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SPOILER ALERT: McLaren and Ferrari embroiled in more controversy at the Belgian GP
by Noah Joseph on Sep 9th 2008 at 11:28AM 
Upsets, upsets and more upsets. The Formula One racing world thought it had put the politics between Ferrari and McLaren to rest, but the controversy between the two front-running teams reared its ugly head once more at this past weekend's Belgian Grand Prix at Spa. Follow the jump to read how the weekend's events unfolded, and how the race results were turned on its head once again.
Gallery: 2008 F1 Belgian Grand Prix
The Tifosi were elated to see their reigning champion Kimi Raikkonen recovering from his dry spell until the rain set in. After once again managing to qualify no better than fourth place, Raikkonen moved up to second place on the first lap and proceeded to jump into first place, taking a commanding lead for the lion's share of the race.
But with only three laps to go before the finish line, the skies opened up and rain poored down on the Spa-Francorchamps circuit. Both Raikkonen and championship leader Lewis Hamilton, running close behind, ventured to stay out on their dry tires in an effort to retain position over the closing laps. The gamble paid off for Hamilton, but not for Raikkonen.
The closing laps saw heated action between the two drivers, one passing the other and then slipping back behind as the two played leap-frog on the rain-soaked track. At one point Hamilton cut a chicane and took the lead. Kimi subsequently lost control on the exit from the Blanchimont corner and hit the barriers, taking the reigning champ out of the race after a dramatic performance.
Hamilton sailed to the checkered flag and seemed to have further secured his position at the front of the championship, but the race marshals ruled that in cutting the chicane, the young British driver had taken an illegal advantage. They retroactively penalized the McLaren protégé with a virtual drive-through penalty of 25 seconds off his finishing time, thereby revoking his trophy and moving him down the finishing order to third place.
The ruling handed the win to Raikkonen's teammate, Felipe Massa (above), who had maintained his distance from the combatant pair and crossed the line behind Hamilton after his team-mate's crash. Nick Heidfeld, meanwhile, had likewise maintained a quick pace and passed a disappointed Fernando Alonso for third place. Heidfeld was then retroactively moved up to second after Hamilton's penalty.
The surprise performance, however, came from Sebastien Bourdais. The French driver was keen to secure his race seat with Toro Rosso in light of his teammate Sebastian Vettel's strong performance this season, and before the rain had managed to move up to a commendable third place, only to be passed in the wet by both BMWs and Alonso's Renault to finish a more sobering but still admirable seventh place.
Leaving Belgium, Hamilton retains his lead in the drivers' championship with 76 points, but with Massa trailing right behind with 74. The disappointing crash has caused Kimi Raikkonen to slip down to fourth position for the title with 57 points, with BMW's Robert Kubica narrowly elevated to third with 58. Ferrari, however, retains its lead in the constructors' championship with 131 points to McLaren's 119 and BMW Sauber's 107.
The drivers' title is now in close contention as the circus packs up and heads for Monza for the Italian Grand Prix this coming weekend.
2008 Belgian Grand Prix
1 Felipe Massa Ferrari
2 Nick Heidfeld BMW Sauber
3 Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes
4 Fernando Alonso Renault
5 Sebastian Vettel STR-Ferrari
6 Robert Kubica BMW Sauber
7 Sebastien Bourdais STR-Ferrari
8 Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault
9 Timo Glock Toyota
10 Heikki Kovalainen McLaren-Mercedes
11 David Coulthard Red Bull-Renault
12 Nico Rosberg Williams-Toyota
13 Adrian Sutil Force India-Ferrari
14 Kazuki Nakajima Williams-Toyota
15 Jenson Button Honda
16 Jarno Trulli Toyota
17 Giancarlo Fisichella Force India-Ferrari
18 Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari
Fastest lap: Raikkonen, 1:47.930
Not classified/retirements:
Rubens Barrichello Honda
Nelsinho Piquet Renault
World Championship standings
(after 13 rounds)
Drivers:
1. Hamilton 76
2. Massa 74
3. Kubica 58
4. Raikkonen 57
5. Heidfeld 49
6. Kovalainen 43
7. Trulli 26
8. Alonso 23
9. Webber 19
10. Glock 16
11. Vettel 13
12. Piquet 13
13. Barrichello 11
14. Rosberg 9
15. Nakajima 8
16. Coulthard 6
17. Bourdais 4
18. Button 3
Constructors:
1. Ferrari 131
2. McLaren-Mercedes 119
3. BMW Sauber 107
4. Toyota 41
5. Renault 36
6. Red Bull-Renault 25
7. Williams-Toyota 17
8. Toro Rosso-Ferrari 11
9. Honda 14
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Jack 11:37AM (9/09/2008)
I love how you miss out how Hamilton immediately gave the place back to Kimi as per regulations and that the penalty is up for appeal.
If your going to write an article on an event that happened 3 days ago you could at least get it right.
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Brian 12:07PM (9/09/2008)
Couldn't have said it better myself.
Franz 12:35PM (9/09/2008)
Trust me, for the first time in about 20 years I felt like I wouldn't watch F1 anymore. The only people supporting this ruling are the Ferrari fanboys... everyone else realizes that the FIA screwed up possibly the best race of the year.
Franz 1:59PM (9/09/2008)
Ok guys, watch this. This a video of Schumi doing the exact thing at Hungary in '06, and he never gave the position back. There was no penalty.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5UnPeyzcHM
Astropods 3:29PM (9/09/2008)
I agree, I've been a huge F1 fan and made sure to watch every race this year but now I don't even care how the season ends up. What good are races like the one this week if it's ruined by the easily perceived Ferrari biased meddling? The FIA is all about power, money and politics and has no idea that F1 should be about racing. I feel for us fans and the drivers stuck in this huge corporate monster just wanting to race and watch good racing while a bunch of greedy people use F1 as a way to get rich off of us and try to make us feel like a bunch of morons. Now how about a good Ferrari FIA French prostitute party to rub our noses in what some real money and power can buy.....
why not the LS2LS7? 3:38PM (9/09/2008)
Someone also did it at Monaco a few years back. Kept cutting the chicane more and more each lap, catching up a half second on the person he was following each lap. Eventually, he just cut the chicane completely and pulled off a pass. No penalty.
I wish I could remember who it was. My brain tells me it was a Ferrari, but it could be playing tricks on my.
Franz 4:00PM (9/09/2008)
I keep going back to the fact that McLaren contacted Race Control twice, to ask if Lewis had given back the position to Kimi in a way that was in accordance to the rules, and Race Control confirmed twice that he was in the clear and that they saw no problem with the move. Team McLaren was more than prepared to radio to Lewis and tell him to allow Kimi to pass him again if it was required, but Race Control said they were good to go... only for the FIA to decide the race on paper later. I really have to wonder how some people think this decision is a fair one.
judd 11:42AM (9/09/2008)
Here's Sir Jackie Stewart's take...and I agree 100% with him.
http://www.itv-f1.com/News_Article.aspx?id=43880
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JD 12:59AM (9/11/2008)
It is pretty alarming how political and inconsistently penalties are applied there, and I'm a Ferrari fan. I did not know that the stewards are different race to race, it seems obvious that they have the cash to spare to have full time, dedicated staff. I would also like to know who told McLaren it was ok- something tells me it wasn't Charlie Whiting, but I'm curious as to who it was.
I was wondering at the time, it didn't really look like Hamilton had really given the position back all the way, but this is still a little harsh. But if I'm not mistaken, Ron and Bernie don't get along quite so much- and Bernie is a bad person to be enemies with when he quite literally owns the sport you're racing in. And he's also a rich, pompous, incredibly political prick. But that's beside the point, right?
Allan 11:42AM (9/09/2008)
"At one point Hamilton cut a chicane and took the lead. Kimi subsequently lost control on the exit from the Blanchimont corner and hit the barriers"
Not entirely accurate... well, you're missing a big part of it anyway.
Ya, Hamilton cut a chicane and got around him, but it wasn't with the purpose of passing him (did you see the rain?). And he immediately knew what he had done and slowed to let Kimi pass him and then got behind him. And then after he had let Kimi regain his place, Hamilton pulled out and passed him again.
He did advance his position going through the chicane - but immediately gave it back up. And THEN passed Kimi legitimately. The penalty is BS, IMO.
And none of that even had anything to do with Kimi spinning into the wall. That was later on in the lap.
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why not the LS2LS7? 11:49AM (9/09/2008)
The purpose is not critical. It's whether you went off course and gained advantage from it, even inadvertently. The stuff about letting the other car pass back isn't "as required in the rules", it's merely an attempt to avoid the "gained advantage from it" portion that triggers penalties. If Hamilton let him pass back but still gained advantage, then he could still be penalized. The stewards say that Hamilton would not have been able to pass Raikkonen back again so quickly (critical since the race was near its end) if he hadn't gained advantage by going off course.
Okay, enough of that.
This penalty is completely valid in the eyes of F1 because Hamilton is in a McLaren and Raikkonen is in a Ferrari. It's simply not allowed for other cars to pass Ferraris.
Allan 11:43AM (9/09/2008)
* > your spam crap
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drunkenpublicness 11:45AM (9/09/2008)
Having watched the overtaking incident over and over again, I still cannot see what else Hamilton could have done. Kimi forced Hamilton into cutting the curb by not giving him any room what so ever on corner entry. Hamilton gave Kimi the position back and he was still penalized! BTW, no mention was made or penalty assessed of Kimi passing Hamilton under yellow! This sport is becoming more corrupt each and every day.
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nsu300zxtt 11:49AM (9/09/2008)
Hamilton cut the chicane at the bus stop because Raikkonen pushed him wide (fairly). So, Hamilton had to choose between crashing them both out or cutting the chicane
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jkendall 11:58AM (9/09/2008)
So far, nearly every major racing personality who has taken a public position has stated the penalty is unfair and/or ludicrous. When Niki Lauda states, "This is the worst judgment in the history of F1." it should mean something.
Given that Massa escaped without a drive through penalty for Ferrari's actions in the pits at the prior race and not to mention Kimi's crash at Monza that didn't get ANY penalty at all, this is a real joke as far as F1 officiating is concerned. Max and the FIA are so deep into Ferrari's rear that Max's hair should be brown!
I read on SPEED's site a great saying .... "You can't spell FIAT without FIA." So true (and I am a huge Ferrari fan).
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jkendall 11:58AM (9/09/2008)
Sorry, make that Kimi's crash at Monaco (brain was already thinking ahead to this weekend).
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why not the LS2LS7? 11:52AM (9/09/2008)
What about the pit controversy?
http://f1.gpupdate.net/en/news/2008/08/25/ferrari-boss-defends-pit-stop-actions/
I mostly post this to stroke my own ego/push my own agenda. Formula 1 must adopt the same rules as IRL/Champ Car which say that if a team injures a member of their pit crew during a pit stop, the penalty is mandatory exclusion. You can't have teams cutting corners on stops to save time and injuring people. If you don't penalize the teams, they will optimize for time, leading to more and more injuries. The rules explicitly state a team must not release the car from a pit stop until it is safe and gives 3 penalties for it, none of which were assessed to Ferrari (as usual for Ferrari).
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Franz 12:41PM (9/09/2008)
I'm glad you brought this one up, because it just highlights the inconsistency and bias towards Ferrari. Bruno Senna was given a drive through penalty in GP2 at Spa for the exact same offense that Massa and Ferrari got a meager fine for. And that could potentially cost him the championship. If anyone needed more proof about the FIA's bias towards Ferrari then look no further than this call.
stoosh 11:59AM (9/09/2008)
F1 = Ferrari Won.
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noodlz 11:56AM (9/09/2008)
Worst call I've ever seen in F1 history. Hamilton would've had a good line coming out of the chicane if he wasn't forced off by Kimi in the first place. If anything, he was disadvantaged by having to cut the chicane and give the position back.
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