Well that was all jolly exciting wasn’t it? Throw in a little bit of unpredictable rain and it doesn’t matter how many hours you spend in a wind tunnel or how many gazillions of Euros you throw away on man hours and computer hardware. Stick a car on a wet track and the lord only knows where it’ll go. Petrov found out the hard way the just because the track looks dry, the painted curbs may very well not be. Barrichello found out that just because you’ve done 300 races you still have to break earlier in the wet and that a Ferrari does not make for a good emergency break. Whilst Webber found out that being on Pole is no guarantee of a clean start and an easy race.
Hamilton made it all look easy in the end, but for a missed apex in turn one of qualifying, he’d have cleaned up with Pole, fastest lap and the win. As it was Webber grabbed pole before the Rain on Saturday and then failed yet again to turn it into a win.
Off the line on Sunday he forgot to engage 1st gear and got swallowed up by the pack as it swept down the hill into Eau Rouge for the first time. Hamilton accepted the open goal and drove off into the distance, only to be caught out with the rest of the field into the bus stop chicane at the end of the lap, the promised rain had duly arrived on time to make the bus stop and start/finish a skating rink
Luckily he didn’t come a cropper and continued on. Barrichello in his 300 GP failed miserably to react in time, when he hit the brakes the Williams locked up and ploughed into Alonso who had started in 10th after gambling on a wet set up. Alonso got spun and ended up at the back of the field and dived into the pits for wet weather tires. As it turned out this was the wrong move and he had to return for slicks not long after to begin a very long afternoon.
This left Button behind a disappearing Hamilton with Vettel, Kubica, Webber and Massa behind. Button had clipped Kubica and broken his front wing at the start, so was holding up the faster Vettel through the twisty middle section until lap 16. When Vettel, in a moment of utter stupidity, attempted to sell Button a dummy into the bus stop tripped over himself and speared into the side of the unfortunate Brit taking Button out and dropping the German to the back of the field.
This left Kubica and Webber to try and catch Hamilton who was 10 seconds up the road. They chased hard but never really got close enough to challenge. Meanwhile Petrov who had started at the back of the grid was making his way back into the top ten and Mickey who had been dropped 10 places on the grid for trying to kill Barrichello before the break, was attempting to drive his team mate off the circuit this time out.
It was pretty quite then until the rain started falling with 10 laps to go. Hamilton ran out of road at Malmedy, but kept it going and made it back just ahead of Kubica and Webber in 3rd. Hamilton and the McLaren boys managed to stop and fit the inters with no problems at all. Kubica however, forgot that slick tires on wet road man break earlier, clattered into his pit crew and lost 2nd place to Webber who, like Hamilton had no dramas.
And that as they say was it. Alonso capped a miserable afternoon but slowly spinning at the top of the hill and collected the barrier, breaking the suspension whilst denting pride and the chance to win the championship. Meanwhile Vettel, not content to take Button out for which he’s got a driver through penalty for being a cock, but he drove into Liuzzi and then tried to drive the car on full wets in a light shower. He was lucky to make 15th in the end and championship chances are looking very shaky these days.
So Hamilton wins and tricky race with a fine drive and now leads the championship.
Webber picks up 2nd with a bit of luck and a fair wind. It’s starting to look like a 2 horse race between these two now, though the tracks to come are weighted in favour of the Redbull rather than the McLaren.
Kubica misses 2nd but a wet pit road and it still pretty happy with 3rd. It’s a good result and shows the Renault is now one of the big boys. No chance of a championship, but he can still take points away from the top 5 and may have a part to play in the races to come.
Massa gets 4th after Alonso cocks it all up. He didn’t look like taking the fight to the McLaren, Redbull or Renault, but kept it on the island and that’s what counts.
Sutil in 5th avoided the carnage and kept more fancied runner behind him all day. The Force India has a lot of grunt in a straight line and should go well at the next race in Monza as well.
Rosberg in 6th despite losing bits of his front wing when Mickey chopped him at the top of the hill, he drove a solid race from the back end of the grid following a gear box change on Saturday and continues to beat his 7 times world champion team mate with ease.
The former great 7 times world champion comes home in 7th after trying to drive his team mate off the track. When will he just go home?
Kobayashi continues to pick up points for Sauber in 8th. Japanese drivers normally go to pieces in the rain and cause all sorts of mayhem. But Kobay’ kept it all sweat and didn’t make a mess of anything.
Petrov does a good job of showing how good the car is in the right hands in 9th. Fell off the circuit on the first lap of qualifying, but made amends and drove through the carnage to salvage some pride at least. But it’s still points lost in a top 5 car.
10th for Liuzzi after Alguersuari is given a 20 seconds penalty for something or other, I have no idea what a frankly don’t care anymore. I’ve been writing this for hours and I want to go to bed.
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