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Felipe Massa recovered from a poor
qualifying, driving a combative race to
fight his way up from 14th on the grid to
fifth at the chequered flag. |
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“Fernando is
fine.” These are the best three words with which to
start a report on the Belgian Grand Prix, given that the
Spaniard was involved in an accident at the start that
showed how valuable has been all the effort put into
motor sport safety over the past decades. “Felipe fights
hard” would be the next three words, as the Brazilian
recovered from a poor qualifying, driving a combative
race to fight his way up from 14th on the grid to fifth
at the chequered flag. Jenson Button won as he pleased
from pole in the McLaren, joined on the podium by
Sebastian Vettel in the Red Bull with Kimi Raikkonen
third for Lotus. With Hamilton involved in the opening
lap mele, Fernando’s title aspirations have been dealt a
blow, but not quite as hard as expected, helped by the
fact his team-mate kept Webber, who had been the
Spaniard’s closest pursuer, behind him. The Spaniard now
leads the new second placed man, Vettel by 24 points.
The scenic Ardennes forests were bathed in late summer
sun as the cars lined up on the grid, with Fernando
promoted to fifth place after Pastor Maldonaldo had been
given a three place grid penalty for obstructing another
car in qualifying. Felipe was on the other side of the
track in fourteenth spot. The two Ferraris, like all the
field except Hulkenberg and Rosberg, started on the
Pirelli Medium tyre.
The start was disastrous for several drivers including
Fernando Alonso, who gave everyone enough of a scare for
the medical car to rush to his aid in the cockpit before
he got out thankfully unharmed. Second on the grid,
Kamui’s Sauber was smoking and the Japanese driver got
bogged down as the lights went out. Grosjean clipped
Hamilton, which sent the McLaren out of control, which
then crashed into the Lotus, that in turn went over the
top of Fernando’s car as they all ended up parked at the
first hairpin. Maldonaldo had made a lightning start
from Row 3 to go second in the Williams for a brief
moment, but spun at the exit to La Source. It seemed he
had jumped the start. Naturally, the Safety Car was
called out, heading a very unusual looking race order:
Button, Raikkonen, Hulkenberg, Di Resta, Schumacher
fifth from 13th on the grid, then Ricciardo, Vergne,
Senna, Webber and Kovalainen tenth. Behind the Finn,
Felipe was up to eleventh place, with Vettel and Rosberg
behind him.
The restart came on the fifth lap and Felipe soon passed
the Caterham to go tenth, as further up Hulkenberg got
his Force India ahead of Raikkonen’s Lotus to go second.
Meanwhile, a very frustrated Fernando could only watch
the race unfold from his seat in the Scuderia Ferrari
garage. He had been given the all-clear in the circuit
Medical Centre and was fine apart from slight pain in
his left shoulder. As they came to the line to start lap
8, Felipe was unable to fight off Vettel and the
Brazilian dropped to eleventh. Lap 9 and Felipe now had
Webber in front of him, as Vettel had passed his team
mate, and Ricciardo moved to fifth passing Di Resta on
lap 10. Lap 11 and Schumacher took his Mercedes past
Raikkonen to take third place but the Finn and Webber
then pitted. Felipe, Ricciardo and Petrov pitted for
Prime tyres on lap 12. Next time round, Hulkenberg came
in from third.
The leaders had yet to pit and lap 14 saw Vettel pass
Vergne to go third in the Red Bull behind second placed
Schumacher, while Button still led the German by over 11
seconds. There was a collision in the pits as an HRT
pulled into his slot just as Kovalainen was leaving the
Caterham pit. Meanwhile, Felipe was pushing hard in the
F2012, trying to pass the Rosberg Mercedes for eighth
and got past the German at La Source at the start of lap
18. Schumacher finally made his stop on lap 19, so that
Button and Vettel in first and second were the only
front runners not to have changed tyres as we approached
the halfway point of the race. The Red Bull man
inherited the lead as the McLaren pitted on lap 20.
Vettel came in next time round, the last man to pit and
Felipe passed Ricciardo to be sixth.
With everyone having stopped, the order on lap 22 was
Button, Raikkonen, Hulkenberg, Webber, with Felipe
fifth, followed by Vettel, Ricciardo, Schumacher and
Vergne, with Di Resta in tenth, although the Englishman
dropped a place soon after when Senna got by. Felipe was
struggling to find enough pace to fend off Vettel who
got past as the pair crossed the line at the start of
lap 23.
Lap 27, Hulkenberg, Webber and Massa all came in
together for a second and final pit stop. Raikkonen then
came in on 28, as did Ricciardo, while on fresh tyres,
Felipe retook Senna, proving that having fresh tyres was
going to serve the Ferrari man well in the closing
stages. Therefore the situation on lap 30 was that the
lead trio – Button, Vettel and Schumacher – had only
changed tyres once and seemed unlikely to stop again. So
it was a case of whether, on fresh rubber, the chasing
pack, made up of Raikkonen, Hulkenberg, Webber and
Felipe in seventh, could make any more progress in the
remaining 14 laps. Part of the answer came immediately,
as Raikkonen swept past Schumacher to take third, but on
lap 32 the German got back in front. The thrilling duel
continued as on lap 34, the Finn dived inside the
Mercedes on the run up to Eau Rouge. Schumacher was
struggling and came in for a third stop, while Felipe
thus inherited another place and was now fifth behind
Hulkenberg but had his mirrors full of Webber’s Red
Bull. From here to the flag, the Brazilian did an
excellent job of holding off the Red Bull man, which was
important not just for himself but for the championship
aspirations of his team-mate, watching from the
sidelines.
After the race, Fernando said he did not blame Romain
Grosjean for triggering the accident that had everyone
holding their breath. However, the Stewards saw the
situation differently and have banned the Frenchman for
one race and fined him 50,000 Euros.
Stefano Domenicali:
“First, the good news: Fernando is fine. All of us and I
think also all Ferrari fans went through a
heart-stopping moment after the accident, especially as
we could not communicate with him. Only when we saw him
emerge from the cockpit could we let out a first sigh of
relief and then we began to breathe normally when we saw
him make it back to the garage. Clearly, after that came
the great disappointment at what had happened at the
start, because it was within our ability to get the
podium finish that was our target after yesterday.
Today, the F2012 had a good pace, as Felipe
demonstrated, driving a great race. We are happy for
him, because a good result is just what was required at
this point of the season. As for the accident, I can
only say that the judgement falls to the FIA: what is
certain is that, it would be better if, starting with
the junior formulae, rules relating to on-track
behaviour were enforced in an inflexible manner, so as
to have drivers as well prepared as possible when they
reach this, the highest level of motor sport. My duty,
as head of the team is to ensure everyone focuses on
their own tasks, especially at difficult times:
therefore now we must quickly put this day behind us and
look to the next Grand Prix, the one in Monza, a track
that is particularly dear to us.”
Felipe Massa: “It was a nice race and
fifth place is a great result, if you think of where I
started. At the start, I managed to pass both Red Bulls,
but then I had to move right over to the left side to
avoid the tangle of cars that included Fernando and I
lost almost all the ground I had made up in the opening
metres. I am very sorry about what happened to my
team-mate, because I think he could indeed have got a
good result, given the race pace we had. It’s true that
also today, I was suffering a lot in the second sector
but in the first and third I was very quick. The one
stop option was not practicable for us, so we made the
right choice, managing to be very quick when we really
needed to be. I don’t know if this race changes anything
regarding my future, but I am very satisfied, just as I
was very disappointed yesterday afternoon, because on
this track, I have always gone very well. Now we go to
Monza, our home race: the track is different to all the
others and so it is very difficult to predict what the
hierarchy might be among the teams. Of course it would
be wonderful to be competitive and get a great result in
front of our fans who, I’m sure of it, will show us
their passionate support.”
Fernando Alonso: “I’m fine, except my
left shoulder hurts a bit: I went to the medical centre
immediately after the accident but everything is
alright, the pain only comes from the whiplash. I had no
idea what happened: I had overtaken the two Saubers when
I felt as though I had been run into by a train!
Immediately after the impact, I stayed in the cockpit
for a few seconds, but then there was the start of a
fire and the foam from the extinguishers meant I
couldn’t breathe. I tried to tell the team on the radio
that I was alright, but I couldn’t. Now I can say that,
given the misfortune of having had an accident like
this, I am lucky to be able to get back in the car in
just a few days. The level of safety of these cars is
very high and today we saw further proof of that. I am
not angry with Grosjean, he definitely didn’t do it on
purpose: it was a case of me being in the wrong place at
the wrong time. Rather, I think that certain drivers
should try and take fewer risks at the start: it’s a bit
of a tendency currently in the junior formulae, but it
would be better, if right from the start of their
career, they got used to respecting more strictly the
rules relating to behaviour on track. What happened is a
shame, because I think a podium was indeed within my
reach, especially when you see what Felipe demonstrated
on track. Today we paid a high price through bad luck
and luck owes us now: let’s see what happens in the rest
of the season. We lost a bit of the advantage we had
over Vettel, Webber and Raikkonen, but we have lost
nothing to Hamilton who, given how the McLaren went, is
possibly our most dangerous rival. Now we go to Monza,
Ferrari’s home race: traditionally the Reds are always
strong there, so let’s hope we can have a nice weekend
and give our fans something to cheer about, making up
some of the advantage we lost today.”
Pat Fry: “Great regret, but equally or
perhaps even more, a great relief: that would sum up our
emotions at the end of this Grand Prix. The regret is
down to the fact that today we could have brought home a
great result in terms of the championship with Fernando,
especially in the light of a great race from Felipe, who
staged a strong climb up the order with some nice
passing moves. Unfortunately, incidents like the one
that put Fernando out of the race are part of racing,
even it’s not nice to see a driver have to retire after
a few metres, when both he and his team are totally
blameless. The relief obviously stems from the fact
Fernando is fine: it was a very risky situation and
seeing one car fly over his, a few centimetres above his
helmet left us with our hearts in our mouths for a few
tenths of a second. What is not looking so good is his
car: there will be a lot of unexpected work to do for
the guys in Maranello to get it prepared for Monza! From
a technical point of view, the outcome of the race shows
that the McLaren is very strong on very different
circuits like Budapest and Spa, therefore we still have
a lot of work to do to get to their level. Red Bull too
was competitive but I think that Fernando could have had
the better of them if he’d raced. We now look forward to
the special event that is Monza, both because it is the
Scuderia’s home race and also because it is held on a
track that is now unique on the current calendar in
terms of its characteristics. It’s hard to say now if we
will be competitive at the highest level, but clearly we
will do all in our power to succeed.”
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