Raikkonen triumphs at a crazy Spa weekend

Qualifying on Saturday set the tone for the weekend, with Giancarlo Fisichella shocking everyone by getting pole position in his Force India in a session where the likes of Lewis Hamilton, Fernando Alonso and Championship leader Jenson Button failed to get out of Q2.

Fisichella´s fellow Italian Jarno Trulli qualified second in his Toyota, ahead of BMW-Sauber´s Nick Heidfeld. The only Championship contender who qualified in a front-running position was Brawn GP´s Rubens Barrichello, who was fourth, ahead of the second BMW of Robert Kubica. It was the best qualifying result for the BMW team all season.

Mass mayhem marked the start of the race on Sunday, starting with Barrichello´s Brawn stalling on the grid. Ferrari´s Kimi Raikkonen, who had qualified sixth, made use of his KERS system to boost himself up to second, while the other cars got themselves tangled at the first corner. Trulli, Alonso, Heidfeld and Force India´s Adrian Sutil were involved in scuffles which resulted in body contact and both Trulli and Sutil had to make early pit stops. Raikkonen and the two BMWs also managed to run wide during the chaos.

Further down the circuit, at the Les Combes corner, there was more mayhem. Renault´s Romain Grosjean touched Jenson Button´s car slightly, and that sparked a chain reaction which took out Toro Rosso´s Jaime Alguersuari and McLaren´s Lewis Hamilton. All four cars were forced to retire, and the safety car was deployed.

When the safety car went back into the pits after lap four, Raikkonen took advantage of his KERS system again to pull himself ahead of race leader Fisichella, and remained in the lead for the rest of the race. Fisichella however, wasn´t going down without a fight, as he constantly matched the Finn´s pace. Indeed, the Force India proved to be a match for the Ferrari, and if not for KERS, Fisichella could have easily taken back his lead.

Both Fisichella and Raikkonen pitted at the same time, on lap 14, as the Force India team tried to match Ferrari move for move. However, more drama was unfolding right behind them. Red Bull´s Mark Webber and BMW´s Nick Heidfeld went into the pits together, but the Red Bull team released Webber right in front of Heidfeld, nearly taking the German out in the pit lane.

Heidfeld was naturally displeased, and made his feelings known by overtaking the Australian aggressively at Les Combes. Webber was later slapped with a drive-through penalty for unsafe release from his pit stop.

The first corner shenanigans were starting to claim its victims around the lap 23 mark. Jarno Trulli, who started the race from second, was the first to go, with problems in his left rear tyre sustained from the early scuffle forcing him into retirement.

The next victim was Fernando Alonso, who had made huge progress by leaping from 13th on the place on the grid to 3rd during the race. However, as a result of an impact from Adrian Sutil´s Force India on the Renault´s left front tyre, there was a big delay in changing the wheel at the pit stop, which then dropped Alonso down to 14th. Realising that there were problems with the wheel, and not wanting to risk another potential penalty like they had at Hungary, Renault called Alonso in for retirement.

There was still time for one last piece of action though. Barrichello´s Brawn, chasing McLaren´s Hekki Kovalainen in sixth, started to spew smoke with two laps to go. Brawn told the Brazilian to back off, sensing an engine problem, but the chasing Williams of Nico Rosberg, as well as Mark Webber and Toyota´s Timo Glock, were smelling blood and wanted to take advantage. Barrichello however, managed to hold off and grab a valuable two points for his seventh place finish.

At the front, despite Fisichella´s best efforts, Raikkonen managed to reach the chequered flag first, for Ferrari´s first win of the season. Vettel led the two BMWs home in third, fourth and fifth.

Despite not finishing the race, Jenson Button still leads the Championship with72 points, ahead of his teammate Rubens Barrichello, who has 56 points. Vettel´s third place means that he overtakes his teammate Mark Webber into third in the standings, and now sits just three points behind Barrichello.

In the Constructors´ Championship, Brawn GP now has 128 points, ahead of Red Bull Racing, with 104.5 points. Ferrari sits in third place after Raikkonen´s win, with 56 points.

Fisichella´s excellent second place finish however, lifts Force India off the bottom of the standings, the eight points gained helping them overtake the Scuderia Toro Rosso team who has five points. It was definitely a weekend to remember for the Vijay Mallya and the entire Force India team.