Formula One – the Belgian Spa race takes Hamilton back to the top
The race at spa-Francorchamps has never failed to excite and thrill the race lovers as well as the drivers and teams. Another such weekend unfolded yesterday amidst freezing rain showers on the track, burnt with flames of rivalry and completion of rivalry.
The McLaren driver, Lewis Hamilton made his mark once again with his dramatis race win in Belgian as his stars were shone bright right from the start of the race. The race had finally made him conquer another track in his brief career of four years, making this his fourteenth race win.
Red Bull’s Mark Webber finished only 1.5s behind him after an outrageous battle on the race arena of Spa, yet losing his lead in the world championship of the season.
The most dramatic as well as surprising part of the day was the pointless return of the three title rivals of season, Jenson Button, Sebastian Vettel and Fernando Alonso.
As the day started, Hamilton became an evident leader, while Webber had a lazy beginning owing to some problem with the clutch. On the other hand, Robert Kubica of Renault was quick to gain momentum, followed by the Championship defender, Jenson Button, Red Bull’s Vettel, Ferrari's Felipe Massa and Adrian Sutil of Force India.
Button came close to his teammate in the early laps showing an easy one two finish for McLaren, but soon he suffered from damage to his left front wing endplate, which provided room for Vettel to move in, while Kubica and Webber were next to leave Button further behind the rally. Massa was able to show a good pace keeping himself among the top five in the initial laps.
Button tried again to control things but this time rain spelt cruelty for him as he was on the 16th lap and Vettel lost control of his car, speared the McLaren driver fading his hopes for the rest of the day.
Vettel’s second action of the day cost him his race, as he touched Tonio Liuzzi’s front wing after crossing him in the chicane thus finishing his race sadly at 15th place.
Kubica lost his second place to Webber, as he stopped for the change of tyres, however third place finish for Renault was also a great ending for the team as their F-duct proved good for them making their R30 very competitive.
Massa, who did not seem to be anywhere near the forerunners in the beginning, however returned more successful than his teammate, Fernando Alonso, who had to retire as he was initially hit by Rubens Barrichello at the first lap, after which the latter had to exit from his 300th Grand Prix. While Alonso continued only to spin this time at Les Combes and end the race bringing his damaged car into the pit.
The day was a happy one for Force India, as Sutil drove to finish at fifth place bringing home some good points.
For Mercedes the week was better than they expected as Nico Rosberg and Michael Schumacher packed up for sixth and seventh places dramatically. On lap 10 at Les Combes, Rosberg’s front wing was swiped by Michael as he passed across him, yet Nico forced his way across the German leaving him behind on lap 41, thus ending the race a place ahead of him.
Kamui Kobayashi’s eight place finish was a nice surprise for Sauber, followed by Petrov who struggled hard to end the day for ninth place.
Vitantonio Liuzzi after all the ordeals of the day was able to get the final point of the day ending at tenth place.
BMW Sauber's Pedro de la Rosa took 12th place ahead of Toro Rosso’s driver Sebastien Buemi who was followed by Nico Hulkenberg of Williams.
The new team chased them down the charts as Heikki Kovalainen marked 16th place for his Lotus while Virgin’s Lucas di Grassi and Timo Glock caught his tail for 17th and 18th places.
Jarno Trulli and Sakon Yamamoto ended the tally of the drivers who finished the race.
Above all, the weekend was a spectacular event for the top three drivers and especially for Hamilton who proved to bring pigeons out of hat when required.
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