Belgian Grand Prix Review

The Belgian GP was, easily, the most eventful race in F1 for quite a while. In normal circumstances, the fact that Michael Schumacher took his 52nd Grand Prix victory, the most by any driver in the history of F1, would have dominated the headlines. But instead, the unbelievable performance of Giancarlo Fisichella's Benetton, and the sickening collision between Eddie Irvine and Luciano Burti are the major talking points coming out of Spa.

The nature of this famous track, with its fast, sweeping layout and totally unpredictable weather, always produces drama. To prove the point, on Friday it caught out three of the best. David Coulthard smashed the front end of his McLaren out of Fagnes, Juan-Pablo Montoya crashed on the exit of Les Combes, and Michael himself ploughed into the back of Pedro de la Rosa's Jaguar on the plunge down to Eau Rouge, in what could have been a much nastier accident than what it turned out to be.

What it came down to, ultimately, was a five-minute shoot-out at the end of the qualifying hour, during which on paper a case could have been made for using any type of tyre. While in hindsight Williams obviously picked best by sending both cars out on slicks, I think it is misleading to say that they 'got it right', as if there was a right and wrong answer that the teams could have and should have known. Everyone's tyre choices in those dying minutes was a gamble that could have worked and equally could have failed. Williams' gamble just paid off better than the others.

Heinz-Harald Frentzen's gamble paid rich dividends as well, the Prost ending up an astonishing 4th on the grid. With Jean Alesi and Jarno Trulli in the Jordans down in 13th and 16th respectively, one must have wondered what was going through the minds of Alain Prost and Eddie Jordan. Jacques Villeneuve also benefited, ending up 6th, and while Fisichella in 8th, splitting both McLarens, was a surprise, throughout the weekend his Benetton had shown definite improvement.

There was controversy at the end of the session, though, when Ron Dennis asked for a 'clarification' (read, 'made a complaint') about the final times of 17 cars, including one of his own! Nick Heidfeld had parked his Sauber on the side of the tracks, and yellow flags were out. Usually, this means that cars on a flying lap have to slow down regardless in that area. But none of those 17 cars took any notice, for obvious reasons.

Normally if that happens, and a car records its fastest sector time in that sector on that lap, the time is discounted. But thank goodness that common sense prevailed and the times were allowed to stand. It did make for the most spread out grid for a while (Michael was almost 2.7 seconds off pole, but he was still 3rd on the grid), but most people wouldn't mind. It's good to see a starting order occasionally where faster cars are further down than expected. It means there's actually a chance of some RACING.

The news was not so good for Frentzen and Prost. Let's face it, HHF had been fortunate to qualify so high. His pace in the warm-up had been OK, and considering how hard it is to pass in modern F1 (even on a passing-friendly track like Spa), had he started from 4th and remained quick and reliable throughout the race, then some sorely needed points for the French team was on the cards. He had little hope of this once he was relegated to the back of the pack.

So Ralf was effectively on pole, and he got a clean enough getaway, with Michael and Rubens Barrichello tucking in behind. But amazingly, Fisichella made a terrific start as he has done all year, with or without launch control, and catapulted himself up to 4th ahead of both McLarens, with Villeneuve 5th, although both McLarens would pass the Canadian between Eau Rouge and Les Combes. Jenson Button had also a fantastic start in his Benetton, and both he and Raikkonen tacked on to the back of this group.

Slightly different fuel loads may have been at play, but this was more about Michael's superiority on this most fearsome of tracks, as Barrichello couldn't get past Ralf himself. Meanwhile Benetton's little moment of glory ended as both McLarens passed Fisichella, and both Raikkonen and Villeneuve passed Button, although Jacques and Jenson spent the rest of the afternoon getting left behind everyone else.

Then the major drama of the day, when Burti dived down the inside of Irvine on the left kink approaching Blanchimont, tagging the Jaguar which had unwittingly closed the door. Irvine spun violently into the tyre barrier, and that was bad enough, ripping the left wheels off his car. But Burti had lost his front wing and front-right suspension in the contact, and without steering smashed in head-first, the Prost wedging itself inside and underneath the tyres.

Without wishing to dissect the incident too much, it was really inexperience on Burti's part. The way to make a move on that section of track is to stay in the slipstream and go down the inside into the Bus Stop. But once they had touched, you would have expected the cars to hit the tyres and bounce off them, dissipating energy as a result. The truly awful aspect was to consider the sort of energy passing through Burti's body as he stopped from top speed to zero in a matter of feet.

And without wishing to sound melodramatic, there was an urgency to the rescue that really sent a shiver up the spine. It was like those news pictures of people removing rubble from collapsed buildings looking for survivors underneath. That Irvine agitatedly directed the rescue efforts himself, and who came up with the idea of towing the Prost out of the tyres, added to the poignancy of the moment.

And what must have been going through Barrichello's mind? Here he was, contemplating a major accident to his countryman and friend, and one chillingly similar in terms of the angle of impact to the one which killed his mentor, the great Ayrton Senna. And what about Alain Prost? His trials and tribulations as a team boss has been well documented. He had seen a potentially good result for Frentzen go out the window. And now this. You can forgive him for wondering if it's all worth his while.

But, thankfully, once the car had been pulled out, it was clear that the nose section had remained incredibly intact, even if both side-pods had virtually been ripped off in the impact. It was further good news when Irvine reported that Luciano had been conscious, and when initial reports from the hospital said that the Brazilian was massively bruised but had not suffered any brain swelling or broken bones. The great fear, of course, is of internal injuries in such a crash. We can only hope that Luciano makes a full recovery.

It was time for everyone to get their minds back on the job, but obviously those of the Williams mechanics were off in fairyland. In another twist to what was already a strange race, they left Ralf stranded on the jacks when the parade lap got under way, having had to clear away from the car for fear of being given a stop-go penalty. From being right at the front, both Williams cars were now around the back of the field. How Sir Frank Williams must have been spewing.

At the second start, Michael got away cleanly, but the getaway of the race once again belonged to Fisichella, who made an even better start this time and blasted into second around the outside of Barrichello. Obviously Benetton have their launch control just right, as Button joined in the party and went between both McLarens on the exit of La Source up to a temporary 4th place. Benettons 2nd and 4th behind Ferraris 1st and 3rd. Considering their form in 2001, 'strange' is an understatement.

Coulthard got by Button going into Les Combes, as the second Benetton began dropping back once again. Olivier Panis ran wide in his BAR through Les Combes, and almost got a nasty chop from Jos Verstappen's Arrows as he rejoined the track. This led to a brief but interesting battle between Verstappen, Panis and Ralf, in which Verstappen impressively defended his position for a number of laps, showing those hard and tough racing qualities we have come to expect from Jos the Boss.

The impressive thing in the early stages was that Fisichella was staying ahead of Barrichello, Coulthard and Hakkinen, and was able to do so quite comfortably. Clearly the 111-degree Renault engine is finally making those improvements it promised, whilst Fisichella did his bit by being fast where it counted ­ through Blanchimont and Eau Rouge. His true pace was shown by the fact that, at the first stops, he remained in 2nd (and even led for a lap when Michael came in), whereas it was Barrichello who fell to 5th.

Button also got a raw deal in this race when he eventually crashed in the Bus Stop having lost his front wing over the kerbs on the entry to the chicane, just as Barrichello had done a lap or so earlier. In many years of watching F1, I can often recall cars losing front wings by taking trips over the scenery, but I cannot remember anyone (let alone two!) losing them over mere kerbing. Could this race get any more dramatic?

It could, and it did. While we wondered if someone had accidentally mixed up the BMW and Renault engines this week, Coulthard was now on right Fisichella's tail, but the McLaren's rear wing was conspicuously getting more and more grimy. It was reminiscent of the battle between Villeneuve and Damon Hill in Melbourne in 1996, when Jacques' car kept losing oil. Clearly it was Fisichella's car that was losing oil, and I think it's fair to say that just about everyone in the paddock had their fingers crossed for him.

REJECT OF THE RACE
Ourselves!
For writing off both Benetton and Fisichella, we are the rejects!

Hakkinen was safe in a lonely 4th, while after losing his front wing Barrichello was now behind both Jordans, with Trulli 5th and Alesi 6th. Jarno eventually retired with a few laps to go, and for a man who has been admirably patient despite the Jordan's lack of progress this year, his distraught reaction showed that he is close to breaking point. He would have been mightily pleased to see Benetton's progress!

Rubens pulled the same move on Alesi that Michael had pulled on Ralf, and that DC had pulled on Fisi, and ended up 5th, although his hopes of 2nd in the championship took a dive. Ralf gamely tried to score a point by passing the Frenchman as well, but to his credit Jean resolutely hung on, and kept his stunning streak of classifications alive. After a weekend that promised so much, Ralf would have been bitterly disappointed with 7th.

It would be remiss of us to mention that throughout the race, we were hoping for a miracle that would see Tarso Marques in his last GP (before being replaced by Alex Yoong come 4th), score three points and escape having his profile being put back up on this site. Seeing some of the mayhem taking place early in the race, we thought there might have been a chance. But sadly his Minardi was beset by gremlins throughout the event, and he ended up a lonely 14th, and back in reject status.

After all that, it was time to catch a breath after what had been the most eventful race of the season, for reasons both good and bad. It's the perfect launching pad into the Italian GP, which apart from Monaco is the most atmospheric race of the year. Ferrari at Monza is usually irresistible, but can they hold off the speedy Williams? Will Benetton keep up the improvement? We'll have to wait two weeks to find out. Good thing that ­ I think we all need the time to recover.