Belgian Grand Prix Preview

This weekend sees the Formula One circus step into the final third of the season; the home stretch as the race for the title really heats up. Going into this weekend McLaren's Lewis Hamilton holds a slender lead over his main rivals from Ferrari, Massa and Raikkonen. However, on the evidence of the past couple of races Ferrari are the team to beat on pace, and Spa is traditionally a circuit that suits their cars. Hamilton may have his work cut out to still be top of the tree come Sunday evening.

Kimi Raikkonen is the current master of the legendary Spa-Francorchamps circuit, with multiple victories here in the past. If ever the Finn needed one of his great Spa performances, it's now. On his current form he is in danger of driving his way out of his lead driver slot at Ferrari. On the evidence of the past few races Felipe Massa is quicker, more consistent, and more able to produce the goods under pressure than Raikkonen. If Massa out performs Kimi again then Ferrari will surely be left with no choice but to focus all their efforts behind the Brazilian for the remainder of the season.

Of course, Spa is one of those magical places that has the ability to rip up the form book and throw it out of the window. Particularly so when it is wet, as it is predicted to be for much of this weekend. Many racing purists have complained that the unique challenges of Spa have been neutered somewhat by modern safety regulations, making it a tame imitation of what it once was. But when the rain falls (and by God it really knows how to rain in this part of Belgium!), Spa is as challenging and treacherous a circuit as you could ever wish to find. When water starts to flow down the slope of the infamous Eau Rouge corner you know you're going to be in for a wild ride! The lack of traction control this year could make things all the more spectacular, judging from the carnage of the last seriously wet race at Silverstone a couple of months ago.

On that day Lewis Hamilton reigned supreme, while Massa and Raikkonen both struggled in the awful conditions. If Ferrari prove to be on top again, McLaren and Hamilton may be performing a rain dance on the eve of battle to try and swing the race in his favour... Read more!

Spanish Grand Prix: Race Review

Kimi Raikkonen cruised to one of the easiest victories he will ever earn in today's Spanish Grand Prix. After securing pole position with an excellent lap in qualifying yesterday he was the clear favourite for the 10 points, and he didn't disappoint with a flawless lights to flag victory. The 130,000 strong Spanish crowd were left deflated as their hero Fernando Alonso didn't make it to the chequered flag, whilst Lewis Hamilton returned to the podium after his dismal weekend last time out in Bahrain.

In truth it was a fairly dull race, as they usually are at the Circuit de Catalunya. There were a couple of safety car periods which inevitably closed the field somewhat to keep things quite tight in the top four places, but without those it would have been a truly awful race.

Off the start line Kimi Raikkonen made a decent start which enabled him to reach turn one in the lead, which perfectly set up his race win. Crucially, behind him the man with the best start was Felipe Massa who was able to squeeze around Fernando Alonso and into second place. Lewis Hamilton put his nightmare start in Bahrain behind him and made a great move on Robert Kubica to take fourth place.

Going into turn four Adrian Sutil in the Force India tried a ridiculously over-ambitious move on David Coulthard which resulted in contact and a spin. Sadly Sebastien Vettel was left with nowhere to go and collided with Sutil's stricken car. Rotten luck for young Vettel as it saw the end of both of the young German drivers' races. This brought out the first safety car of the day and allowed the pack to close up behind Raikkonen.

From the restart there was little movement in the field, largely due to the high speed, high downforce nature of the Barcelona circuit. Raikkonen was setting fastest laps out front, Massa was in tow, and Alonso was able to keep Hamilton at bay (much to the delight of the Spanish fans).

Nelson Piquet had another disappointing race in what is proving to be a tricky debut season for the Brazilian. He had an off braking into turn 10 losing him numerous places, and then whilst attempting to recover he made an ambitious late move on Sebastien Bourdais in the same corner. They came into contact and both cars ended up retiring with broken front suspension. Both Toro Rossos were out after just a handful of laps, completing a miserable weekend for the team.

As indicated by Alonso's remarkable qualifying performance, the Renault was the lightest car on the grid and he was first to pit. However, Alonso didn't appear to be quite as light as we may have expected - only a couple of laps lighter than Massa - so it seems Renault really have made a huge leap forward in pace. Inevitably the early stop for Alonso allowed Hamilton to gain a position into third, and he now had the Ferraris in his sights and a mirror full of BMW.

Everything was routine for the Ferraris in the first round of stops and they rejoined comfortable first and second. Davidson sadly had to retire due to a punctured radiator after some track debris, and then came the biggest incident of the race. Whilst approaching the super-fast, blind right-hand Campsa corner Heikki Kovalainen suffered a freak failure on his front left corner. This sent him spearing off across the gravel trap at close to 140mph, and he eventually came to a sickening halt by diving underneath the tyre barriers. The scene was reminiscent of Luciano Burti's horrible accident at Blanchimont, Spa in 2001, and the level of obvious concern shown by the track marshalls was also similar.

The safety car and medical car were immediately deployed, and there followed around 10 minutes of anxious waiting for any news of the fate of Kovalainen. There were huge sighs of relief all round when the cameras picked up Heikki Kovalainen being stretchered away giving a big thumbs-up to the applauding crowd. All the news so far suggests that he has no serious injuries.

The safety car was terrible news for Nick Heidfeld as he was the last man yet to stop, and was running out of fuel. He had to come in to refuel while the pitlane was effectively closed, meaning he would have to take a penalty once the race resumed. It completely ruined his race, putting him in last place on the track. This rule really needs to be changed as it seems to serve no real purpose, and penalises those like Heidfeld purely out of bad luck.

As the race got underway Hamilton was close to the Ferraris and Kubica was still keeping him honest. Those front four gradually disappeared into the distance leaving the rest of the field miles behind. The pattern of the rest of the race was now set with Hamilton able to keep in touch with Massa and Kubica able to hold onto Hamilton, but whenever they got within a second of the man in front they were hit with terrible understeer from the dirty air in front. This track simply does not provide good racing. There are too many high speed corners and not enough long braking zones for drivers to make moves.

This was highlighted by the fact that Nick Heidfeld was having a torrid time getting past Fisichella despite having a massively quicker car. It eventually took a mistake from Fisi in the final corner for Heidfeld to be able to get a run on him down the main straight and make an excellent move around the outside of turn one. On most circuits it would have been like taking candy from a baby for a BMW to get past a Force India, but not here. In fact, the stats now show that it is EIGHT races in a row where the pole sitter has cruised to victory here. Let's hope the new European Grand Prix down the road in Valencia will be a bit more interesting!

With a dozen or so laps to go Timo Glock made a silly move on Coulthard which damaged both of their cars, and will probably result in him having a penalty of some sort handed down to him at a later date. Again, the nature of the track meant Coulthard found it difficult even to get past Sato despite having a car that was about 4 seconds a lap faster at that point in the race!

Whilst making his record equalling 256th race appearance Rubens Barrichello somehow managed to knock his own front wing off while pitting. This eventually caused damage to his car and resulted in a retirement. Then the Spanish crowds were hearbroken by a massive engine failure in the back of Alonso's R28. It was rotten luck for Alonso who was driving a decent race and was probably due a fifth place finish. That meant Rosberg inherited a points paying position, but that wasn't to last long as his Toyota engine blew and the Williams ground to a halt on the main straight.

You could almost sense the frustration of the likes of Kubica and Hamilton as they were both pushing extremely hard but didn't really have a hope in hell of getting close enough to try a pass. They both drove great races but weren't really able to put on much of a show for the crowd. However, they will both be heartened as they showed good race pace and were not crushed by the Ferraris as some had expected them to be. Ferrari clearly have the upper hand at the moment, but McLaren and BMW are both still in there fighting hard, and it's not over by a long shot.

Behind the front four Webber, Button, Nakajima and Trulli all had good but very quiet races to round out the rest of the points paying positions. The unlucky Heidfeld wasn't able to recover after his penalty and finished ninth, losing his second place in the driver's championship in the process. Fisichella put in one of the performances of the day to come tenth after running as high as eighth place at one point. Encouraging signs for Force India.

So moving on to Turkey, the Ferrari team cemented their advantage in both championship races, and Kimi Raikkonen will now be on very short odds to take his second consecutive WDC. However, there were encouraging signs for McLaren (freak accidents aside) as they seem to have gotten over their little blip last time out. BMW too are still consistently there or thereabouts. It's still all to play for...

Provisional Race Results


1. Raikkonen
2. Massa
3. Hamilton
4. Kubica
5. Webber
6. Button
7. Nakajima
8. Trulli
9. Heidfeld
10. Fisichella
11. Glock
12. Coulthard
13. Sato
ret Rosberg
ret Alonso
ret Barrichello
ret Kovalainen
ret Davidson
ret Bourdais
ret Piquet
ret Sutil
ret Vettel Read more!

Spanish Grand Prix: Friday Practice Sessions

Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen dominated proceedings on the first day's practice at the Spanish Grand Prix by recording the fastest time in both sessions. It was an impressive show from the World Champion and current championship leader as he really highlighted Ferrari's superior pace, finishing with a fastest time of the day that was over half a second quicker than the nearest non-Ferrari car.

Friday's first session was run under glorious Catalunyan sunshine in Montmelo, and the sun was shining most brightly on the Ferrari team as they blitzed the time sheets. Kimi and Massa were separated by just a fraction of a second, with McLaren's Lewis Hamilton a distant third. It wasn't all plain sailing for Ferrari however, as Felipe Massa managed to spin out on the final chicane on his first flying lap, and then again lost it in turn 8. Not the perfect start to the weekend then for the hero of Bahrain.

McLaren looked decent in third and fifth place, but will no doubt be demoralised somewhat by Ferrari's dominance. Robert Kubica showed that BMW still have some decent place by splitting the McLarens, with Heidfeld down in ninth.

The team that seemed to have made the biggest step forward over the past few weeks is Renault. Fernando Alonso and Nelson Piquet finished sixth and seventh respectively, amarked improvement on their recent showings. Whether that will translate into good quali and race pace remains to be seen, they may just be gunning for a few practice day headlines in front of Fernando's home crowd.

Elsewhere there weren't too many surprises or thrills and spills. Jarno Trulli spun under braking for turn 10 but that was the only hairy moment of the session aside from Massa's misadventures. The midfield bunch looks as close and tightly packed as ever, making it really quite difficult to say who has got the advantage amongst the Red Bulls, Williams, Toyotas, Hondas etc. Super Aguri were unsurprisingly woefully short of pace, but frankly they will be glad just to have been able to get a few laps under their belts no matter how slow.

Practice One Times

01 K. Räikkönen Ferrari 1:20.649 17 laps
02 F. Massa Ferrari 1:20.699 9 laps
03 L. Hamilton McLaren 1:21.192 20 laps
04 R. Kubica BMW 1:21.568 20 laps
05 H. Kovalainen McLaren 1:21.758 10 laps
06 F. Alonso Renault 1:21.933 18 laps
07 N. Piquet jr. Renault 1:21.936 21 laps
08 D. Coulthard Red Bull 1:22.118 20 laps
09 N. Heidfeld BMW 1:22.278 24 laps
10 J. Button Honda 1:22.632 16 laps
11 T. Glock Toyota 1:23.002 21 laps
12 N. Rosberg Williams 1:23.003 25 laps
13 M. Webber Red Bull 1:23.015 14 laps
14 J. Trulli Toyota 1:23.141 15 laps
15 K. Nakajima Williams 1:23.153 24 laps
16 A. Sutil Force India F1 1:23.156 22 laps
17 G. Fisichella Force India F1 1:23.196 20 laps
18 R. Barrichello Honda 1:23.353 14 laps
19 S. Bourdais Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:23.952 15 laps
20 S. Vettel Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:24.082 15 laps
21 T. Sato Super Aguri 1:24.278 14 laps
22 A. Davidson Super Aguri 1:25.068 10 laps


The second practice session again ended with Kimi Raikkonen topping the timesheets, although this time there were a few surprises as to who was filling up the space behind him. The Renaults continued their impressive showing by taking second and third; Piquet this time edging out his more experienced teammate by a hair's breadth. Kazuki Nakajima took a very unexpected fourth place in the session, beating Ferrari's Felipe Massa into fifth.

The McLarens and BMWs were way down in middle of the field, no doubt working on their long run setups. Indeed, it seems that most teams were trying out their long runs as all of the times in the session were a fair bit slower than in session one. AS such it makes it very difficult to judge who has the pace and who doesn't in that midfield area. The only things we can really know for sure are that the Ferraris are definitely ahead at the front of the pack, and the Super Aguris are definitely miles behind at the back of the grid. Everything else is a lot harder to call thus far...

Practice Two Times
01 K. Räikkönen Ferrari 1:21.935 38 laps
02 N. Piquet jr. Renault 1:22.019 38 laps
03 F. Alonso Renault 1:22.032 26 laps
04 K. Nakajima Williams 1:22.172 35 laps
05 F. Massa Ferrari 1:22.229 32 laps
06 M. Webber Red Bull 1:22.238 36 laps
07 N. Rosberg Williams 1:22.266 33 laps
08 D. Coulthard Red Bull 1:22.289 30 laps
09 G. Fisichella Force India F1 1:22.383 38 laps
10 A. Sutil Force India F1 1:22.548 38 laps
11 L. Hamilton McLaren 1:22.685 33 laps
12 R. Kubica BMW 1:22.788 38 laps
13 N. Heidfeld BMW 1:23.130 40 laps
14 J. Trulli Toyota 1:23.224 34 laps
15 J. Button Honda 1:23.263 34 laps
16 H. Kovalainen McLaren 1:23.264 8 laps
17 R. Barrichello Honda 1:23.415 31 laps
18 S. Vettel Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:23.661 35 laps
19 S. Bourdais Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:23.684 37 laps
20 T. Glock Toyota 1:23.883 40 laps
21 T. Sato Super Aguri 1:25.110 30 laps
22 A. Davidson Super Aguri 1:25.163 31 laps
Read more!

Spanish Grand Prix Preview

After three weeks of preparations and frantic testing the Formula One championship battle will recommence this weekend at the Circuit de Catalunya on the outskirts of Barcelona. Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa will go into the race as red hot favourites for the race victory after their dominant display in Bahrain. The key point of interest of the weekend may turn out to be seeing who is the team most capable of challenging Ferrari. McLaren took a real mauling last time out, not just at the hands of the Scuderia, but from BMW too. Will Hamilton and co be in a position to fight back, or will BMW again show the consistent pace that has seen them jump to the top of the Constructor's Championship table?

Whilst the tabloids and pundits worked themselves up into a frenzy over certain salacious allegations relating to the FIA President during the past few weeks, most teams spent vital time racking up the testing mileage in Barcelona. This first race of the European season traditionally sees the first major updates and revisions to the cars of every team, and we will see just who has been the most effective in the windtunnels and laboratories back home whilst the race teams had their fun globe-trotting.

As well as the usual fine-tuning of race and qualifying setups, several of the teams used the track time to trial some rather, erm, "interesting" aerodynamic updates. A wide variety of wings, sails and other more bizarre protuberances sprouted out of certain cars, most notably Renault's Red Bull-esque engine cover 'sail', Honda's nose-cone 'bunny ears', and Ferrari's hole in the front nose-cone. How many of these will make the race set-ups of the cars, and whether they will yield any significant performance gains remains to be seen, but at least they had F1 fans talking about something other than Max Mosley's sexual predilections for a while! It was pretty hard to ascertain who had made progress from the testing times alone as most teams also got to trial some Bridgestone slick tyres in anticipation of the 2009 rule changes, which threw the timing sheets on their head for much of the test days.

The other big story over the three week break was the continuing trials and tribulations of the Super Aguri outfit. As with the run up to the Australian Grand Prix they were seemed on the brink of collapsing before again being bailed out at the eleventh hour, this time by by Honda. Whether this will allow SA to come up with a long term strategy or merely provides a stay of execution remains to be seen. However, they are in Spain and ready to race, which is great news for all concerned as they are one of the most popular of all the teams, both within the paddock and with the F1 fans. Shame that there's not much hope for them out on track with Force India looking like they may have made a step forward away from the foot of the grid.

Lewis Hamilton needs a big weekend. He would be the first to admit that Bahrain was the worst weekend he has yet had in his young career in F1, and it came at exactly the wrong time with Ferrari and BMW both finding some great form. Incredibly, there have even been some people voicing their opinion that perhaps Hamilton isn't the real deal after all. Bizarre given the absolute masterclass he gave in Australia three races ago. Such is the fickle world of Formula One...

One thing's for sure, Hamilton will not be the most popular guy amongst the vocal Spanish crowd. The Spanish F1 fans seem to hold Hamilton personally responsible for the downfall of their hero Fernando Alonso last year, and show no signs of being willing to forgive and forget just yet. Unfortunately for them, it seems that there will be little to cheer in terms of home interest as Alonso's Renault seems to be well off the pace. He'll do well just to scrap his way to a points finish; any thoughts of victories or even podiums will be right at the back of his mind. Alonso himself has already begun to voice his obvious disquiet at the current state of play at Renault, seemingly issuing a "come and get me" plea to Ferrari, a plea that has been rejected in no uncertain terms by Ferrari's Luca di Montezemolo.

So finally all thoughts of prostitutes, spankings and insinuated Nazi overtones can be put to the back of people's minds for a few days at least, and we can (hopefully) have some great racing to talk about. Hallelujah. Read more!