2009 Belgian Grand Prix

 2009 Belgian Grand Prix

Racing data
12th of 17 races in the 2009 Formula 1 World Championship
Surname:	LXV ING Belgian Grand Prix
Date:	August 30, 2009
Place:	spa
Course:	Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps
Length:	308.052 km in 44 laps of 7.004 km
Weather:	slightly cloudy
Spectator:	~ 55,000
Pole position
Driver:	Giancarlo Fisichella	Force India-Mercedes
Time:	1: 46.308 min
Fastest lap
Driver:	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull-Renault
Time:	1: 47.263 min (lap 38)
Podium
First:	Kimi Raikkonen	Ferrari
Second:	Giancarlo Fisichella	Force India-Mercedes
Third:	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull-Renault

The 2009 Belgian Grand Prix took place on August 30th at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps in Spa and was the twelfth race of the 2009 Formula 1 World Championship .

Reports

background

After the European Grand Prix , Jenson Button led the drivers' standings with 18 points ahead of Rubens Barrichello and 20.5 points ahead of Mark Webber . Brawn -Mercedes led the constructors' championship with 27.5 points ahead of Red Bull- Renault and with 80 points ahead of Ferrari .

With Kimi Raikkonen (three times) a former winner competed in this Grand Prix.

training

In the first free practice session it started to rain after a short time, making it impossible for the pilots to improve their lap times. Jarno Trulli thus achieved the fastest lap more through luck than through performance. In the second free practice session, which took place under dry conditions, world champion Lewis Hamilton secured the lead just ahead of Timo Glock . Kimi Raikkonen came in third . Nick Heidfeld set the fastest lap in the third free practice, ahead of Jarno Trulli and Adrian Sutil .

Qualifying

In the first section of qualifying, Giancarlo Fisichella set the fastest lap. The Toro Rosso pilots, Nakajima , Grosjean and Badoer were eliminated. With Trulli, an Italian was again at the top of the field in the second qualifying period. The McLaren drivers, Sutil, Alonso and Button didn't make the leap to the last section. In this one, Fisichella surprisingly took pole position in the Force India . It was the first ever pole position for Force India and the first for Fisichella since the 2006 Malaysian Grand Prix . Trulli completed an Italian front row in second place. Heidfeld followed in third place, who at 32 years of age was the youngest of the first four drivers.

run

Driver parade before the race

At the start, Fisichella kept the lead, whereas otherwise there were some postponements. Barrichello almost stopped and was overtaken by most of the drivers. Raikkonen started well and improved to third place behind Robert Kubica . The Finn passed Kubica on the Kemmel Straight and took second place. There were two collisions in the back field: Grosjean turned Button off the track and Jaime Alguersuari collided with Hamilton. For all four drivers the race was over on the spot. The safety car then came out to rescue the vehicles.

Jenson Button retired in this race for the first time of the season

When the race restarted , Raikkonen was able to drive right behind Fisichella after La Source . Out of the slipstream , Raikkonen pulled past Fisichella with the help of KERS on the Kemmel Straight and took the lead. Until his pit stop on the twelfth lap, BMW Sauber driver Kubica stayed behind the two leaders. Raikkonen and Fisichella pitted at the same time in the 14th lap. The pit stop did not change the order. Also on lap 14, Mark Webber and Nick Heidfeld stopped, who almost collided in the pit lane after Webber had received the signal from his pit team to continue driving too early. Webber was immediately given a drive-through penalty for this offense by the race management. After Sebastian Vettel and Nico Rosberg had led the race in the meantime, Räikkönen took the lead again in front of Fisichella after the Germans stopped.

The race went badly for Jarno Trulli, who had figured his chances of victory before the race. After falling back to last place after a repair stop on the first lap, he was unable to overtake Luca Badoer and then had to retire in the pit lane. Badoer had no chance at the end of the field for the entire race, but with the help of a flat front wing he set the fastest time in the first sector several times.

Starting with a heavy car, Fernando Alonso had meanwhile moved up to third place behind Raikkonen and Fisichella. After problems with the fastening of his left front tire at Alonso's pit stop, the Renault team decided to take its driver out of the race for safety reasons.

Kimi Raikkonen won his first race of the season in Belgium

Fisichella was able to follow Raikkonen's Ferrari without any problems, but was unable to overtake him. The last pit stop of the two should lead to a decision about victory. Both drivers completed their second pit stop on the same lap and this time Raikkonen stayed ahead of the Italian.

In the meantime, after the lead duo's pit stop, Vettel had worked his way back to the top of the field. With a late pit stop, the German came back on track in third place and after his stop drove the fastest race lap several times.

In the end, Raikkonen stayed at the top and won another Formula 1 race after more than a year. It was also the first win for Scuderia Ferrari this season. Fisichella scored the first points and the first podium finish for the Force India team in second place. Third was Vettel, who was able to make up a few points on his rivals in the fight for the world title. With Kubica in fourth place and Heidfeld in fifth place, the BWM-Sauber team achieved its best result of the season. Sixth place went to Heikki Kovalainen , who was using a one-stop strategy. Seventh place was saved by Brawn driver Barrichello, who had an engine problem in the final laps and his car started to burn at the finish. Rosberg secured the last point.

Registration list

team	No.	driver	chassis	engine	tires
Vodafone McLaren Mercedes	01	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren MP4-24	Mercedes-Benz 2.4 V8	B.
	02	Heikki Kovalainen
Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro	03	Luca Badoer	Ferrari F60	Ferrari 2.4 V8	B.
	04th	Kimi Raikkonen
BMW Sauber F1 Team	05	Robert Kubica	BMW Sauber F1.09	BMW 2.4 V8	B.
	06th	Nick Heidfeld
ING Renault F1 Team	07th	Fernando Alonso	Renault R29	Renault 2.4 V8	B.
	08th	Romain Grosjean
Panasonic Toyota Racing	09	Jarno Trulli	Toyota TF109	Toyota 2.4 V8	B.
	10	Timo Glock
Scuderia Toro Rosso	11	Jaime Alguersuari	Toro Rosso STR4	Ferrari 2.4 V8	B.
	12	Sébastien Buemi
Red Bull Racing	14th	Mark Webber	Red Bull RB5	Renault 2.4 V8	B.
	15th	Sebastian Vettel
AT&T Williams	16	Nico Rosberg	Williams FW31	Toyota 2.4 V8	B.
	17th	Kazuki Nakajima
Force India F1 Team	20th	Adrian Sutil	Force India VJM02	Mercedes-Benz 2.4 V8	B.
	21st	Giancarlo Fisichella
Brawn GP Formula 1 team	22nd	Jenson Button	Brawn BGP 001	Mercedes-Benz 2.4 V8	B.
	23	Rubens Barrichello

Classifications

Qualifying

Item	driver	constructor	Q1	Q2	Q3	begin	Weight in kg
01	Giancarlo Fisichella	Force India-Mercedes	1: 45.102	1: 44.667	1: 46.308	01	648.0
02	Jarno Trulli	Toyota	1: 45.140	1: 44.503	1: 46.395	02	656.5
03	Nick Heidfeld	BMW clean	1: 45.566	1: 44.709	1: 46,500	03	655.0
04th	Rubens Barrichello	Brawn Mercedes	1: 45.237	1: 44.834	1: 46.513	04th	644.5
05	Robert Kubica	BMW clean	1: 45.655	1: 44.557	1: 46.586	05	649.0
06th	Kimi Raikkonen	Ferrari (K)	1: 45.579	1: 44.953	1: 46.633	06th	655.0
07th	Timo Glock	Toyota	1: 45.450	1: 44.877	1: 46.677	07th	648.5
08th	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull-Renault	1: 45.372	1: 44.592	1: 46.761	08th	662.5
09	Mark Webber	Red Bull-Renault	1: 45.350	1: 44.924	1: 46.788	09	658.0
10	Nico Rosberg	Williams-Toyota	1: 45.486	1: 45.047	1: 47.362	10	670.0
11	Adrian Sutil	Force India-Mercedes	1: 45.239	1: 45.119	-	11	678.5
12	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren-Mercedes (K)	1: 45.767	1: 45.122	-	12	693.5
13	Fernando Alonso	Renault	1: 45.707	1: 45.136	-	13	684.4
14th	Jenson Button	Brawn Mercedes	1: 45.761	1: 45.251	-	14th	694.2
15th	Heikki Kovalainen	McLaren-Mercedes (K)	1: 45.705	1: 45.259	-	15th	697.0
16	Sébastien Buemi	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	1: 45.951	-	-	16	685.0
17th	Jaime Alguersuari	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	1: 46.032	-	-	17th	704.5
18th	Kazuki Nakajima	Williams-Toyota	1: 46.307	-	-	18th	706.1
19th	Romain Grosjean	Renault	1: 46.359	-	-	19th	704.7
20th	Luca Badoer	Ferrari (K)	1: 46.957	-	-	20th	691.5

(K) = racing car with KERS

run

Item	driver	constructor	Round	Stops	time	begin	Weight in kg	Fastest lap
01	Kimi Raikkonen	Ferrari (K)	44	2	1: 23: 50.995	06th	655.0	1: 47.674 (42nd)
02	Giancarlo Fisichella	Force India-Mercedes	44	2	+ 0.939	01	648.0	1: 47.737 (43rd)
03	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull-Renault	44	2	+ 3.875	08th	662.5	1: 47.263 (38.)
04th	Robert Kubica	BMW clean	44	2	+ 9.966	05	649.0	1: 47.664 (41st)
05	Nick Heidfeld	BMW clean	44	2	+ 11.276	03	655.0	1: 47.371 (35.)
06th	Heikki Kovalainen	McLaren-Mercedes (K)	44	1	+ 32.763	15th	697.0	1: 48.348 (24.)
07th	Rubens Barrichello	Brawn Mercedes	44	2	+ 35.461	04th	644.5	1: 48.257 (37.)
08th	Nico Rosberg	Williams-Toyota	44	2	+ 36.208	10	670.0	1: 47.766 (41st)
09	Mark Webber	Red Bull-Renault	44	3	+ 36,959	09	658.0	1: 47.783 (39.)
10	Timo Glock	Toyota	44	2	+ 41,490	07th	648.5	1: 47.736 (40th)
11	Adrian Sutil	Force India-Mercedes	44	2	+ 42.636	11	678.5	1: 47.859 (42nd)
12	Sébastien Buemi	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	44	2	+ 46.106	16	685.0	1: 47.763 (42nd)
13	Kazuki Nakajima	Williams-Toyota	44	1	+ 54.241	18th	706.1	1: 48.205 (42nd)
14th	Luca Badoer	Ferrari (K)	44	1	+1: 42.177	20th	691.5	1: 49.803 (41st)
-	Fernando Alonso	Renault	26th	1	DNF	13	684.4	1: 48.634 (23.)
-	Jarno Trulli	Toyota	21st	2	DNF	02	656.5	1: 50.029 (16.)
-	Jenson Button	Brawn Mercedes	00	0	DNF	14th	694.2	-
-	Romain Grosjean	Renault	00	0	DNF	19th	704.7	-
-	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren-Mercedes (K)	00	0	DNF	12	693.5	-
-	Jaime Alguersuari	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	00	0	DNF	17th	704.5	-

(K) = racing car with KERS

World Cup stands after the race

The first eight of the race got 10, 8, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2 and 1 point (s) respectively.

Driver ranking

Item driver constructor Points 01  Jenson Button Brawn Mercedes 72, 0 02  Rubens Barrichello Brawn Mercedes 56, 0 03  Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 53, 0 04th  Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 51.5 05  Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 34, 0 06th  Nico Rosberg Williams-Toyota 30.5 07th  Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 27, 0 08th  Jarno Trulli Toyota 22.5 09  Felipe Massa Ferrari 22nd, 0 10  Heikki Kovalainen McLaren-Mercedes 17th, 0 11  Timo Glock Toyota 16, 0 12  Fernando Alonso Renault 16, 0

Item driver constructor Points 13  Nick Heidfeld BMW clean 10, 0 14th  Giancarlo Fisichella Force India-Mercedes 8th, 0 15th  Robert Kubica BMW clean 8th, 0 16  Sébastien Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari 3, 0 17th  Sébastien Bourdais Toro Rosso-Ferrari 2, 0 18th  Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes 0, 0 19th  Kazuki Nakajima Williams-Toyota 0, 0 20th  Nelson Piquet Jr. Renault 0, 0 21st  Luca Badoer Ferrari 0, 0 22nd  Jaime Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari 0, 0 23  Romain Grosjean Renault 0, 0

Constructors' championship

Item constructor Points 01  Brawn Mercedes 128, 0 02  Red Bull-Renault 104.5 03  Ferrari 56, 0 04th  McLaren-Mercedes 44, 0 05  Toyota 38.5

Item constructor Points 06th  Williams-Toyota 30.5 07th  BMW clean 18th, 0 08th  Renault 16, 0 09  Force India-Mercedes 8th, 0 10  Toro Rosso-Ferrari 5, 0

Web links

Commons : Belgian Grand Prix 2009  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Weekend statistics at Motorsport-Total.com