::: AutoLanka.com - Articles / F1 Spa Belgium

F1 Spa Belgium - Race Review

SO THERE IS A GOD UP THERE……1 God that is...:) and the German multi champion gets a run for his money in a flat out fight by the flying fin.

As we true F1 fans were complaining of how races were becoming monotonous, Spa turns out to be one heck of a race with all the thrills, frills and the emotions a die hard motor sports fan, especially a F1 fan, would like to see.

A spectacular start with unprecedented carnage before the first lap was even completed, all triggered by webber (though no fault of his). Before the fist lap was completed four cars (a Minardi, a Jordan, a BAR and a Jaguar) was out of the race with a Sauber and a Ferrari in the pits with battle wounds.

Spa brought out the best in every one and lived up to its reputation for being a track that lets only true champions win.

Unlike most other tracks in F1 today, Spa is one where there is high speed driving coupled with ample places for overtaking.

True to their reputation, the Renaults got off to a spectacular start with Trulli leading the way and Alonso getting past Michael into second place. Meanwhile, Coulthard gets in front of Michael as Michael’s Bridgestone tyres were still getting up to correct temperature. This left Raikkonen right up behind Michael and Montoya not too far back.

As the first safety car session came to an end Raikkonen waited to pounce on Michael who now had to start all over and get enough temperature into his Bridgestones. This Raikkonen carried out with blistering speed, with Montoya doing the same, putting Michael into P6.

With (for a change) a Ferrari out of the equation, the front of the race was now a Renault 1 –2 (Trulli and Alonso) and a McLaren 3 – 4 (Coulthard and Kimmi). The racing was awesome with Kimmi showing Coulthard that he was the team’s lead driver and stamped his authority by getting into P3.

Despite the incidences and the many safety car situations, Kimmi showed to us all and all the other F1 teams that given a good enough car, he the “Ice Man” was the next Michael Schumacher.

Other drivers, namely – Pizzonia, Massa, and Fisichella showed their true colours as well putting in an excellent drive. Though I got all emotional and shed a tear for Pizzonia when his brilliant drive was brought to an abrupt end by transmission failure. Pizzonia may have lost a podium finish, but undoubtedly he proved to the F1 world that he is capable of being at the top with the top drivers.

The Renault boys too had a miserable afternoon despite their excellent performance. It was only a few weeks ago the Renault factory had identified a faulty “O” ring and gone through their engines with a fine toothcomb. Sadly though, Alonso’s engine still seemed to find an oil leak to bring his race to an end. Pole starter, Trulli’s efforts was pushed aside as well with Montoya trying to pull off an over ambitious over taking maneuver at the Bus Stop. Though Trulli continued to finish the race, his chances of a better finish were certainly taken away. As I write this article, the F1 stewards are looking into this incident and I certainly hope that they rule against the “Monster”.

BAR Honda went into this race with hopes of getting in front of their rivals Renault in the manufacturer’s points. This was dampened when Sato had to retire in the very first incident and then Button losing his chances of completing the race due to a tire failure. If it is any consolation to BAR Honda, since the Renaults did not score any points either BAR’s chances at a second position for the manufacturer’s championship still remains open.

Toyota too proved that they have a powerful enough engine and that with the correct aero parts and the right combination of capable drivers, this would soon be a team to look out for. Pitty that Zonta’s chances to impress his team went down the drain when his engine cried enough in a cloud of blue smoke towards the very end of then race. Though in my opinion, I feel that he still has a long way to go.

At the end of it all the climax to the eventful race kind of dampened when a few laps before the end yet another safety car situation arose as Button lost his car. Winner of this situation being Rubens who all of a sudden, thanks to the situation, gained close to a minute on P3 Montoya. At the restart kimmi knew exactly what to do and exactly how Michael’s Bridgestones would fair. Taking this advantage to the max Kimmi displayed his contention to be a future champion, by taking a P1 finish almost 1 ½ seasons after Malaysia last year.

Montoya’s demise soon after the restart placed Rubens, who started low down the order, in third.

Though a fitting finish for Michael would have been a podium first finish as he clinched his 7th Driver’s championship I can’t help but wonder where he would have finished had he had his Bridgestones up to temperature as the final safety car session came to an end. Then again, what if there had not been any safety car situations and Kimmi’s car had the more consistant Bridgestones?

Author -Duncan Udawatta,
Gaborone, Botswana (Southern Africa)
duncan@autolanka.com

Race Finish Positions
1.	K.Raikkonen	McLaren Mercedes	Michelin
2.	M.Schumacher	Ferrari	Bridgestone
3.	R.Barachello	Ferrari	Bridgestone
4.	F.Massa	Sauber	Bridgestone
5.	G.Fisichella	Sauber	Bridgestone
6.	C.Klein	Jaguar Cosworth	Michelin
7.	David Coulthard	McLaren Mercedes	Michelin
8.	O.Panis	Toyota	Michelin
9.	J.Trulli	Renault	Michelin
10.	N.Heidfeld	Jordan Ford	Bridgestone

Drivers’ Points		Constructors’ Points
M.Schumacher	128(2004 Champion)	Ferrari	216 (2004 World Champs)
R.Barachello	88	Renault	91
J.Button	65	BAR Honda	83
J.Trulli	46	Williams BMW	54
F.Alonso	45	McLaren Mercedes	49
J.Montoya	38	Sauber	28
K.Raikkonen	28	Jaguar Cosworth	10
D.Coulthard	21	Toyota	9
T.Sato	18	Jordan Ford	5
J.Fisichella	18	Minardi Cosworth	1
R.Schumacher	12
P.Massa	10
M.Webber	7
O.Panis	6
A.Pitzzonia	4
DaMata	3
N.Heidfeld	3
Glock	2
Z.Baumgartner	1

Consumptively perfections heteroepitaxy remodelling adventive rigid bander stoichiometry rented tellurite.