Kimi Räikkönen ends 25-race drought with victory at Spa

Ferrari avoid going through a whole season without a win

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In an eventful Belgian Grand Prix, which produced the sixth different winning driver in a row in a Formula One season that has lately thown the early Brawn domination into question, Finland's Kimi Räikkönen broke a long winning drought to bring his Ferrari home just ahead of Giancarlo Fisichella (Force India).
     
It was Ferrari’s first victory of the season, and the first time Räikkönen has stood on the top step of the podium since Barcelona in April 2008.
      At the same time it reinforced the impression that the Finn owns Spa - this was his fourth career win here, and but for a late crash in the torrential rain last year, it would have been number five.
      Fisichella pushed Räikkönen all the way, and there was less than a second between them at the chquered flag, with Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull) taking third, just under four seconds back.
     
Räikkönen freely admitted that he had not had the fastest car in the race, but he made a good start from 6th on the grid, and powered himself into 2nd behind Fisichella, the shock leader in qualifying.
      After the safety car was deployed on Lap 1 following a crash that took out Championship leader Jenson Button (Brawn) and 2008 World Champion Lewis Hamilton (McLaren), Räikkönen grabbed his only available opportunity, used the onboard Kinetic Energy Recovery System (KERS) for additional power, and passed Fisichella to lead.
      The two cars were remarkably evenly matched, and never more than a second or two apart, but Räikkönen drove a flawless race to win and perhaps calm some of the speculation about his Ferrari future.
     
Fisichella scored the first-ever points in Formula One for the Force India team, and arguably without the arrival of the safety car he might even have won the race to cause an even bigger upset.
      It remains to be seen whether the paddock rumours that he will join Ferrari (to replace the injured Felipe Massa, who could be out until the end of the season) turn out to be true.
      Ferrari certainly need a quick second driver: Luca Badoer, who was parachuted into the second red car after Michael Schumacher declined the offer, came home 14th and last at Spa, nearly two minutes behind the winner. He was also last on the starting grid.
     
The early exit of Jenson Button offered an opportunity for rivals Rubens Barrichello, Sebastian Vettel, and Mark Webber to close the gap somewhat, but only Vettel could be really happy with his six points for third.
      Barrichello just managed to bring his ominously smoking Brawn home behind Heikki Kovalainen (McLaren) in 7th, and Webber finished out of the points in 9th, behind Nico Rosberg’s Williams.
     
By winning, Kimi Räikkönen improved his standing in the drivers’ table to 5th, with 34 points. Button - winner of six of the first seven races this season before falling on hard times - is still 16 points clear of the field with 72 points. His team-mate Rubens Barrichello has 56, Vettel 53, and Webber 51.5.
      Heikki Kovalainen's difficult season was improved a little by a maximum performance in an underpowered car. He started from 15th on the grid. Kovalainen has 17 points in the table and is in 10th place.
     
After an Italian team victory in Belgium and an Italian driver on pole position, the F1 circus moves suitably to Monza in two weeks’ time.
      With the crazy way things have been going lately, no bets are being laid on who might win there.


Links:
  Formula One
  Belgian Grand Prix 2009 (Wikipedia)

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