Francorchamps, 2 September

“Fernando is fine.” These are the best three words with which to start a report on the Belgian Grand Prix, given that the Spaniard was involved in an accident at the start that showed how valuable has been all the effort put into motor sport safety over the past decades. “Felipe fights hard” would be the next three words, as the Brazilian recovered from a poor qualifying, driving a combative race to fight his way up from 14th on the grid to fifth at the chequered flag. Jenson Button won as he pleased from pole in the McLaren, joined on the podium by Sebastian Vettel in the Red Bull with Kimi Raikkonen third for Lotus. With Hamilton involved in the opening lap mele, Fernando’s title aspirations have been dealt a blow, but not quite as hard as expected, helped by the fact his team-mate kept Webber, who had been the Spaniard’s closest pursuer, behind him. The Spaniard now leads the new second placed man, Vettel by 24 points.


The scenic Ardennes forests were bathed in late summer sun as the cars lined up on the grid, with Fernando promoted to fifth place after Pastor Maldonaldo had been given a three place grid penalty for obstructing another car in qualifying. Felipe was on the other side of the track in fourteenth spot. The two Ferraris, like all the field except Hulkenberg and Rosberg, started on the Pirelli Medium tyre.

The start was disastrous for several drivers including Fernando Alonso, who gave everyone enough of a scare for the medical car to rush to his aid in the cockpit before he got out thankfully unharmed. Second on the grid, Kamui’s Sauber was smoking and the Japanese driver got bogged down as the lights went out. Grosjean clipped Hamilton, which sent the McLaren out of control, which then crashed into the Lotus, that in turn went over the top of Fernando’s car as they all ended up parked at the first hairpin. Maldonaldo had made a lightning start from Row 3 to go second in the Williams for a brief moment, but spun at the exit to La Source. It seemed he had jumped the start. Naturally, the Safety Car was called out, heading a very unusual looking race order: Button, Raikkonen, Hulkenberg, Di Resta, Schumacher fifth from 13th on the grid, then Ricciardo, Vergne, Senna, Webber and Kovalainen tenth. Behind the Finn, Felipe was up to eleventh place, with Vettel and Rosberg behind him.

The restart came on the fifth lap and Felipe soon passed the Caterham to go tenth, as further up Hulkenberg got his Force India ahead of Raikkonen’s Lotus to go second. Meanwhile, a very frustrated Fernando could only watch the race unfold from his seat in the Scuderia Ferrari garage. He had been given the all-clear in the circuit Medical Centre and was fine apart from slight pain in his left shoulder. As they came to the line to start lap 8, Felipe was unable to fight off Vettel and the Brazilian dropped to eleventh. Lap 9 and Felipe now had Webber in front of him, as Vettel had passed his team mate, and Ricciardo moved to fifth passing Di Resta on lap 10. Lap 11 and Schumacher took his Mercedes past Raikkonen to take third place but the Finn and Webber then pitted. Felipe, Ricciardo and Petrov pitted for Prime tyres on lap 12. Next time round, Hulkenberg came in from third.

The leaders had yet to pit and lap 14 saw Vettel pass Vergne to go third in the Red Bull behind second placed Schumacher, while Button still led the German by over 11 seconds. There was a collision in the pits as an HRT pulled into his slot just as Kovalainen was leaving the Caterham pit. Meanwhile, Felipe was pushing hard in the F2012, trying to pass the Rosberg Mercedes for eighth and got past the German at La Source at the start of lap 18. Schumacher finally made his stop on lap 19, so that Button and Vettel in first and second were the only front runners not to have changed tyres as we approached the halfway point of the race. The Red Bull man inherited the lead as the McLaren pitted on lap 20. Vettel came in next time round, the last man to pit and Felipe passed Ricciardo to be sixth.

With everyone having stopped, the order on lap 22 was Button, Raikkonen, Hulkenberg, Webber, with Felipe fifth, followed by Vettel, Ricciardo, Schumacher and Vergne, with Di Resta in tenth, although the Englishman dropped a place soon after when Senna got by. Felipe was struggling to find enough pace to fend off Vettel who got past as the pair crossed the line at the start of lap 23.

Lap 27, Hulkenberg, Webber and Massa all came in together for a second and final pit stop. Raikkonen then came in on 28, as did Ricciardo, while on fresh tyres, Felipe retook Senna, proving that having fresh tyres was going to serve the Ferrari man well in the closing stages. Therefore the situation on lap 30 was that the lead trio – Button, Vettel and Schumacher – had only changed tyres once and seemed unlikely to stop again. So it was a case of whether, on fresh rubber, the chasing pack, made up of Raikkonen, Hulkenberg, Webber and Felipe in seventh, could make any more progress in the remaining 14 laps. Part of the answer came immediately, as Raikkonen swept past Schumacher to take third, but on lap 32 the German got back in front. The thrilling duel continued as on lap 34, the Finn dived inside the Mercedes on the run up to Eau Rouge. Schumacher was struggling and came in for a third stop, while Felipe thus inherited another place and was now fifth behind Hulkenberg but had his mirrors full of Webber’s Red Bull. From here to the flag, the Brazilian did an excellent job of holding off the Red Bull man, which was important not just for himself but for the championship aspirations of his team-mate, watching from the sidelines.

After the race, Fernando said he did not blame Romain Grosjean for triggering the accident that had everyone holding their breath. However, the Stewards saw the situation differently and have banned the Frenchman for one race and fined him 50,000 Euros.