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F1: Kimi Raikkonen wins, Giancarlo Fisichella stars, Sebastian Vettel profits

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Khatir Soltani
From GMM

Kimi Raikkonen won the Belgian grand prix, Giancarlo Fisichella's second place is worth "squillions" to Force India, but the big winner at Spa-Francorchamps was Sebastian Vettel.

The German driver finished third, while his fellow championship rivals struggled.

Jenson Button crashed on the first lap, but his Brawn teammate Rubens Barrichello closed the title battle to within 16 points, with Vettel leapfrogging his Red Bull teammate Mark Webber to take third place in the drivers' standings.

The big headline however is the astonishing Belgian form of Force India's Fisichella, who started from pole but was overtaken down the long Kemmel straight by the KERS-assisted Raikkonen's Ferrari.

But the Roman, whose eight points are worth "squillions" to his Silverstone-based team according to business director Ian Phillips, hung onto his Finnish rival throughout the 44 laps, and the gap at the end was less than a single second.

"I'm a little bit sad because I was quicker than Kimi but he overtook me just because of the KERS. Actually, we could have won the race," Fisichella told reporters afterwards.

During the race, the Italian broadcaster Rai reported that a deal has been struck to see Fisichella, 36, switch to replace the hapless Luca Badoer at the next race at Monza.

"Oh, that's just a rumour as I said yesterday," Italian Fisichella said on Sunday afternoon. "Tomorrow I will be concentrating on Monza with Force India overalls and that's all I can say," he added.

Webber, just out of the points in ninth, had to serve a drive-through penalty when his lollipop-man unsafely released him from a pitstop into the path of Nick Heidfeld.

Barrichello was lucky to finish the race seventh with a heavily smoking Mercedes V8.

Button's first lap crash with Romain Grosjean, who the Brawn driver said "out-braked himself", is being investigated by the stewards, as is the similarly race-ending contact between Lewis Hamilton and Jaime Alguersuari.


Belgium grand prix classification

1 - Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari F60) - 44 laps 1.23'50"955
2 - Giancarlo Fisichella (Force India VJM02-Mercedes) - 0"939
3 - Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull RB5-Renault) - 3"875
4 - Robert Kubica (BMW F1.09) - 9"965
5 - Nick Heidfeld (BMW F1.09) - 11"276
6 - Heikki Kovalainen (McLaren MP4/24-Mercedes) - 32"763
7 - Rubens Barrichello (Brawn BGP001-Mercedes) - 35"461
8 - Nico Rosberg (Williams FW31-Toyota) - 36"208
9 - Mark Webber (Red Bull RB5-Renault) - 36"959
10 - Timo Glock (Toyota TF109) - 41"490
11 - Adrian Sutil (Force India VJM02-Mercedes) - 42"636
12 - Sebastien Buemi (Toro Rosso STR4-Ferrari) - 46"106
13 - Kazuki Nakajima (Williams FW31-Toyota) - 54"241
14 - Luca Badoer (Ferrari F60) - 1'38"177

Best lap: Sebastian Vettel 1'47"263

Retirements:
27° lap - Fernando Alonso
22° lap - Jarno Trulli
1° lap - Jenson Button
1° lap - Romain Grosjean
1° lap - Lewis Hamilton
1° lap - Jaime Alguersuari

Drivers word championship standing:
1.Button 72; 2.Barrichello 56; 3.Vettel 53; 4.Webber 51,5; 5.Raikkonen 34; 6.Rosberg 30,5; 7.Hamilton 27; 8.Trulli 22,5; 9.Massa 22; 10.Kovalainen 17; 11.Glock, Alonso 16; 13.Heidfeld 10; 14.Kubica, Fisichella 8; 16.Buemi 3; 17.Bourdais 2.

Constructors world championship standing:
1.Brawn-Mercedes 128; 2.Red Bull-Renault 104,5; 3.Ferrari 56; 4.McLaren-Mercedes 44; 5.Toyota 38,5; 6.Williams-Toyota 30,5; 7.BMW 18; 8.Renault 16; 9.Force India-Mercedes 8; 10.Toro Rosso-Ferrari 5.





Khatir Soltani
Khatir Soltani
Automotive expert
As a car enthusiast, he tests and compares vehicles from different categories through the eyes of the consumer, ensuring relevant and objective reviews.
  • Over 6 years experience as a car reviewer
  • Over 50 test drives in the last year
  • Involved in discussions with virtually every auto manufacturer in Canada