Belgian GP: Raikkonen wins in Belgium, Michael takes title!
McLaren driver Kimi Raikkonen secured his first win of the season at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit this afternoon, while Michael Schumacher wrapped up his seventh world crown by finishing second. The German champion needed to secure two points over his teammate Rubens Barrichello and the Brazilian’s third place finish meant Michael did just that.
As expected, the Belgian Grand Prix was action packed right from the start when the safety care was deployed on the opening lap. Four drivers were forced to retire before completing the first lap, Mark Webber, Takuma Sato, Gimmi Bruni and Giorgio Pantano. During the fur laps the safety car was on track, several drivers decided to change strategy and make a pit stop, but for two of them, Rubens Barrichello and Felipe Massa, the long delay helped them remain on the lead lap while extensive repairs were performed.
Michael Schumacher slipped back from the start, the German champion dropping all the way to P6, however due to Fernando Alonso’ spinning out of contention from the lead and David Coulthard suffering a punctured Michelin tyre, the Ferrari driver recovered a few places before lap 14.
Exciting racing ensued with Michael Schumacher working his way back up the field. Juan Pablo Montoya loses a place to his teammate after an incident with the slowing Renault of Jarno Trulli. Kimi Raikkonen held a commanding lead until the BAR of Jenson Button suffered a blown Michelin tyre, causing a collision with the sole remaining Minardi of Zsolt Baumgartner.
This called the safety car back to the circuit to enable the marshals to clear away the debris, and just before the restart, the BMW Williams of Antonio Pizzonia comes to a halt. A clean restart saw Kimi Raikkonen retain the lead but just a few laps later, third placed Juan Pablo Montoya became another victim of blown Michelin rubber and drops all the way down the field from his strong third place, limping into the pits to retire.
More drama ensued on lap 39, the McLaren of David Coulthard runs into the back of Christian Klien’s Jaguar, the Scot very lucky to avoid a serious accident. The safety car was deployed for the third time, with just five laps remaining. A lot of superficial damage to the McLaren, but remarkably he pits and rejoins after mechanics fix the damage. The safety car peeled off and the fourth placed Toyota of Ricardo Zonta pulls off with a smoking engine, bad luck for the Brazilian who had run a good race up to fourth after starting dead last.
Just ten drivers finished the race with Sauber drivers Felipe Massa and Giancarlo Fisichella finishing fourth and fifth while Jaguar’s Christian Klien secured his first points of the season with a sixth placed finish. Despite all his problems, David Coulthard finished seventh with the Toyota of Olivier Panis picking up the final points placing.
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