Monday, August 31, 2009

2009 Belgian GP Review: Ferrari wins while Force India creates history!

The Belgian GP is one of the favorites grand prix for most F1 fans and this year’s race did not disappoint the Tifosi in any way as Kimi Raikkonen wins a race after more than a year and he proved that he is still one of the best on the grid and after such a superior performance, Ferrari is in a fix as now they have 3 drivers under contract for 2010 and they need to drop one of them. Well Alonso joining Ferrari for 2010 is more or less certain while Massa is yet to get medical clearance if he can race again. Any 2 of the combination of Kimi, Alonso and Massa should be a formidable pair which the opponents should fear. Vettel by extending his deal with Red Bull till 2011 saved Ferrari from putting itself in more dilemma as had Vettel signed for 2011, things sure will be murky for them. One thing is certain for Monza, Ferrari will definitely not race Luca Badoer at their home race after a very below par performance from the Italian once again. It seems that he will end his F1 career without scoring points.

Force India and Giancarlo Fisichella had a dream weekend as not only the team scored its first points but this is also Fisi’s first podium since the 2006 Japanese GP and not only did he give Kimi a run for his money but he ensure that Force India have now scored more points than Toro Rosso and now they have a genuine chance of overtaking Renault in the constructor’s championship. Already even before the races they were rumors’ floating around about Fisi driving for Ferrari at Monza and this performance may just catapult him into the Ferrari seat. Though Force India seem to have a the pace now, they apparently still owe Ferrari money over engines supplied last year and every Italian’s dream is to drive for Ferrari at Monza and if the team does calls, Fisi will take it without even thinking.

Red Bull was expected to do well but Vettel actually drove amazingly well to come 3rd and once again put his name in the championship fight. Though he has only one engine left, it will be nothing short of a miracle if Vettel does manages to win the title while Webber after a pit stop mishap where he nearly collided with Nick Heidfeld had to go thru a drive thru penalty which ended his race hopes and he failed to score points which was vital for him. Red Bull has inched closer to Brawn on the constructor’s championship and well could actually overtake Brawn by the end of the season.

Brawn GP is going thru a tough phase and though Rubens Barrichello actually had decent pace and managed to come 7th and take those crucial 2 points, what is happening with Jenson Button remains a mystery and after his performance at the beginning of the season, he was expected to have the championship by now but now 3 guys are chasing him and if he manages to drive the same way as he is doing now, he may end up losing the title this year.

McLaren after 2 stunning races was expected to have a very good race but the team had a very poor race with both Hamilton and Kovalainen failing to make Q3. Hamilton crashed out at the first lap of the race while Kovalainen managed to come 6th and now with rumors of Kimi making a dramatic return to McLaren for 2010, his chances of retaining the seat looks very remote.

BMW Sauber is doing all it can to find new buys and the team had a good show with both Kubica and Heidfeld coming in 4th and 5th. It was a very important result for the team and the drivers while Williams should be happy and should thank Rosberg for somehow managing to push the car to 8th as its setup was just not suited for Spa and Rosberg is just making his own profile go up and well based on his performance he will not be a bad bet for McLaren.

Renault once again had a very poor race and with allegations of fixing the race in Singapore by making Piquet crash, things are not going too well for the team and with Alonso on his way out, the team may not make it next year as Renault as they need to something to score some points or the parent company may just pull the plug while RBR has already given enough indication that it will change its engine supplier for 2010.

Toyota continues to baffle everyone as the team which always had a car to win races and even challenge the likes of Brawn and Red Bull is struggling and thanks to poor strategy and inconsistent racing by drivers the team is sitting 5th on the constructors table and if Rosberg continues his amazing show, even Williams can overtake them. STR had a race to forget and they never looked like score points and now they officially the weakest team on the grid and the team looks like it is incapable of scoring any more points for the remaining of the races.

It was once again a very good Belgian GP and though Ferrari never did have the best car on the grid, Kimi drove like a superstar and pulled off a supreme win the team while Force India after missing points due to various reasons finally scored points in a thumping way with Fisi coming in 2nd. All this leads to a very interesting Italian GP in Monza.

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