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Scuderia Ferrari came away from Spa with just a fourth
place thanks to Felipe Massa in a race that was incident
filled and run in changeable weather while an error from
Fernando Alonso ended his race on the kerbs late on. |
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Scuderia Ferrari had
hoped that a race complicated by rain might see its
drivers regain some of the places lost in a less than
satisfactory qualifying performance yesterday. It worked
in part, as Felipe Massa produced a faultless drive to
finish yesterday's Belgian Grand Prix in fourth place, having
started sixth, but Fernando Alonso had a very unlucky
day: on the opening lap, the Spaniard was the innocent
victim, as Rubens Barrichello, in his three hundredth
grand prix appearance, lost control of his Williams,
crashing into the F10 at the chicane, so that Fernando
had to limp back to the pits rejoining in eighteenth
place, after the mechanics fitted intermediate tyres to
deal with rain that was much less intense that expected.
This meant he then had to make a further stop to return
to slicks. From then on, he battled his way up the
order, but it all came to nothing as a weekend of errors
from the Spanish driver ended with spin seven laps from
the flag, that left his F10 beached on a kerb, parked
across the track. The race was won by Lewis Hamilton for
McLaren, with Mark Webber second in the Red Bull, ahead
of the Renault of Robert Kubica. The Scuderia is still
third in the Constructors’ classification, but the gap
to second placed McLaren has now grown. However, two of
the main contenders for the Drivers’ championship,
Sebastian Vettel and Jenson Button failed to score
points today.
The race started in the dry, with pole man Webber slow
to get away, so that Hamilton took a lead he would never
lose throughout the 44 laps, while Felipe had briefly
moved up to fourth as the Safety Car came out after
various incidents, including the one involving Fernando.
When the race resumed on lap 4, the order at the front
was Hamilton, Button, Kubica, Vettel, Webber, Massa. By
this stage, several cars had fitted intermediate tyres,
when a brief shower arrived, although in fact, the track
dried so quickly, that those drivers, including
Fernando, had to re-pit to return to slicks. In the dry,
Fernando started to carve his way through the slower
cars. While Hamilton built up a comfortable lead, behind
him, everyone from Button to Felipe were all very close;
too close in the case of Vettel, who crashed into
Button, forcing the McLaren man to retire on lap 15.
This meant that by lap 17, Felipe was fourth behind the
leading trio and Fernando had moved up to ninth. The
Brazilian pitted for fresh tyres on lap 23, at which
point, Webber moved into second, as Kubica had a poor
pit stop, but not poor enough for Felipe to get by him.
The rain returned on lap 33 and gradually built in
intensity, to the point that extreme rain tyres would be
the ideal choice, but by then Fernando had his spin,
which meant the Safety Car came out again, as his car
was blocking the track, the race resuming for a short
sprint for four laps. Felipe’s fourth place was not
under threat, as for much of the race, the Brazilian had
a lonely race, too far behind to mount a threat for
third place, but comfortably ahead of fifth placed Sutil.
After thirteen races, the positions in the two
classifications remain the same, but the gaps to the
leaders in both the Drivers’ and the Constructors’ are
now more significant.
Stefano Domenicali: “This weekend
definitely did not end well for us, even if Felipe’s
fourth place, at the end of an impeccable and error free
race in conditions that were far from easy, is an
important result. Fernando saw his race compromised
right from the first lap, the unwitting victim of an
accident and then, despite fighting his way up the
order, he ended up off the track in the sort of incident
that can easily happen in a rain-affected race. Apart
from that, and any other considerations, we must
recognise that our performance in this grand prix did
not match our expectations and interrupted a positive
trend that began a few races ago: we have to understand
why immediately and take the necessary countermeasures.
The situation in both championships is certainly more
difficult, but it is still not impossible for us to
reach our targets: for those with short memories, I
remember that three years ago, we found ourselves in a
much worse situation and we all know how it went in the
end.”
Felipe Massa: “I think this is a
positive result and, given the way the race went and the
accidents that put Vettel and Button out of the game, we
can even say we were a bit lucky. This weekend, Red Bull
and McLaren were stronger than us, but we worked well as
a team, making the right choices before and during the
race. Our set-up was a bit more efficient in the dry,
while we suffered a bit in the wet, especially in the
middle sector, while in the first two we were reasonably
competitive. Now we go to Monza, for our home race: we
hope to do well at a track where speed and stability
under braking count for a lot. We will continue to fight
right to the end, even if the situation in the
championship is ever more compromised.”
Fernando Alonso: “The first of the
seven “finals” went badly for me and for two of the
other five finalists, while the remaining two got the
maximum results: that means we will have to make up the
ground lost today somewhere else. At the start, I
immediately made up some places and the signs were that
I could have a good race. Then, I found myself in the
wrong place at the wrong time, when Rubens could not
control his car under braking and crashed into me. I
came straight back to the pits to change the tyres and
to check the car was alright, when we fitted
intermediate tyres, expecting more persistent and harder
rain, but that was not the case. We were
hoping for rain, but when it came it was already too
late to be of much use to me; on the contrary it
prevented me from getting the chance to overtake the
cars which would have had to stop to fit the soft tyres.
Then I went off the track, when I went over a kerb and
that was my race over: a shame even if the points I
could have brought home would not have been a lot. It is
very disappointing, because this is a bad result, but it
does not mean I have given up on my chances of winning
the title.”
Chris Dyer: “Felipe had a good race,
always keeping out of trouble and he made the right
choices, bringing home a good result, given our
performance level in this Grand Prix, which definitely
did not live up to our expectations. However, on the
other side of the garage, the mood is one of great
disappointment, because the lack of points seriously
complicates Fernando’s chances in the title fight. His
race was immediately an uphill struggle, because of the
collision with Barrichello, which meant he had to pit
immediately. At that point we took the gamble of fitting
intermediate tyres, given that we had nothing to lose,
but then we had to bring him in again for dry tyres. It
was a good climb up the order, but in the end he went
off the track in the wet which ended any last chance of
scoring points. Clearly there is much work to do in
order to tackle the remaining six races of the season in
the best way possible.”
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