Results of the 2008 Belgium F1 Grand Prix
Fans at a wet Spa circuit this weekend could not have asked for a more thrilling finish, with all eight points finishers changing positions within the last two laps thanks to sudden rain. And even the podium was reshuffled afterwards when Lewis Hamilton was relegated to third after race stewards penalised his finish by 25 seconds.
This was a race Kimi Raikkonen needed to win and should have but his race-long lead was robbed from him in the rain and then a series of comical incidents ended with him crashing out. This left his team mate Felipe Massa to finish behind Hamilton while Nick Heidfeld overtook four drivers to snatch third at the end.
After a dramatic final lap in the rain, Fernando Alonso finished fourth after a risky pitstop, Sebastian Vettel finished fifth, Robert Kubica sixth, Sebastien Bourdais seventh in the other Torro Rosso and Mark Webber eighth.
With a drying track, drivers struggled on the first lap and there was chaos at the first corner that bumped Raikkonen up two places from fourth on the grid, while his fellow Finn, Heikki Kovalainan, dropped from third to tenth. Pole sitter Hamilton skidded later on and gave the race lead to Raikkonen who built an eventual 5 second lead, thanks to his mastery of this circuit and some favourable traffic that split them at the first pit stop.
You would have thought Hamilton would have played it safe, content to finish ahead of his main rival Massa, but he closed the gap and eventually pulled an audacious overtaking move that eventually cost him. Forced to run wide and cut the corner, he emerged onto the track ahead of Raikkonen, let him retake the position according to the rules and then struck back to snatch the lead. It wasn't over there, as Raikkonen immediately fought back and as they approached a Williams back marker, confusion reigned as Raikkonen narrowly avoided an accident.
By now the rain was strong enough to turn their slicks in 'ice-skates' and Raikkonen's determination resulted first in a spin from which he recovered and remained within range of Hamilton, but a lap later he lost control and crashed out. Meanwhile the order behind him was rapidly changing in the conditions. Fernando Alonso gave up fourth to dash in for different tyres, emerged eighth and fought back to his original position.
Hamilton 'tiptoed' around the track to safely take the chequered flag while Nick Heidfeld - a master in the wet - stormed through the field to gain his first podium in ages.
McLaren have appealed the 25 second penalty, and the decision from the stewards has elicited cynical criticism that Ferrari once again comes out seemingly favoured. As it stands, Massa has closed the gap on his rival to just two points, and will almost certainly be Ferrari's number one hope, effectively closing Raikkonen's chances of a second Drivers' Championship this year. The gap between the two teams is currently 12 points with five races remaining.
Results from Spa
1. Felipe Massa (Brz) Ferrari one hour 22 minutes 59.394 seconds
2. Nick Heidfeld (Ger) BMW Sauber 9.383 seconds behind
3. Lewis Hamilton* (GB) McLaren-Mercedes at 10.539secs
4. Fernando Alonso (Spa) Renault 14.478
5. Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Toro Rosso-Ferrari 14.576
6. Robert Kubica (Pol) BMW Sauber 15.037
7. Sebastien Bourdais (Fra) Toro Rosso-Ferrari 16.735
8. Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull-Renault 42.776
9. Timo Glock** (Ger) Toyota 67.045,
10. Heikki Kovalainen (Fin) McLaren-Mercedes one lap behind
11. David Coulthard (GB) Red Bull-Renault one lap
12. Nico Rosberg (Ger) Williams one lap
13. Adrian Sutil (Ger) Force India-Ferrari one lap
14. Kazuki Nakajima (Jpn) Williams-Toyota one lap
15. Jenson Button (GB) Honda one lap
16. Jarno Trulli (Ita) Toyota one lap
17. Giancarlo Fisichella (Ita) Force India-Ferrari one lap
18. R Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) Ferrari two laps
R Rubens Barrichello (Brz) Honda 19 laps completed
R Nelson Piquet (Brz) Renault 31 laps
* 25 seconds penalty for cutting a chicane
** 25 seconds penalty for ignoring yellow warning flags