Championship contenders Kimi Raikkonen and Fernando Alonso finished first and second in Sunday’s Belgian Grand Prix run in typical Spa conditions on a mainly damp track throughout. It should have been a McLaren one-two, but early leader and poleman Juan Pablo Montoya collided with Williams’s Antonio Pizzonia who was a lap down with four laps to go, elevating a hard-charging Jenson Button to third place. Mark Webber finished fourth having changed to dry tyres, ahead of Rubens Barrichello, who had done the same after his wets overheated. Michael Schumacher ran fifth early on, but retired from tenth following a collision with Takuma Sato.

The track was still wet after earlier rain when the start was given although it wasn’t raining. Poleman Montoya went straight into the lead with Jarno Trulli trying hard to overtake Kimi Raikkonen but actually being demoted by the Finn and Alonso by Les Combes on the first lap. Trulli retook Alonso, while teammate Ralf Schumacher lost out to Michael and both BAR-Hondas. He was followed by Massa, then Webber who lost two places on the next lap to Coulthard and Fisichella.

During the opening stages, the McLarens eased away from Trulli who in turn pulled away from Alonso, whose handling wasn’t perfect for the conditions. Michael was pulling away nicely, as Sato held up Ralf who overtook the oversteering Button. He was also overtaken by Giancarlo Fisichella, but on lap 11, going through the Raidillon, the Italian went off hard into the barriers and out of the race, prompting the intervention of the safety car.

Ralf Schumacher had already made a pit stop but nearly everyone now came into the pits. Several drivers changed to dry tyres but came into change them back to intermediates again on the next lap, including Michael Schumacher, Sato, Coulthard, Webber, Button, Pizzonia, Trulli and Klien. On his new tyres, Michael was in front of Sato but the Japanese driver ran into the back of the Ferrari at La Source when the safety car went in, putting them both out of the race. Montoya now led from Villeneuve who hadn’t pitted, but the Sauber driver went wide at La Source letting Ralf up into second place from Montoya in third. Villeneuve rejoined fourth ahead of Alonso. Massa was next, falling back, tailed by Barrichello.

Villeneuve eventually stopped just before half distance, while Ralf stopped just after half distance, pitting from second place and promptly spinning at Les Combes, necessitating another pit stop. So the McLarens were one-two, Montoya ahead of Raikkonen, although the Finn was bringing down the gap rapidly as the neared the second stops.

Alonso was a distant third place, and Massa an even more distant fourth, although he would be the first to make a second stop. Button was next, the car going much better with more rear wing. Tiago Monteiro was next. Barrichello stopped on lap 31, and like most others soon after, went out on intermediate tyres again. Alonso and Webber came in on lap 32, Montoya on lap 33 with Button, who stayed on the same tyres, and then Raikkonen on lap 35.

When he emerged, the Finn led his teammate by nearly seven seconds and was easily pulling away. Alonso was still third from Barrichello fourth. Button was next having overtaken Webber. This prompted the Australian to pit for dry tyres at the same time that the charging Button overtook Barrichello. Pizzonia also pitted for dries a lap later, while Barrichello and Ralf Schumacher came in with just four laps to go. At the same time, Montoya tangled with Pizzonia, the Brazilian finding the Colombian going slowly –he had been losing handfuls of time to Raikkonen - and braking really early, which prompted the collision.

Raikkonen then ran out a 28.394s winner from Alonso who in turn was just 3.6s ahead of Button.
 

Webber, on his dries, was next but more than 30s behind after his pit stop, from Barrichello who lost places to both Button and Webber in the final stages with his pit stop. Villeneuve salvaged sixth place from Ralf in seventh, while Monteiro was an excellent eighth.

Jean Todt: “This was a chaotic and confusing race. We hoped to exploit the unusual weather conditions but this year, it seems that even the luck that can be a fundamental part of motor racing will not come our way. Maybe we have had too much of it in the past few years, but I hope we can now get back in credit on this score as quickly as possible. At the start of the race, Michael was a front runner, while Rubens who had started from further back, was struggling a bit. When the Safety Car came, out we tried to gamble on dry tyres on Michael’s car, but very quickly, he realised the car was impossible to drive in these conditions. So another stop was needed to go back to rain tyres, but Michael’s race lasted just one more lap, when he was hit by Sato in the braking area for La Source. This meant all our hopes rested with Rubens, who had moved into the points by this stage. His race was going normally, but when his rain tyres began to go off significantly, he had to pit again to fit dry ones with just a few laps remaining. The time he lost doing this and in getting the dry tyres up to temperature cost him fourth place.”

Rubens Barrichello: “Unfortunately we did not have enough speed today and that was a problem throughout the race. The decisions we made regarding tyre choice were good, as were the decisions about when to make the pit stops. That is the only reason why we managed to bring home some points. At one point we felt it was better to stay on the rain tyres as although they were getting slick they seemed to be working better. Unfortunately, after this stage had passed, the tyres went off quite a bit and I had to stop to change them. Then I lost fourth position because getting the dry tyres warm at the end was very difficult and Webber overtook me very easily. Considering everything that happened today, coming home with four points is not bad.”

Michael Schumacher: “Every accident is unnecessary but this one seemed more unnecessary than usual. Obviously I am not happy about it, I did not see anything and just felt a bump at the rear of the car. It was stupid to finish the race like this when we had hoped that the mixed conditions might help us. We decided to try the dry tyres but it was immediately obvious that it was like driving on ice. We tried to be competitive today and we got a bit closer to that goal, but not close enough.”

Ross Brawn: “It was a day when some opportunities presented themselves, but we did not take all of those that came our way. At the beginning of the race we held our positions but we were not that strong. Then, we thought we would take a chance and try dry tyres on Michael’s car when the Safety Car came out, but he realised there was no way he could drive on them. The lap times seemed to indicate that “dries” would work, but for some reason they did not and we had to change back immediately. Then, to finish it off, came the accident with Sato. Rubens struggled at the beginning of the race, then the car got better. But towards the end we tried to stay on the wet tyres, but they got too hot and changing to dries cost us a position. The only good thing is we have slightly increased our lead over Toyota.”

Race Result: Rubens Barrichello: 5th + 1.18.136 44 laps chassis 248; Michael Schumacher: R lap 14 13 laps chassis 249; Temperatures: air 17 °C, track 19 °C