind him I was quicker but with the KERS I couldn’t get past as it was impossible to be quick on the long straight. But we can’t take it away from the fantastic result, both at the track and in the factory to get this result. After yesterday I was pretty confident to score points, it’s positive for the championship and for the coming races. A big thank you to everyone.

Joy at Ferrari too – and Kimi Raikkonen shared a little insight into how he kept Fisichella behind:

At the first pit stop, maybe it would have been better to stay with the softer tyre but that’s easy to say afterwards. In the final part, when it seemed I might not be able to fight off Giancarlo, I slightly changed the way I used the KERS so as to defend myself on the straight at Stavelot and so I managed to stay in front.

Ferrari’s first win in 2009 was particularly well-timed:

Over the last four Grands Prix, starting with the Nürbugring, we have always been on the podium. Today Kimi drove an excellent race, demonstrating his talent on the most beautiful track of the Championship. They really made me a nice present for my birthday.
Luca di Montezemolo

Di Montezemolo celebrates his 62nd birthday tomorrow.

But it’s not a happy story on the other side of the Ferrari garage. Despite finishing more than three-quarters of a minute behind everyone else, Luca Badoer feels he’s improved and wants to race at Monza:

Today I did my best. Unfortunately, at the first corner after the start, I flat-spotted the front tyres and so I always had strong vibrations throughout the first stint. Once the tyres were changed, the situation improved, but the performance of the harder compound was not as good as the soft one. I have upped my performance level yet again and I really want to race at Monza, one of the tracks I know best, along with Fiorano and Mugello.

But his hope of racing at home for Ferrari in two weeks’ time is surely a forlorn one.

Have you spotted any interesting quotes from other drivers or team members after the race? If so, share them in the comments.

2009 Belgian Grand Prix

• Kimi Raikkonen edges Giancarlo Fisichella for win (Belgian Grand Prix review)
• Giancarlo Fisichella scores first points for Force India in Spa (pictures)
• Belgian Grand Prix in pictures
• Belgian Grand Prix start crash (Video)
• Belgian Grand Prix: Rate the race
• F1 championship points after Belgium
• Belgian Grand Prix race result

Kimi Raikkonen lines up Giancarlo Fisichella for a pass

Spa-Francorchamps proved once again why it is the king of F1 tracks. The Belgian Grand Prix had crashes, passes and a form book-defying result.

Take a look back at today’s Grand Prix with this collection of pictures showing the race from start to finish.

More pictures

• Belgian Grand Prix qualifying in pictures
• Force India celebrate after Giancarlo Fisichella takes pole position (pictures)
• Belgian Grand Prix practice in pictures
• More F1 pictures

Images (C) Ferrari spa, Brawn GP, Renault/LAT, Williams/LAT, Bridgestone, www.mclaren.com, Getty Images/Red Bull, Force India F1 Team, Toyota F1 World, BMW ag

Kimi Raikkonen had Giancarlo Fisichella in his mirrors for most of the race

Kimi Raikkonen ended a 26-race losing streak by winning the Belgian Grand Prix for the fourth time in his career.

Surprisingly Raikkonen’s closest contender wasn’t in a Brawn or a Red Bull or even a McLaren – he was chased around every lap of Spa by Giancarlo Fisichella.

The Italian, now tipped to join Raikkonen in Ferrari at Monza, finished second for Force India.

If Fisichella’s pole position on Saturday was a shock, his consistent race pace on Sunday was utterly incredible – and very timely.

Ferrari’s Luca Badoer brought up the rear of the field, finishing 47 seconds behind the next finisher. It inconceivable Ferrari could tolerate another race with this kind of performance, and Italian television channel RAI is already claiming Fisichella will be in the car at Monza.

First-lap shunt eliminates Button

As the race got started Fisichella preserved the lead and didn’t look like losing it. From sixth on the grid Raikkonen elected to use the tarmac run-off area on the outside of turn one to avoid getting held up by other cars. He re-joined the track in third, sprinted through Eau Rouge and picked off Robert Kubica at the top of the hill.

He arrived at Les Combes going quickly he couldn’t stop in time, and bumped along the kerbing around the outside of the track. Kubica took evasive action but couldn’t avoid tagging the back of the Ferrari, breaking his front wing end plate.

Jarno Trulli, who started second, also damaged his front wing, but the real carnage kicked off behind them.

Jenson Button made a clean start from 14th and took a look at the outside of Heikki Kovalainen heading into the corner. Suddenly Renault’s Romain Grosjean charged in, tipping Button into a spin.

As their cars headed for the barriers Lewis Hamilton – who had started slowly and picked up some damage at La Source – slowed down to avoid the wrecked cars and got hit by Jaime Alguersuari. All four cars were eliminated.

After the race the stewards consulted the video replays but elected not to punish anyone.

Read more: Belgian Grand Prix start crash (Video)

Raikkonen seizes the initiative

The crash also had repercussions for the leaders. Fisichella had enough of a lead over Raikkonen not to be troubled by the Ferrari’s KERS – but the arrival of the safety car wiped it away.

Sure enough, Fisichella was a sitting duck at the restart on lap four. Raikkonen, one of few drivers to have started on soft tyres, breezed past him on the straight.

Fisichella lost little ground to Raikkonen in the opening stint. Behind them came Kubica, battling on despite his front wing damage, Timo Glock, Mark Webber and Nick Heidfeld.

Sebastian Vettel appeared in seventh shortly after the safety car came in, after apparently being allowed past by Nico Rosberg. Vettel had complained Rosberg had passed him illegally under yellow flags. Had race control got involved again as they did at Valencia?

Barrichello battles through the field

Rubens Barrichello began his recovery from a disastrous start. Just like at Melbourne and Istanbul, the brawn had bogged down badly at the start and he was lucky to avoid being hit. As the race resumed he moved up to 13th by passing Luca Badoer.

The second Ferrari was, once again, a long way off the pace. Adrian Sutil, who’d been to the pits after the first lap, went clean off the track in order to get around Badoer on lap eight.

Robert Kubica and Timo Glock were the first of the leaders to pit on lap 12. Toyota brimmed Glock up with enough fuel for 20 of Spa’s long laps, keeping him in the pits five seconds longer than Kubica. After that Glock plummeted down the order and never looked like making it back into the points.

Jarno Trulli retired a few laps later – and so, having qualified second and seventh, Toyota contrived to get absolutely nothing out of the Belgian Grand Prix.

Raikkonen and Fisichella came in together on lap 14 – Raikkonen had started with more fuel, so either Ferrair had chosen to bring him in early (unlikely) or Fisichella had done a better job of saving fuel during the safety car period. The Force India driver switched onto the soft tyres, and continued his pursuit.

In hindsight, if Force India had given him a splash more fuel than Raikkonen at this point, Fisichella could have won the race. But it wasn’t to be.

Problems in the pits

Heidfeld and Webber came in on the same lap, and for the second race in a row Red Bull cut it very fine when releasing Webber from his pit box. This time Heidfeld had to get off the throttle to avoid contact, and the stewards wasted no time in handing down a drive-through penalty.

But Heidfeld took care of matters himself, passing Webber at Les Combes. The Red Bull driver then fell into the clutches of Barrichello, who bravely blasted around the outside of Webber and Blanchimont.

Webber served his drive-through penalty on lap 18, just as Rosberg was making his first pit stop and surrendering the lead he’d inherited.

Another team having trouble in the pits was Renault – again. They struggled to replace Fernando Alonso’s front-left wheel as the fairing had been damaged in contact on lap one. Not wishing to incur a repeat of their Hungary penalty, the team kept Alonso back while they made sure the wheel went on, and shortly summoned him back to the pits after letting him out. He was the sixth and last retirement of the day.

On lap 31 the two leaders came into the pits together for the final time – and once again left with Raikkonen ahead of Fisichella. Though he surely could have lapped quicker than the Ferrari had he been ahead, Raikkonen was able to use his KERS button at the start of the straights to ensure Fisichella couldn’t get close.

Vettel made his final stop on lap 35, leap-frogging Kubica for third – and then began closing on the leaders. But once it became clear he wasn’t going to catch them he prudently turned the revs down, as he’s already on his seventh unit out of eight.

Barrichello’s Brawn blows

That decided the podium, and the BMWs of Kubica and Heidfeld behind were settled in fourth and fifth. Kovalainen briefly came under threat from Barrichello, until the Brawn’s Mercedes engine began spewing oil. Barrichello backed off and managed to coax the car to the chequered flag, impressively without losing a place – although his engine cover caught fire after he got back to the pits.

Rosberg held onto eighth ahead of Webber, who finished a point-less ninth for the second race in a row. He has fallen back behind his team mate in the drivers’ championship and lies fourth.

Glock finished tenth ahead of Sutil, 42 seconds behind team mate Fisichella, after his early pit stop plus a spin at Fagnes.

The final classified runners were Sebastien Buemi, Kazuki Nakajima and Badoer – the latter 47.9s behind the rest of the field, and surely not likely to reappear in a Ferrari in two weeks’ time.

Who will be Raikkonen’s team mate at Monza? Ferrari are expected to decide tomorrow.

Read more: Belgian Grand Prix race result

Driver of the day

I can’t pick anyone other than Giancarlo Fisichella for driver of the day. He thrived on the new-found pace of the Force India, reminding us all of those days when everyone thought of him as the great up-and-comer with so much untapped potential. A win only passed him by because of the safety car period at the start, after which he was never going to keep Raikkonen at bay.

Raikkonen and Rosberg must get honourable mentions, however. Both are in excellent veins of form – particularly Rosberg, who dragged his car into Q3 and rode his luck to grab a point. Here’s who you picked on Twitter:

lacanta – If you haven’t gathered from my twitters so far this afternoon, I’m nominating Fisichella as Driver of the Day! Yippee!
hashsport – Vettel
GittleBos – Giancarlo Fisichella. Of course. Time to eat a potato pizza in his honour (that’s his favourite)!
BaburM – kimmmmaayyyyy!
MarkF1 – Fisichella as it is the best race he as driven in years.
reeley – Giancarlo Fisichella the driver of the race for me.
therealtopper – probably fisichella
alboreto – Fisi of course.
fwon – I do think Fisichella was the driver of the race. Perhaps he should of won, but he competed with Kimi for the whole race
mum_zee – can only be one driver – Fisico
formula1fran – I think I have to say Fisi. Thrilled Kimi won, but Fisi worked harder I think. Never felt so sorry for 2nd place finisher!
Mikee87 – Driver of the race has got to be Bernd Mayländer. They should put him in the Ferrari instead of Badoer.
asynadak – Kimi!
randomflowers – I’m going to say Seb V, simply because he started 8th and finished 3rd! (and Kimi… and Fisichella!)
fissijo – fisichella… But then he is my driver of the race most races!
planetf1 – FISI
primaveron – Kimi Raikkonen and Fisichella!

Who was your driver of the day? Name them in the comments.

Read more

• Giancarlo Fisichella scores first points for Force India in Spa (pictures)
• Giancarlo Fisichella scores first points for Force India in Spa (pictures)
• Belgian Grand Prix: Rate the race
• F1 championship points after Belgium
• Belgian Grand Prix race result
• Belgian Grand Prix start crash (Video)
• Belgian Grand Prix: Rate the race

Images (C) Ferrari spa, Brawn GP, Renault/LAT, Williams/LAT, Bridgestone, Getty Images/Red Bull, Force India F1 Team, Toyota F1 World, BMW ag