2007 Belgian Grand Prix Explained

Type:F1
Country:Belgium
Grand Prix:Belgian
Date:September 16
Year:2007
Race No:14
Season No:17
Official Name:2007 Formula 1 ING Belgian Grand Prix
Location:Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, Francorchamps, Wallonia, Belgium[1]
Course:Permanent racing facility
Course Mi:4.352
Course Km:7.004
Distance Laps:44
Distance Mi:191.492
Distance Km:308.176
Weather:Partly cloudy, mild and dry
Pole Driver:Kimi Räikkönen
Pole Team:Ferrari
Pole Time:1:45.994
Pole Country:Finland
Fast Driver:Felipe Massa
Fast Team:Ferrari
Fast Time:1:48.036
Fast Lap:34
Fast Country:Brazil
First Driver:Kimi Räikkönen
First Team:Ferrari
First Country:Finland
Second Driver:Felipe Massa
Second Team:Ferrari
Second Country:Brazil
Third Driver:Fernando Alonso
Third Team:McLaren-Mercedes
Third Country:Spain
Details Ref:[2]

The 2007 Belgian Grand Prix (officially the 2007 Formula 1 ING Belgian Grand Prix)[3] was the fourteenth race of the 2007 FIA Formula One World Championship, returning to the Formula One calendar after a year's absence. It was held on 16 September at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, near the village of Francorchamps, Wallonia, Belgium.

Report

Background

Going into the race, McLaren driver Lewis Hamilton led the Drivers' Championship by three points from teammate Fernando Alonso and Scuderia Ferrari led the Constructors' Championship by 57 points from BMW Sauber after the exclusion of McLaren from the Constructors' Championship following the Ferrari/McLaren spy saga. Otherwise McLaren would have been leading the Championship.

The race also marked the 100th race start for Australian Red Bull Racing driver Mark Webber.

Practice

Ferrari tried the new traffic light system for the first time.[4]

Qualifying

The usual drivers were eliminated in the first qualifying session—Adrian Sutil and Sakon Yamamoto went out in the Spykers along with Takuma Sato and Anthony Davidson in the Super Aguris, Rubens Barrichello in the Honda and Sebastian Vettel in the Toro Rosso.

The second qualifying session was unusual as six drivers in six different cars were eliminated—Alexander Wurz of Williams, Vitantonio Liuzzi of Toro Rosso, Jenson Button of Honda, David Coulthard of Red Bull Racing. Giancarlo Fisichella of Renault and Ralf Schumacher of Toyota. Fisichella was later relegated right to the back of the grid after changing his engine after qualifying.

This left seven different teams in the top 10. Heikki Kovalainen qualified tenth for Renault, just behind Jarno Trulli in the Toyota. Ahead of them were Mark Webber's Red Bull and Nick Heidfeld in the BMW Sauber. Nico Rosberg did very well in the Williams to qualify on row 3 alongside Robert Kubica in the second BMW Sauber. However, the Pole was given a ten place grid drop for an engine change. Once again, McLaren and Ferrari occupied the top four places. Fernando Alonso pipped McLaren teammate Lewis Hamilton to 3rd place, but Ferrari dominated, with Kimi Räikkönen beating Felipe Massa to get his 14th career pole and lock out the front row for the Italian team.

Due to FIA rules about the order in which penalties are applied, Kubica's penalty was applied first. This left him 15th and behind Fisichella. Then the Italian's penalty was applied, so Kubica ended up 14th. This meant Coulthard, Button and Liuzzi all gained two places as both drivers had been ahead of them.

Race

The order from the start remained fairly unchanged with the Ferraris of Kimi Räikkönen and Felipe Massa led away from Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton, although there was a lot of pushing between the McLarens as Hamilton attempted to pass around the outside of turn one, but Alonso pushed him wide onto the tarmac on the outside of the corner.

Giancarlo Fisichella's Renault suffered a suspension failure on lap 2, making him the first retirement of the race. He had been running last. Also on lap 2, Alexander Wurz spun in the Williams, slipping to the back of the field.

Sebastian Vettel soon suffered a handling problem, probably caused by a collision, which eliminated his Toro Rosso from the race on lap 9.

Massa briefly took the lead on lap 16, but Räikkönen reclaimed it a lap later after his pitstop.

David Coulthard suffered a hydraulic failure in his Red Bull on lap 30. He was quickly followed with a fuel pressure problem for Wurz, who was still last, on lap 35, and the Honda of Jenson Button, which dropped out on lap 37 with another hydraulic failure.

Massa once again led for just one lap during Räikkönen's second stop, but he retook it the following lap.

Räikkönen finally came home to win from Massa, clinching the World Constructors Championship for Ferrari. Alonso, Hamilton, Nick Heidfeld in the BMW Sauber, Nico Rosberg's Williams, Mark Webber in the Red Bull and Heikki Kovalainen's Renault rounded up the top eight. The only changes from the starting top eight were Heidfeld and Rosberg swapping places and Kovalainen passing Jarno Trulli's Toyota to take eighth.

The race was overshadowed by the death of former World Rally Champion Colin McRae in a helicopter crash during Saturday's qualifying.

Classification

Qualifying

DriverConstructorQ1Q2Q3
16 Kimi RäikkönenFerrari1:46.2421:45.0701:45.9941
25 Felipe MassaFerrari1:46.0601:45.1731:46.0112
31 Fernando AlonsoMcLaren-Mercedes1:46.0581:45.4421:46.0913
42 Lewis HamiltonMcLaren-Mercedes1:46.4371:45.1321:46.4064
510 Robert KubicaBMW Sauber1:46.7071:45.8851:46.99614
616 Nico RosbergWilliams-Toyota1:46.9501:46.4691:47.3345
79 Nick HeidfeldBMW Sauber1:46.9231:45.9941:47.4096
815 Mark WebberRed Bull-Renault1:47.0841:46.4261:47.5247
912 Jarno TrulliToyota1:47.1431:46.4801:47.7988
104 Heikki KovalainenRenault1:46.9711:46.2401:48.5059
113 Giancarlo FisichellaRenault1:47.1431:46.603PL,
1211 Ralf SchumacherToyota1:47.3001:46.61810
1314 David CoulthardRed Bull-Renault1:47.3401:46.80011
147 Jenson ButtonHonda1:47.4741:46.95512
1518 Vitantonio LiuzziToro Rosso-Ferrari1:47.5761:47.11513
1617 Alexander WurzWilliams-Toyota1:47.5221:47.39415
1719 Sebastian VettelToro Rosso-Ferrari1:47.58116
188 Rubens BarrichelloHonda1:47.95417
1922 Takuma SatoSuper Aguri-Honda1:47.98018
2020 Adrian SutilSpyker-Ferrari1:48.04419
2123 Anthony DavidsonSuper Aguri-Honda1:48.199PL
2221 Sakon YamamotoSpyker-Ferrari1:49.55721
Source:[5]
Notes

Race

Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points
16 Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari441:20:39.066110
25 Felipe Massa Ferrari44+4.69528
31 Fernando Alonso McLaren-Mercedes44+14.34336
42 Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes44+23.61545
59 Nick Heidfeld BMW Sauber44+51.87964
616 Nico Rosberg Williams-Toyota44+1:16.87653
715 Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault44+1:20.63972
84 Heikki Kovalainen Renault44+1:25.10691
910 BMW Sauber44+1:25.66114
1011 Toyota44+1:28.57410
1112 Toyota44+1:43.6538
1218 Toro Rosso-Ferrari43+1 Lap13
138 Honda43+1 Lap17
1420 Spyker-Ferrari43+1 Lap19
1522 Super Aguri-Honda43+1 Lap18
1623 Super Aguri-Honda43+1 Lap20
1721 Spyker-Ferrari43+1 Lap21
Ret7 Honda36Hydraulics12
Ret17 Williams-Toyota34Fuel pressure15
Ret14 Red Bull-Renault29Hydraulics11
Ret19 Toro Rosso-Ferrari8Steering16
Ret3 Renault1Suspension22
Source:[10]

Championship standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings
+/–DriverPoints
1 Lewis Hamilton*97
2 Fernando Alonso*95
3 Kimi Räikkönen*84
4 Felipe Massa*77
5 Nick Heidfeld56
Source: [11]
Constructors' Championship standings
+/–ConstructorPoints
11 Ferrari*161
12 BMW Sauber90
13 Renault39
14 Williams-Toyota28
15 Red Bull-Renault18
Source:

See also

External links

50.4372°N 5.9714°W

Notes and References

  1. Web site: 2007 Belgian Grand Prix. Motor Sport. 30 May 2022.
  2. Web site: 2007 Belgian GP. ChicaneF1. 30 May 2022.
  3. Web site: Belgia. Formula1.com. https://web.archive.org/web/20071031101931/http://www.formula1.com/races/in_detail/783/circuit_diagram.html. 21 December 2020. 2007-10-31.
  4. Web site: Ferrari trying out a new light system to let the drivers go from a pit stop. Motorsport.com. 12 January 2021.
  5. Web site: 2007 FORMULA 1 ING Belgian Grand Prix - Qualifying. Formula1.com. Formula One Group. 16 September 2007. 27 December 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20131031115136/http://www.formula1.com/results/season/2007/783/6445/. 31 October 2013.
  6. News: Kubica to drop 10 grid places . 2007-09-15 . ITV-f1 . 2007-09-15 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20070929092717/http://www.itv-f1.com/News_Article.aspx?PO_ID=40678 . September 29, 2007 .
  7. News: Engine change puts Fisi to the back . 2007-09-15 . ITV-f1 . 2007-09-15 .
  8. 2007 Autocourse, Belgian race report
  9. 2007 Autocourse, Belgian race report
  10. Web site: 2007 FORMULA 1 ING Belgian Grand Prix - Race. Formula1.com. Formula One Group. 16 September 2007. 27 December 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20141228114541/http://www.formula1.com/results/season/2007/783/. 28 December 2014.
  11. Web site: Belgium 2007 - Championship • STATS F1. www.statsf1.com. 13 March 2019.