2010 Belgian Grand Prix

  2010 Belgian Grand Prix

Race details[1][2]
Race 13 of 19 in the 2010 Formula One season
Date	29 August 2010
Location	Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, Spa, Belgium
Course	Permanent racing facility
Course length	7.004 km (4.352 mi)
Distance	44 laps, 308.052[3] km (191.415 mi)
Weather	Intermittent rain
Pole position
Driver	Mark Webber	Red Bull-Renault
Time	1:45.778
Fastest lap
Driver	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren-Mercedes
Time	1:49.069 on lap 32
Podium
First	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren-Mercedes
Second	Mark Webber	Red Bull-Renault
Third	Robert Kubica	Renault
Lap leaders

The 2010 Belgian Grand Prix was the 66th Belgian Grand Prix and the thirteenth round of the 2010 Formula One season. It was held at Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps in Spa, Belgium on 29 August 2010.^[4] Williams driver Rubens Barrichello celebrated his 300th Grand Prix.^[5] Lewis Hamilton claimed victory, to take the championship lead from pole-sitter Mark Webber,^[6] who finished second.^[7] Robert Kubica finished in third position, taking his last Formula One podium finish to date.

Report

Background

The race was contested by 24 drivers, in 12 teams of two.^[8] The teams, also known as "constructors", were Ferrari, McLaren-Mercedes, Renault, Mercedes, Force India-Mercedes, BMW Sauber-Ferrari, Red Bull-Renault, Williams-Cosworth, Toro Rosso-Ferrari, Virgin-Cosworth, Lotus-Cosworth, and HRT-Cosworth.^[8]

Before the race, Red Bull driver Mark Webber led the Drivers' Championship with 161 points. Four other drivers were within 20 points (with 25 points awarded for a race victory): McLaren driver Lewis Hamilton on 157; Webber's teammate Sebastian Vettel on 151; Hamilton's teammate and reigning world champion Jenson Button on 147; and Ferrari driver Fernando Alonso on 141.^[9]

The race weekend was the first after the summer break, a four-week gap between races that includes a mandatory two-week shut-down for all teams. The time of the shut-down (at the beginning, the end, or in the middle of the month) is left to the discretion of teams, though the break had proved to be unpopular with some teams, particularly those perceived to be struggling.^[10] After the events of the Hungarian Grand Prix involving an incident between Rubens Barrichello and Michael Schumacher, the stewards found Schumacher to have breached article 16.1 of the sporting regulations earning him a ten place grid penalty at this race.

Bruno Senna wore a plain yellow helmet to advertise for people to design his helmet for the Brazilian Grand Prix.

The race has also been earmarked by several teams – most notably Renault – for the introduction of a passive version of the F-duct system pioneered by McLaren, mostly owing to the high speeds of both the Spa-Francorchamps circuit and the next race in Italy. Unlike many of the other teams who simply tested the system in Friday practice, Renault brought the F-duct to Belgium with the express intention of racing it unless the practice sessions reveal serious flaws in the design.^[11] In addition to this, several teams approached the FIA seeking clarification of the rules following claims that Red Bull and Ferrari had developed flexible aerodynamic parts – namely the front wing – after footage from the race in Hungary showed both the RB6 and F10 running with a front wing closer to the road surface than their rivals despite the long-standing ban on flexible parts. Despite both cars being cleared of illegal parts during scrutineering checks in both Hungary and Germany before it, the FIA announced their intentions to invoke a clause within the rules that would allow them to double the conditions of their flexibility load tests; the direct implication being that Red Bull and Ferrari had developed flexible parts that would only move under higher loadings so as to avoid detection in scrutineering. While less efficient than a wing that would flex under all conditions, such a system would have the advantage of being undetectable by standard testing procedures. Red Bull later passed these new testing procedures and was given the all-clear to race.

Several changes were made to the circuit ahead of the race, including the addition of high kerbs – similar to the ones used on Monza's chicanes and the bottom chicane at Singapore – and an expanded tarmac run-off area at the Les Combes complex, as well as artificial grass being placed on the exit of the La Source hairpin.^[12]

Free practice

Timo Glock hit the wall during the second free practice session.

The Friday practice sessions were inundated with heavy rain, though lap times fell as the day wore on and the track dried out. Fernando Alonso spearheaded Ferrari's campaign in the first session, though the conditions meant that his lap time around the seven-kilometre circuit was still over two minutes. Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton were also quick in the session, with Renault's Robert Kubica using the team's brand-new F-duct to good effect, also placing highly in the session. Despite the conditions, there were no incidents in the ninety minutes of the session. Timo Glock and Virgin Racing led the newcomers, with Lotus struggling to match them on pace, coming under threat from the Hispania of Bruno Senna at one point.

The track rapidly dried out for the second session, which was once again topped by Alonso. Force India's Adrian Sutil was second-fastest, cementing his reputation as one of the sport's best wet-weather drivers, but the team ruled out a repeat of their 2009 performance. After leading the new teams in first practice, Timo Glock crashed out, glancing the tyre barriers. The damage was heavy enough to end his session. Sakon Yamamoto pulled over when a warning light on his Hispania F110 turned on, but the team were unable to find the problem and were uncertain as to whether the car had developed a genuine fault or if it was an error with the light. The session was stopped during the last fifteen minutes following reports of spectators attempting to climb the safety fences near the Les Combes-Malmedy complex and Pouhon, further limiting running in the drying conditions.

The third and final session was still considered to be wet, but a dry racing line had appeared and early times in the session were immediately three seconds quicker than in the second Friday session. Ferrari's dominant streak ended with championship leader Mark Webber fastest before a torrential downpour struck in the second half of the session. Lewis Hamilton was second, with Sebastian Vettel third; Vettel also experienced an unknown mechanical failure and ground to a halt in pit lane. After dominating the Friday practice sessions, Alonso was sixth after an encounter with Jarno Trulli, once again the fastest of the newcomers half a second ahead of Bruno Senna.

Qualifying

The first session was red-flagged almost immediately, with Renault's Vitaly Petrov spinning off the circuit and into the slippery wet grass meaning the Russian failed to set a lap time and would start the race from the very back of the grid. As was the case in Malaysia, the wet qualifying interrupted the natural order of the grid. Lucas di Grassi set a time of almost two minutes and twenty seconds before returning to pit and staying there, but team mate Timo Glock and Lotus rival Heikki Kovalainen both advanced through to the second period. This came at the expense of both the BMW Sauber drivers, with Kamui Kobayashi and Pedro de la Rosa both slipping off the circuit in the changing conditions. They were separated by the Hispania drivers, meaning the first seven drivers eliminated were Trulli, Kobayashi, Senna, Yamamoto, de la Rosa, di Grassi and Petrov. Michael Schumacher narrowly avoided claiming the 24th and last position – after his aggressive driving penalty from Hungary had been applied – by graduating to the second session at the fall of the first chequered flag.

Lucas di Grassi qualified 23rd.

The conditions dramatically improved ahead of the second session with lap times improving by ten seconds almost immediately. The wet conditions played into the hands of Kovalainen and Glock, with the two drivers trading blows with Vitantonio Liuzzi before the circuit dried out and the gap between Lotus, Virgin and the established teams opened itself up. Kovalainen finished 16th and Glock 17th, though a glut of penalties – including one for Glock who was deemed to have blocked Hispania's Sakon Yamamoto – meant that Kovalainen would start the race thirteenth on the grid. Elsewhere, Michael Schumacher narrowly missed the cut for the final session and qualified eleventh, his retroactive penalty meaning he would start the race in 21st; the German was unconcerned following weather forecasts that predicted rain. Nico Rosberg qualified twelfth, but a gearbox change ahead of qualifying netted him a five-place grid penalty of his own. Jaime Alguersuari and Vitantonio Liuzzi qualified thirteenth and fourteenth respectively, but would start the race from eleventh and twelfth by virtue of the Mercedes penalties. Alguersuari's Scuderia Toro Rosso team-mate Sébastien Buemi finished the session 16th overall, but was issued a three-place penalty for blocking Rosberg, but penalties to Schumacher, Rosberg and Glock negated his and the Swiss driver started the race in 16th.

The final session was marked by a shower at the very end that compromised many drivers, particularly Fernando Alonso. The Ferrari driver could only manage tenth over all, his best time half a second slower than Nico Hülkenberg in ninth. Jenson Button also expressed frustration at the shower, but he was still able to qualify fifth. Mark Webber claimed Red Bull's twelfth pole in thirteen races – drawing ever closer to Williams' 1992 record of fifteen poles in sixteen races – ahead of Lewis Hamilton in the second McLaren. Robert Kubica was third, despite a fuel pick-up problem that meant he was only able to complete one flying lap. Sebastian Vettel was fourth ahead of Button, with countrymen Felipe Massa and Rubens Barrichello sixth and seventh. Adrian Sutil claimed eighth ahead of Hülkenberg and Alonso.

Race

The race started with Mark Webber allowing the engine revs to drop too low, causing his RB6 to default to the anti-stall setting and resulting in a poor getaway that demoted him to sixth. At the same time Felipe Massa started slightly ahead of his grid slot, with his error going unpunished.^[13] Lewis Hamilton took the lead with Robert Kubica second, but Kubica's grip on the position relaxed quickly as Jenson Button and Sebastian Vettel passed him. Although the early stages of the lap were clean, the end was considerably less so, with almost every driver in the top ten overshooting the braking zone for the Bus Stop chicane. Fernando Alonso was the only driver to hold on long enough to make the corner, but found himself on the receiving end of an out-of-control Rubens Barrichello, the Brazilian's 300th Grand Prix start ending there and then. Alonso was lucky enough to escape with minor damage, and quickly pitted to change onto wet tyres in anticipation of heavy rain.

The forecasted weather, however, never eventuated save for a few minor spots around the circuit in the early laps. Perhaps learning from the early stages in China, the majority of the field stayed out, predicting that the rain would end almost immediately. Those who were on intermediate or wet tyres were forced to pit again; Alonso was the big loser as he stayed out the longest and his subsequent pit stop shuffled him back down the order. This foreshadowed the rest of his afternoon as he would struggle to find his way through the field.

Defending champion Jenson Button was in second place by the first corner; however a crash with Vettel on lap 16 led to his retirement.

Bruno Senna was the second retirement of the afternoon, his Hispania F110 returning to the pits and staying there with a mechanical fault. His retirement was overshadowed by that of Jenson Button at the hands of Sebastian Vettel; on the approach to the Bus Stop, the Red Bull driver was spotted weaving aggressively behind the 2009 World Champion. He ran too deep into the corner and lost control, effectively throwing himself into a spin whilst still travelling in a straight line. In a collision similar to his collision with Webber in Istanbul, Vettel's inevitable trajectory saw him make contact with Button. Vettel was able to pit almost immediately, but the damage to Button's McLaren was catastrophic, destroying his sidepod, and with it his radiator. Vettel was subsequently handed a drive-through penalty – his second in as many races – for causing an avoidable accident. Button's retirement and Vettel's double pit stop promoted Robert Kubica back to second and a recovering Mark Webber up to third.

Whatever hopes Kubica might have had of reeling in Hamilton at the restart were quashed as the McLaren driver opened up a sizeable gap within minutes of the restart, and the race order quickly established itself. Further down the field, Ferrari's hopes rested on Felipe Massa as he battled with the Force India of Adrian Sutil. However, the biggest winners of the race were the Mercedes drivers and Vitaly Petrov. Despite their penalties and qualifying accidents respectively, Schumacher, Rosberg and Petrov spent the entire race from the restart running in the points. Others were not so lucky; Nico Hülkenberg made an unscheduled stop with a clutch problem, whilst several drivers explored the gravel traps around the circuit. Meanwhile, Vettel undid his dash through the field when he made contact with Vitantonio Liuzzi – again at the Bus Stop chicane – and developed a slow puncture. Where Liuzzi was able to pit straight away, Vettel was forced to limp around the circuit for the majority of a lap before having his delaminated tyre replaced.

Lewis Hamilton won the race to take the drivers' championship lead from Mark Webber.

The unpredictable Belgian weather reared its head once more towards the end of the race, with teams trying to balance the need to pit against the predicted rain; if they pitted too early, they risked wasting a pit stop, but if they stayed out on the circuit for too long, their tyres would eventually lose all grip. This strategy played into the hands of the Mercedes drivers, who elected to stay out as long as possible and thus preserve sixth and seventh place when the expected downpour arrived in spectacular fashion. The back half of the circuit was inundated within minutes, with the tricky conditions catching leader Lewis Hamilton out as he slid off the edge of the circuit at Rivage, brushing the outer wall with his left-front wheel; Pedro de la Rosa would have a similar experience several laps later at Stavelot. Fernando Alonso was the fourth and final retirement, making a mistake as he exited the Les Combes-Malmedy complex. Alonso ran wide and strayed onto the artificial grass strip lining the outside of the corner where he lost all grip and spun into the wall, his Ferrari coming to rest perpendicular to the circuit and triggering the second safety car.

The final chapter of the race came with a twist as the race leaders pitted for wet tyres. Despite his off-track excursion, Hamilton was able to pit cleanly; the second-placed Kubica was less fortunate. Overshooting his pit box, the Renault mechanics were forced to scramble to realign themselves with Kubica's position and lost second place to Webber. The three drivers would remain in that order as they crossed the finish line. Massa finished fourth, ahead of Sutil and the Mercedes of Rosberg and Schumacher, who had a late position swap at Les Combes. Kamui Kobayashi claimed eighth ahead of Petrov, with Jaime Alguersuari taking the tenth and final points-scoring place on offer after de la Rosa's off-track excursion removed him from contention.

The effect of the race result was to stretch the field out even further; with Button and Alonso failing to finish and Vettel failing to score points, Hamilton and Webber were able to build a twenty-point buffer over the other drivers. And while the race result meant Red Bull retained their grip on the World Constructors' Championship lead, Hamilton's victory meant that lead was cut down to a single point. Kubica's podium and Petrov's two-point haul were not enough to claim any ground on Mercedes, whilst Force India further extended their lead over the non-scoring Williams drivers.

Classification

Qualifying

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Part 1	Part 2	Part 3	Grid
1	6	Mark Webber	Red Bull-Renault	1:57.352	1:47.253	1:45.778	1
2	2	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren-Mercedes	1:56.706	1:46.211	1:45.863	2
3	11	Robert Kubica	Renault	1:56.041	1:47.320	1:46.100	3
4	5	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull-Renault	1:58.487	1:47.245	1:46.127	4
5	1	Jenson Button	McLaren-Mercedes	1:57.981	1:46.790	1:46.206	5
6	7	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	1:58.323	1:47.322	1:46.314	6
7	9	Rubens Barrichello	Williams-Cosworth	1:55.757	1:47.797	1:46.602	7
8	14	Adrian Sutil	Force India-Mercedes	1:58.730	1:47.292	1:46.659	8
9	10	Nico Hülkenberg	Williams-Cosworth	1:55.442	1:47.821	1:47.053	9
10	8	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari	1:57.023	1:47.544	1:47.441	10
11	3	Michael Schumacher	Mercedes	1:56.313	1:47.874		21^1
12	4	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	1:54.826	1:47.885		14^2
13	17	Jaime Alguersuari	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	1:58.944	1:48.267		11
14	15	Vitantonio Liuzzi	Force India-Mercedes	2:01.102	1:48.680		12
15	16	Sébastien Buemi	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	2:00.386	1:49.209		16^3
16	19	Heikki Kovalainen	Lotus-Cosworth	2:01.343	1:50.980		13
17	24	Timo Glock	Virgin-Cosworth	2:01.316	1:52.049		20^4
18	18	Jarno Trulli	Lotus-Cosworth	2:01.491			15
19	23	Kamui Kobayashi	BMW Sauber-Ferrari	2:02.284			17
20	21	Bruno Senna	HRT-Cosworth	2:03.612			18
21	20	Sakon Yamamoto	HRT-Cosworth	2:03.941			19
22	22	Pedro de la Rosa	BMW Sauber-Ferrari	2:05.294			24^5
23	25	Lucas di Grassi	Virgin-Cosworth	2:18.754			22
24	12	Vitaly Petrov	Renault	no time^6			23
Source:[14]

Notes:

1. ^ Michael Schumacher served a ten-place grid penalty for aggressive and dangerous driving at the Hungarian Grand Prix.
2. ^ Nico Rosberg was given a five-place grid penalty for changing his gearbox ahead of qualifying.
3. ^ Sébastien Buemi was issued a three-place grid penalty for blocking Nico Rosberg.
4. ^ Timo Glock was issued a five-place grid penalty for blocking Sakon Yamamoto.
5. ^ Pedro de la Rosa was given a ten-place grid penalty for changing his engine and exceeding his eight-engine limit.
6. ^ Vitaly Petrov failed to set a time in qualifying after spinning and nudging the tyre barriers in the first qualifying session.

Race

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	2	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren-Mercedes	44	1:29:04.268	2	25
2	6	Mark Webber	Red Bull-Renault	44	+1.571	1	18
3	11	Robert Kubica	Renault	44	+3.493	3	15
4	7	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	44	+8.264	6	12
5	14	Adrian Sutil	Force India-Mercedes	44	+9.094	8	10
6	4	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	44	+12.359	14	8
7	3	Michael Schumacher	Mercedes	44	+15.548	21	6
8	23	Kamui Kobayashi	BMW Sauber-Ferrari	44	+16.678	17	4
9	12	Vitaly Petrov	Renault	44	+23.851	23	2
10	15	Vitantonio Liuzzi	Force India-Mercedes	44	+34.831	12	1
11	22	Pedro de la Rosa	BMW Sauber-Ferrari	44	+36.019	24
12	16	Sébastien Buemi	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	44	+39.895	16
13	17	Jaime Alguersuari	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	44	+49.457^1	11
14	10	Nico Hülkenberg	Williams-Cosworth	43	+1 Lap	9
15	5	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull-Renault	43	+1 Lap	4
16	19	Heikki Kovalainen	Lotus-Cosworth	43	+1 Lap	13
17	25	Lucas di Grassi	Virgin-Cosworth	43	+1 Lap	22
18	24	Timo Glock	Virgin-Cosworth	43	+1 Lap	20
19	18	Jarno Trulli	Lotus-Cosworth	43	+1 Lap	15
20	20	Sakon Yamamoto	HRT-Cosworth	42	+2 Laps	19
Ret	8	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari	37	Accident	10
Ret	1	Jenson Button	McLaren-Mercedes	15	Collision	5
Ret	21	Bruno Senna	HRT-Cosworth	5	Suspension	18
Ret	9	Rubens Barrichello	Williams-Cosworth	0	Collision	7
Source:[8]

Notes:

1. ^ Jaime Alguersuari received a 20-second time penalty in lieu of a drive-through penalty after cutting the Bus Stop chicane.^[15]

Championship standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Lewis Hamilton 182 2 Mark Webber 179 3 Sebastian Vettel 151 4 Jenson Button 147 5 Fernando Alonso 141

Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 Red Bull-Renault 330 2 McLaren-Mercedes 329 3 Ferrari 250 4 Mercedes 146 5 Renault 123

• Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.

References

1. "2010 Formula 1 Belgian Grand Prix". Formula1.com. Formula One Management. 29 August 2010. Archived from the original on November 1, 2010. Retrieved 3 January 2011.
2. "Belgian Grand Prix". Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile. 29 August 2010. Archived from the original on 15 December 2010. Retrieved 3 January 2011.
3. "2010 FIA Formula One World Championship: Circuit and lap information" (PDF). fia.com. Paris: Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile. 2010-03-04. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 31, 2010. Retrieved 2010-08-30.
4. Baxter, Elsa (2009-09-22). "Bahrain Grand Prix first of 2010 F1 calendar". Arabian Business (ITP Publishing Group). Retrieved 2010-08-25.
5. Collantine, Keith (2010-08-26). "Rubens Barrichello marks 300th Grand Prix start (Belgian GP Thursday pictures)". F1 Fanatic (Keith Collantine). Archived from the original on 28 August 2010. Retrieved 2010-08-27.
6. Weaver, Paul (2010-08-28). "Mark Webber takes pole for Belgian grand prix as Red Bull maintain run". The Guardian (Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, Spa, Belgium: Guardian Media Group). Archived from the original on 31 August 2010. Retrieved 2010-08-30.
7. Rae, Richard (2010-08-29). "Lewis Hamilton wins incident-packed Belgian Grand Prix". BBC Sport (BBC). Archived from the original on 29 August 2010. Retrieved 2010-08-29.
8. "2010 FORMULA 1 BELGIAN GRAND PRIX - Race Results". formula1.com. Archived from the original on 26 October 2014. Retrieved 28 December 2015.
9. "2010 Championship Classification". Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile. Archived from the original on 15 December 2010. Retrieved 3 January 2011.
10. "Mercedes' Haug not a fan of August shutdown". motorsport.com (GMM). 2010-08-04. Retrieved 2010-08-25.
11. Noble, Jonathan (2010-08-19). "Renault confirms F-duct for Spa". autosport.com (Haymarket Publications). Archived from the original on 22 August 2010. Retrieved 2010-08-25.
12. Noble, Jonathan (2010-08-24). "Modifications made to Les Combes". autosport.com (Haymarket Publications). Archived from the original on 25 August 2010. Retrieved 2010-08-25.
13. Noble, Jonathan; Rencken, Dieter (2010-09-02). "Massa grid error prompts FIA probe". autosport.com (Haymarket Publications). Archived from the original on 4 September 2010. Retrieved 2010-09-04.
14. "2010 FORMULA 1 BELGIAN GRAND PRIX - Qualifying Results". formula1.com. Archived from the original on 8 July 2014. Retrieved 28 December 2015.
15. "Alguersuari penalised – Liuzzi gets tenth". pitpass.com (Pitpass). 29 August 2010. Archived from the original on 5 September 2010. Retrieved 29 August 2010.

External links