Finland’s Kimi Raikkonen headed home Ferrari team-mate Felipe Massa in Sunday’s Belgian Grand Prix with a dominant performance that clinched the Italian outfit of the 2007 constructors’ title.
The McLarens were no match for the red cars and had to settle for third and fourth, with Fernando Alonso finishing ahead of Lewis Hamilton and narrowing the rookie’s championship lead to just two points with three races remaining.
Massa had briefly challenged Raikkonen on the outside at the start, before settling into second position. Just behind the pair, the McLarens were also wheel-to-wheel into the La Source hairpin. Alonso edged Hamilton onto the extended run-off area, but Lewis had better traction and accelerated back on track level with his team-mate.
They then ran side-by-side into Eau Rouge, with Alonso holding on around the outside at the first part of the corner before claiming third as the race track turned right.
Raikkonen proceeded to dominate the 44-lap race, easily establishing a four-second lead over Massa and maintaining it to the chequered flag.
The McLarens ran longer stints, but lacked the pace to get on terms with the leaders, and at one point in the Grand Prix was 20 seconds adrift…
Raikkonen’s victory at Spa-Francorchamps means he retains a mathematically chance of taking the title away from the McLaren duo, cutting his deficit to Lewis Hamilton to 13 points with 30 still up for grabs – although Kimi hopes that the Mercedes-powered team’s impressive reliability falters.
With McLaren losing all its championship points by the FIA this week, Ferrari only had to beat the BMW Saubers to seal its 15th constructors’ title – which it duly achieved but McLaren remain the ‘true’ champions in my opinion…
Nick Heidfeld continued his consistent points finishes for BMW Sauber with fifth though he was pushed wide at La Source to avoid hitting Alonso and Hamilton on the lap one. Nico Rosberg was sixth for Williams with Red Bull’s Mark Webber in seventh. Finishing in the last points finish was Renault’s Heikki Kovalainen after holding off the BMW Sauber from a determined Robert Kubica by half a second.
The next stop for the 2007 Formula One World Championship is the Japanese Grand Prix at Fuji at the end of the month. It will be the first time modern Formula One racing cars will be racing at the track, as the last time was back in 1977. The newly re-profile circuit (as designed by Hermann Tilke) will feature the longest straight on the Formula One calendar but in terms of challenge for the drivers, the layout of the race track is pale in comparison to Suzuka.
Belgian Grand Prix result, Spa-Francorchamps - 44 laps
1. RAIKKONEN Ferrari 1h20m39.066s
2. MASSA Ferrari +4.7s
3. ALONSO McLaren +14.3s
4. HAMILTON McLaren +23.6s
5. HEIDFELD BMW +51.9s
6. ROSBERG Williams +1m16.9s
7. WEBBER Red Bull +1m20.6s
8. KOVALAINEN Renault +1m25.1
9. KUBICA BMW +1m25.7s
10. SCHUMACHER Toyota +1m28.6s
11. TRULLI Toyota +1m43.7s
12. LIUZZI Toro Rosso +1 lap
13. BARRICHELLO Honda +1 lap
14. SUTIL Spyker +1 lap
15. SATO Super Aguri +1 lap
16. DAVIDSON Super Aguri +1 lap
17. YAMAMOTO Spyker +1 lap
R. BUTTON Honda +8 laps
R. WURZ Williams +10 laps
R. COULTHARD Red Bull +15 laps
R. VETTEL Toro Rosso +36 laps
R. FISICHELLA Renault +43 laps
Fastest lap: MASSA 1m48.036s (lap 34)
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Yink says:
you never mentioned you was there watching it live !
watching the birds and the f1 at the same time.
Sep 16, 2007, 4:07 pmwalking leaf says:
Yep, I was there in person to see Kimi Raikkonen win which sealed the constructors’ championship title for Ferrari. A great weekend and I will need to upload my hundreds of photos (cars and ‘birds’) on Facebook soon!
Sep 16, 2007, 10:51 am