Ferrari Forges Ahead To Their First Victory Of 2009 At The Belgian Grand Prix

This past weekend was a race of different sorts at the Belgian Grand Prix. Qualifying and Race Day results saw significant changes from results in earlier races this Formula 1 season.

This increased competitiveness between teams is making for a dynamic F1 season with five more races on the calendar. Race fans can expect this focus on teams pushing cars to their limit to fuel more exciting racing the rest of the way.

The weekend at the Spa Grand Prix S.A in Francorchamps, Belgium witnessed an interesting qualifying session. The Saturday runs saw a new face emerge to take the pole position for Sunday's race. Team Force India driver Giancarlo Fisichella took the pole, with a fantastic run of 1 minute 46.308 seconds.

Jarno Trulli of Toyota was also impressive with a qualifying time of 1 minute 46.395 seconds. He was just ahead of BMW Sauber's Nick Heidfeld who clocked in at 1 minute 46.500 seconds.

This meant different names at the top of the starting grid for Sunday's race, adding more intrigue to the Grand Prix season. Familiar names such as Britain's Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton, and Red Bull Racing's Mark Webber were conspicuous by their absence from the top positions on the grid.

The Spa-Francorchamps course in Belgium tests the technical finesse of team mechanics and drivers alike. This particular GP racetrack is the longest course on the F1 calendar. The race runs on a circuit that's 7.004 kilometers in length. It is 44 laps in total and the race distance is 308.052 kilometers. The circuit has a Grand Prix (non-championship) history dating back to 1924. However, the revised circuit in use today became part of the Formula 1 Championship calendar in 1983.

A significant feature of the Spa-Francorchamps circuit is the Eau Rouge corner. It demands driver savvy and precise control. This corner is a high-speed one with a drastic elevation change. In fact, this course has an overall reputation for fast corners and long straight-aways that test the mettle of drivers.

Sunday's race saw Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen propel himself to the lead and eventual victory with the aid of his KERS system. KERS is the short-form term for Kinetic Energy Recovery System. Essentially, the mechanism recovers the "kinetic energy" present in waste heat created by an F1 racecar's braking process. KERS then stores that energy and converts it into power. A driver then calls upon that power at strategic points in a race. This power boosts acceleration.

This is exactly what Raikkonen did at the Belgian Grand Prix. On the first lap of the race, he put himself into second place, close to front-runner Giancarlo Fisichella. The first lap of the Belgian Grand Prix saw mishaps occur. This necessitated the Safety Car entering the course. The result was a race slowdown to clear away debris from four cars involved in collisions.

Upon clean up, the Safety Car left the course and racing resumed. Raikkonen used his KERS system to shoot himself past Fisichella on Lap 5. Fisichella, however, refused to give in and pressured Raikkonen for the rest of the Grand Prix race. Ferrari used KERS to their advantage, a system most teams are not using anymore.

The mishaps on Lap 1 were unfortunate for many teams. Brawn-Mercedes' Jenson Button left the race on this lap. Renault's Romain Grosjean spun out and into Button causing both cars retirement's. In addition, Lewis Hamilton of McLaren and Jaime Alguersuari of Toro Rosso retired on Lap 1. Hamilton hit Alguersuari as he tried to avoid the Button-Grosjean affair.

As the Belgian Grand Prix progressed Fisichella and his Force India car fought hard. He applied consistent pressure to the Ferrari of Raikkonen. This brought out the best in Raikkonen who pushed his car to stay ahead with a focused driving effort.

Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel also provided his own kind of pressure. He started eighth on the grid but drove a strong, steady race to finish third. In fact, he closed to within 2.9 seconds of Fisichella at the end of the Belgian Grand Prix. Raikkonen finished 0.9 seconds ahead of Fisichella.

Robert Kubica of BMW Sauber drove a clean race and came in fourth. His teammate Nick Heidfeld was behind him in fifth spot. McLaren's Heikki Kovalainen was a story unto himself. He started in 15th position on Sunday's grid. His team employed a one pit-stop strategy and he drove a consistent race to climb all the way up to sixth spot.

Rubens Barrichello survived early race clutch trouble to secure seventh. Nico Rosberg of Williams put in another solid performance this year. He garnered eighth position and one Championship point.
For Kimi Raikkonen he secured Ferrari's first win of the year and his fourth at Spa-Francorchamps. For Fisichella, he had the honour of securing the first Formula 1 points ever for Force India.

With the Belgian Grand Prix in the books, Jenson Button still maintains his lead in the Drivers Standings. He has 72 points to teammate Rubens Barrichello's 56. Sebastian Vettel sits in third with 53 points.
For the Team Championship, Brawn-Mercedes has 128 points. RBR-Renault has 104.50 points, and Ferrari has 56 points.

Now, the Formula 1 season is heading into the home stretch. Next up is the Italian Grand Prix at Monza on September 13, 2009. With the surprising turn of events this past weekend, who knows what Italy will bring. Whatever it brings, it's sure to add to the drama that's already playing out on the stage that is premier, precision, Formula 1 racing.