Belgian Grand Prix – Race

September 11, 2005 by paul
Filed under: Uncategorized

Somewhat delayed race notes – we’ve just got back from a wedding.

Alonso needs four points more than Raikkonen to seal the drivers’ championship, but Kimi won last year.

Track temperature 18°C; air temp 17°C; humidity 92% and it’s almost certainly going to rain.

Grid: JM, KR, JT, FA, RS, MS, FM, JB, MW, TS, DC, RB, GF*, JV, AP, CK, RD, CA, TM, NK.
*Fisichella penalised 10-grid-spots after an engine change.
[qualifying notes]

Looks like they’re all on intermediate tyres, so there must have been a “change in climatic conditions” announced by the FIA.

Pit lane is closed but Albers is still in his box, so he’ll be starting from the pits, losing a whole two places from where he qualified.

As the grid clears, it’s clear that only Karthikeyan is on the rear two rows, meaning Doornbos, Albers and Monteiro are all in the pit lane. (No confirmation from the TSN commentators – not surprising because they’re clueless!)

JM leads the grid away on the formation lap.

CA, sitting in the pit box, is on full wets, but it looks like everyone else is on intermediates.

Is NK in the right grid box?

01/44: JT almost had KR into Turn 1 but KR stays ahead.
TS coming together with RS in the Bus Stop?

02: JM, KR, JT, FA, MS, TS, JB, RS; 9=FM; 10=MW
GF passes MW fairly easily

03: TS creating a queue behind him – he’s falling back from MS

04: Track temperature has dropped ~6°C

05: GF has a look at passing DC in to Les Combes but backs off

06: KR still ~1s behind teammate JM
GF has passed DC for P10

07: Some of the cars are beginning to seek out water to cool their intermediate tyres – could be time for a change soon

08: RS has passed JB for P7
GF has passed FM for P9

09: RD pits
ITV-F1 commentators confirm that Minardi has been sold to Red Bull for next season, so (as expected) Red Bull will have two teams for 2006

10/44: JM, KR, JT, FA, MS, TS, RS, GF; JB=9

11: GF loses it at the top of Eau Rouge and wipes out against the barriers; Safety Car deployed
Everyone’s pitting … and KR is holding them up while his team deal with JM – very smart!
Some (e.g. Williams) are putting on dry tyres, but others are putting on new intermediates.
(You are allowed to change tyres and refuel in one stop provided you’re changing from wet to dry (or dry to wet) tyres, not if you swapping like for like.)
GF is out of the car and OK … but not “velly ‘appy”

12: ITV-F1 report: FA & RB are on intermediates but MS is on dry tyres … and Ferrari are now bringing out intermediates for MS!
TS and JB both pit to put intermediates back on

13: JM, JV, RS, KR, FA, JT, FM, RB
SC in this lap
RS passes JV before the end of the lap, which is illegal!

14: JV runs wide in Turn 1
MS and TS are nose to nose in T1 – they’re both out; MS has a few words with TS
Replay shows TS braked too late and smacked MS, breaking his rear wing
Yellow flags cover T1 but MS+TS are off track just far enough that they don’t need the Safety Car again

15/44: JM, RS, KR, JV, FA, FM, RB, TM; MW=9; JB=10; JT down to 14!
MS walks down the pit lane with a face like thunder

16: MW has passed TM for P8
“Incident involving cars 1 (MS) and 4 (TS) to be investigated after the race”

17: RB closing on FM, the man who’ll replace him at Ferrari next season

18: RS closing on JM – is JM trying to slow RS a bit so that KR can catch them up? (Unlikely)

19: JM, RS, KR, JV, FA, FM, RB, TM
DC’s Red Bull has gone bang on the main straight
Retirements so far: GF, MS, TS, DC

20/44: RS is ~0.8s behind JM; KR is ~6s behind RS
ITV-F1 interview MS – “I’m not very happy” (Duh!)

21: JV pits – he’s the only one who didn’t pit when the SC was out

22/44: JM, RS, KR, FA, FM, RB, MW, JV; JB=9
JM’s lead still ~1s

23: ITV-F1 interviews TS: “very tricky conditions”
JB pushing JV hard for P8
JB drives around the outside of JV in Puhon – very nice move

24: RS pits from P2 … dry tyres going on (he’s the only one – those who changed to dry tyres under the SC changed back almost immediately)
RS loses it at the top of the hill, spins on the grass, but recovers

25: JM, KR, FA, FM, RB, MW, RS, JB
KR ~6s behind teammate JM
RS pits again – going back to intermediate tyres

26: KR now 4.9s behind JM; FA is 11s off KR

27: JM, KR, FA, FM, RB, MW, JB, JV
MW pressuring RB for P5

28: KR continues to close on race leader JM

30/44: NK goes airborne at Les Combes after running off-track when JV squeezes him
NK passes JV as he rejoins, and is trying to keep JV behind, so expend the stewards to investigate
FM pits for dry tyres

31: KR puts in the fastest lap 1:55.848, and JM is now in sight; FA is ~15s behind KR
JM, KR, FA, RB, MW, JB, TM, AP
TM pits – stays with intermediate tyres
FM’s lap time on dry tyres are a couple of seconds off his previous times on intermediates

32: RB pits from P3 – no tyre change

33: KR f/lap 1:55.775 and he’s now just a couple of car lengths off JM (~0.4s)
FA pits from P3 – new intermediate tyres

34: JM pits and passes P1 honours to KR – taking a couple of turns out of the front wing
JB pits from P6 – new intermediates ready but they don’t change them
AP pits from P8 – new inters going on

35/44: KR f/lap 1:53.810 – that’s almost 2s quicker than the previous f/lap!
KR pits – new intermediate tyres going on – good clean stop – KR rejoins with a nice lead over JM

36: Yellow flags out for JT who went off in T7 (didn’t see what happened)

37: KR, JM, FA, RB, JB, MW, RS, AP
KR leads JM by ~6.7s; FA ~16.5s behind JM

38: CK passes FM in T1 for P11

39: JB puts a nice pass on RB into the Bus Stop and takes P4
MW pits – dry tyres going on

40/44: KR, JM, FA, JB, RB, RS, MW, JV

41: CK very close to the back of FA as he tries to unlap himself – FA should just let him go rather than risk an accident
RB pits from P5 – dry tyres going on
There’s a McLaren in the wall! It’s Montoya … and a replay shows AP with his left-front suspension broken … they came together, but how?

42: “Incident involving cars 8 and 10 will be investigated after the race” – that’s AP & JM

43: KR, FA, JB, MW, RB, JV, RS, TM

Final lap: JB is ~10s behind FA

KR takes the chequered flag; FA=P2; 3=JB; 4=MW; 5=RB; 6=JV; 7=RS; 8=TM (1lap down); 9=CK; 10=FM

Just to prove TSN’s commentators are totally clueless, they announce that Webber is third … even though the screen clearly shows it’s Button! Someone dump these morons and give me a job!!

Provisional Results:

Kimi Raikkonen (McLaren)
Fernando Alonso (Renault)
Jenson Button (BAR)
Mark Webber (Williams)
Rubens Barrichello (Ferrari)
Jacques Villeneuve (Sauber)
Ralf Schumacher (Toyota)
Tiago Monteiro (Jordan)

Post-race Interviews:
KR: “I tried to look after the tyres”
FA: “The car was moving a lot in high-speed corners”; “Second place is much better than I started”
JB: “Really struggling with oversteer”; “very fun race”

Points:

F.Alonso	111
K.Raikkonen	86
M.Schumacher	55
J.Montoya	50
J.Trulli	43
G.Fisichella	41
R.Schumacher	37
R.Barrichello	35
J.Button	30
M.Webber	29
N.Heidfeld	28
D.Coulthard	21
J.Villeneuve	9
F.Massa	8
T.Monteiro	7
A.Wurz	6
N.Karthikeyan	5
C.Klien	5
P.de la Rosa	4
C.Albers	4
P.Friesacher	3
A.Pizzonia	2
V.Liuzzi	1
T.Sato	1
A.Donaldson	0
R.Doornbos	0

Renault	152
McLaren Mercedes	146
Ferrari	90
Toyota	80
BMW Williams	59
BAR	31
Red Bull	27
Sauber	17
Jordan	12
Minardi	7

Note: 7th & 8th places not awarded at US GP

Next race: Brazil in two weeks (September 25th). [F1 calendar, 2005]

Update: Pizzonia was fined £4,500 for the crash with Montoya [BBC] and Sato will be demoted 10 places on the grid for the Brazil Grand Prix after he rear-ended Schumacher [BBC].