Fernando Alonso finished
yesterday's Belgian Grand Prix in fourth place and
Scuderia Ferrari team-mate Felipe Massa ended the
twelfth round of the World Championship in eighth. With
Lewis Hamilton crashing out of this race, the Spanish
Ferrari driver moves up to third in the Drivers’
championship behind the two Red Bull drivers, while
Felipe is still sixth. The team is still third in the
Constructors’ classification with seven rounds
remaining, starting with the home Grand Prix at Monza in
a fortnight’s time.
There had been some discussion on Sunday morning between
teams, the FIA and Pirelli, as some of the top ten
drivers on the grid had blistered their front tyres
during qualifying and wanted to be allowed to change
them, normally not permitted within the rules. In the
end, the FIA stood firm and no changes, either to the
tyres, or to the camber angle of the front wheels was
allowed.
As the lights went out, Rosberg got an amazing start
from fifth on the grid to lead from pole man Vettel.
Felipe also got off the line well going up to third from
fourth while Fernando also charged up to fifth from
eighth. Alguersuari was the first retirement with a
damaged car, having been hit by Senna and actually
pushed into Alonso. Fernando was up to fourth by lap
three getting ahead of Hamilton, as Button and Webber
both had to pit for new noses. On lap 3 Vettel retook
the lead for Red Bull. One lap later the order was
therefore, Vettel, Rosberg, Felipe, Fernando, Hamilton,
Buemi. On lap 5, Felipe was slowed as he tried to pass
Rosberg and this allowed Fernando to get past him and
then Hamilton in the McLaren also passed the Brazilian.
Vettel also made an early stop on lap 5. Lap 7 and
Fernando got past Rosberg to lead the race and with the
Mercedes slowing the pace, Hamilton and Felipe were
losing ground to the Spaniard. Lap 8 and the McLaren man
got past Rosberg, who now had Felipe on his tail in
fourth as Fernando made his first tyre stop, rejoining
behind Webber. Felipe changed tyres on lap 9 and after
Webber had passed Sutil, Fernando got by the German and
the Australian to go seventh behind Petrov. Hamilton
came in from the lead on lap 10, which meant Vettel led
again from Rosberg, who pitted that lap, promoting
Fernando to second. With much of the field yet to pit,
Felipe had plunged down to 13th in a battle with
Schumacher and Maldonaldo ahead of him.
On lap 13 the Safety Car was deployed as Hamilton
crashed into the barriers as he made a move on
Kobayashi. This prompted a rush to the pits for those
who had yet to change tyres. The order as the SC went
round was now Fernando leading from Webber, Vettel,
Massa, Rosberg. When the SC came in Fernando led, but
not for long as Vettel managed to pass him and Rosberg
relegated Felipe to fifth. The arrival of the Safety Car
had not really come at the best of time for the two 150º
Italia drivers.
At half-distance, lap 22, Vettel still led, by 4.4
seconds from Fernando who had Webber 2.2 behind him,
while Felipe was still fifth just 1.5 behind Rosberg.
However, Button was on a charge and on lap 26 he managed
to get the better of both these two, taking the McLaren
to fourth, with Felipe slipping back to sixth. Fernando
made his second stop on lap 29, while his team-mate was
still crawling over the back of Rosberg’s Mercedes.
Vettel, Rosberg, Massa and Petrov all changed tyres on
lap 30, with Button coming in on 32 but at this point,
Felipe was back in pit lane with a puncture and from
then on his race was pretty much over because of the
time lost. The Ferraris were not going well on the
harder tyre and from there on the two 150º Italias lost
some of their sparkle.
With ten of the 44 laps remaining, Vettel led Fernando
by 6.5 seconds, with Webber 4.2 behind the 150º Italia.
But Felipe, having stopped three times, had now dropped
to eleventh behind the Force India of Di Resta. Webber’s
Red Bull clearly had more pace at this stage and by lap
36, the Australian was all over the back of Alonso’s car
and got past on the next lap, comfortably pulling away.
Further back, Felipe was moving up, getting past Di
Resta and then Maldonaldo. With five laps remaining,
Fernando’s next threat came from Button who was closing
in fast in the McLaren and the Spaniard’s podium
challenge ended on lap 42 as the Englishman passed him
to take third place behind the two Red Bulls. In fifth
place and quite some achievement given he started from
the back of the grid, came Michael Schumacher, who was
thus able to celebrate the twentieth anniversary of his
F1 debut here at Spa in fine style. Behind him came his
team-mate Rosberg, with Sutil seventh. Behind eighth
placed Felipe, the remaining points went to Petrov in
the Renault and Maldonaldo tenth in the Williams.
Stefano
Domenicali: “We
definitely cannot claim to be happy with this result,
but we must evaluate it objectively, without letting
emotion get the better of us. We saw our car perform in
two different ways, depending on what tyres it was
running: very good on the Soft, especially with
Fernando, but definitely lacking with the Medium. This
explains how Fernando, who delivered an extraordinary
performance, taking the lead and fighting for the win in
the first stint, then gradually saw what would have been
a very well deserved podium place slip from his grasp.
Felipe began his race in a very aggressive fashion, but
then he paid an even heavier price for our chronic
difficulties on the harder tyre. The Safety Car
definitely did not help, coming out just as our main
rivals were struggling the most, which meant they could
make up for their initial handicap. We know what is our
Achilles Heel and we have to continue to work on it: we
have made up ground in some areas, but on this one – I
refer to the ideal window of operation for the tyres –
we are still lagging behind. Now we go to Monza, our
home race: our objective is unchanged, which means
trying to win. I am convinced we can be on the pace,
while aware of the fact we are up against very strong
opponents.”
Fernando Alonso: “It would have been
difficult to do better than this fourth place today,
especially given how much we suffered on the Medium
tyres: in these conditions, we are a second and a half
slower than the best. Honestly, I didn’t think I had a
real chance of winning, but a podium was within our
grasp. The strategy saw me lead in the early stages, but
then, we knew that in the final part, we would have
struggled more. I had fun in the first stint: the start
was good and then I had some nice duels. A shame about
the podium: it was our target and was possible, despite
qualifying eighth yesterday. Compared to the gap we saw
yesterday in qualifying, the situation was very
different today, but we are well aware that, with
temperatures which were definitely not very hot for
summer time, we paid too high a price. At the moment, we
must congratulate our opponents, who are doing a
fantastic job, but we will not give up, at least until
the mathematics tell us otherwise: we will always try
and win, giving it our best shot, starting in Monza, a
very special event for Ferrari and for all its fans, and
then in all the other remaining races this season.”
Felipe Massa: “It was rather a strange
race for me. In the opening phase I was absolutely in
the fight for the top places, but then I started to have
tyre problems and the car seemed to no longer be so well
balanced. With the Mediums, the situation improved,
maybe also down to an adjustment to the front wing which
we made at the pit stop, but we were not quick enough,
as was clearly evident and by then it was too late. On
top of that, I also had a puncture on the left rear tyre
which meant I had to make another stop. When I found
myself behind Rosberg, I could not pass him, despite the
DRS, because their top speed is very good. Furthermore,
I was struggling especially in the slowest corners – the
final chicane and La Source – and that stopped me from
getting as good a tow as possible. The next event is the
home race for the team, but it is also very important
for me and I really want to get a good result there.”
Pat Fry: “We are not happy and how
could we be at the end of a race in which we were
fighting for a podium finish right up to the final
stages. Unfortunately, we are still seeing a drop in
performance on the hard compound tyres, which is too
much when up against our main rivals. It’s a problem we
have still not managed to fix and which is even more
accentuated once the temperature is rather low. It’s
disappointing for our drivers, as we have not been able
to put them in a position to fight at their best in
every type of condition. From a strategic point of view,
certainly the arrival on track of the Safety Car did not
work in our favour and I don’t think that we could have
made any different choices compared to the ones we went
with. If Fernando had copied Vettel, he would have come
back out on track in traffic and would have lost the
chance to attack for the top spot. After that, there was
no point splitting the second part of Fernando’s race in
two, thus using a third and final set of Softs, because
we would definitely have finished fourth with no hope of
fighting for something better. Now we must prepare as
well as possible for Monza, the Scuderia’s home race.”
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