Lewis Hamilton wins Belgian Grand Prix as championship rivals lose ground
As is the case with Spa-Francorchamps, the weather always plays its part, and yesterday it ensured another chaotic Belgian Grand Prix.
Lewis Hamilton was victorious, Mark Webber finished second and Robert Kubica in a much-improved Renault grabbed the final podium spot. Hamilton, however, came very close to throwing it all away as the battle for the title took another dramatic twist.
Rain arrived at the start of the grand prix, then the sunshine emerged and then the rain returned during the closing stages. Pole-sitter Mark Webber had a shocking start, as he fell down the grid while Hamilton assumed control of the race. With only a few laps remaining when the rain arrived, Hamilton was on dry tyres and went off the track, but managed to steer the car away from the barrier while he was in the gravel.
Hamilton had the win here in 2008 taken away from him after he gained an unfair advantage on Kimi Räikkönen by cutting the final chicane. This year, he won fair and square. “It was a great weekend. Very, very tough race for me. I think same for everyone but praying just for a race that went smoothly,” he said. “I braked quite late and locked my wheel and went wide at turn eight and jeez, the Lord definitely had his hand over me there as I was able to get away with it.”
Hamilton now leads the drivers’ standings on 182 points, three points ahead of Webber, who was able to recover from his bad start. Webber had taken Red Bull’s 12th pole position out of 13 races, but was not able to challenge Hamilton for the win. “I had a big bog [down] on my formation lap and then we made a small adjustment to the clutch which I thought was hopefully going to get rid of that situation but then I had it even worse on the main start itself,” he said.
“Happy with second in the end. The order is slightly the wrong way round for me. But in the end happy with second. These days it is very, very easy to come away with nothing with a small mistake from anybody, from the cockpit, pit wall or pit stops or whatever. Everyone did their bit today, so we got some good points and we go to Monza [Italy],” Webber added.
The Australian is 28 points ahead of his teammate Sebastian Vettel, and while it looked like Red Bull would back Vettel for the title after the events at the British Grand Prix- where they gave Vettel the newly-designed front wing from Webber’s car- Webber feels the team have to back either him or Vettel soon.
“I think it is too early at the moment to say that [one driver should have No.1 status]. It's still too early at the moment but not too far away,” he said.
Three of the five drivers in contention for the world championship failed to score points, as Vettel finished in 15th, while Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button retired.
Vettel threw away the chance to become world champion last year, and this year it is the same again. He was responsible for Button’s retirement from this race, as he crashed into the British driver after losing control of his car when attempting to overtake Button. He was then given a drive-through penalty for causing a collision, and then had a puncture after making contact with the front-wing of a Force India. Overall it was not a race to remember for the German.
“What happened, happened and we can’t change it now,” he said. “Obviously I’m not proud of it, I lost the car going over the bump as I was braking and unfortunately hit Jenson, so he couldn’t continue. I’m sorry for him. We’ll have to see what we can do at the next races.”
Button’s hopes of becoming the first Briton to win back-to-back titles could be over after the incident. He was running in second despite problems with his front-wing, but was left disappointed by what happened. “I was doing a decent job of keeping my position, and doing it fairly. “All I know is I suddenly felt a big bang in the sidepod, which ripped the radiator out, and then I lost drive. I have to say I’ve got no idea what he was doing. It’s a massive blow to my world championship hopes,” said Button.
Alonso started the race from 10th position, and was lucky not to retire after Rubens Barrichello, in his 300th grand prix, smashed into him at the end of the first lap. The Spaniard crashed out after riding the slippery curbs, and now finds himself 41 points behind Hamilton.
“The first of the seven ‘finals’ went badly for me,” he said. “At the start, I immediately made up some places and the signs were that I could have a good race. Then, I found myself in the wrong place at the wrong time, when Rubens could not control his car under braking and crashed into me.”
The conditions played tricks on the drivers, especially Alonso, who took a gamble which didn’t pay off. “I came straight back to the pits to change the tyres and to check the car was alright, when we fitted intermediate tyres, expecting more persistent and harder rain, but that was not the case,” said Alonso.
The double world champion has refused to throw in the towel at this stage of the season. “It is very disappointing, because this is a bad result, but it does not mean I have given up on my chances of winning the title.”
To say it is now a two-horse race between Hamilton and Webber for the title is a brave call, as Formula One is just like the weather at Spa.
Unpredictable.
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