2007 Belgian Grand Prix

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2007 Belgian Grand Prix
Race 14 of 17 in the 2007 Formula One World Championship
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Spa-Francorchamps of Belgium.svg
Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps
Race details [1]
DateSeptember 16, 2007
Official name 2007 Formula 1 ING Belgian Grand Prix
Location Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, Francorchamps, Wallonia, Belgium [2]
Course Permanent racing facility
Course length 7.004 km (4.352 miles)
Distance 44 laps, 308.176 km (191.492 miles)
Weather Partly cloudy, mild and dry
Pole position
Driver Ferrari
Time 1:45.994
Fastest lap
Driver Flag of Brazil.svg Felipe Massa Ferrari
Time 1:48.036 on lap 34
Podium
First Ferrari
Second Ferrari
Third McLaren-Mercedes
Lap leaders
  • 2007 Belgian Grand Prix
The race winner, Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen. Kimi Raikkonen 2007 Belgium.jpg
The race winner, Ferrari's Kimi Räikkönen.

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.

Contents

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

Pos.No.DriverConstructorQ1Q2Q3Grid
16 Flag of Finland.svg Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari 1:46.2421:45.0701:45.9941
25 Flag of Brazil.svg Felipe Massa Ferrari 1:46.0601:45.1731:46.0112
31 Flag of Spain.svg Fernando Alonso McLaren-Mercedes 1:46.0581:45.4421:46.0913
42 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1:46.4371:45.1321:46.4064
510 Flag of Poland.svg Robert Kubica BMW Sauber 1:46.7071:45.8851:46.99614 1
616 Flag of Germany.svg Nico Rosberg Williams-Toyota 1:46.9501:46.4691:47.3345
79 Flag of Germany.svg Nick Heidfeld BMW Sauber 1:46.9231:45.9941:47.4096
815 Flag of Australia (converted).svg Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1:47.0841:46.4261:47.5247
912 Flag of Italy.svg Jarno Trulli Toyota 1:47.1431:46.4801:47.7988
104 Flag of Finland.svg Heikki Kovalainen Renault 1:46.9711:46.2401:48.5059
113 Flag of Italy.svg Giancarlo Fisichella Renault 1:47.1431:46.603PL 2 , 3
1211 Flag of Germany.svg Ralf Schumacher Toyota 1:47.3001:46.61810
1314 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg David Coulthard Red Bull-Renault 1:47.3401:46.80011
147 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Jenson Button Honda 1:47.4741:46.95512
1518 Flag of Italy.svg Vitantonio Liuzzi Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:47.5761:47.11513
1617 Flag of Austria.svg Alexander Wurz Williams-Toyota 1:47.5221:47.39415
1719 Flag of Germany.svg Sebastian Vettel Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:47.58116
188 Flag of Brazil.svg Rubens Barrichello Honda 1:47.95417
1922 Flag of Japan.svg Takuma Sato Super Aguri-Honda 1:47.98018
2020 Flag of Germany.svg Adrian Sutil Spyker-Ferrari 1:48.04419
2123 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Anthony Davidson Super Aguri-Honda 1:48.199PL 4
2221 Flag of Japan.svg Sakon Yamamoto Spyker-Ferrari 1:49.55721
Source: [5]
Notes

Race

Pos.No.DriverConstructorLapsTime/RetiredGridPoints
16 Flag of Finland.svg Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari 441:20:39.066110
25 Flag of Brazil.svg Felipe Massa Ferrari 44+4.69528
31 Flag of Spain.svg Fernando Alonso McLaren-Mercedes 44+14.34336
42 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 44+23.61545
59 Flag of Germany.svg Nick Heidfeld BMW Sauber 44+51.87964
616 Flag of Germany.svg Nico Rosberg Williams-Toyota 44+1:16.87653
715 Flag of Australia (converted).svg Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 44+1:20.63972
84 Flag of Finland.svg Heikki Kovalainen Renault 44+1:25.10691
910 Flag of Poland.svg Robert Kubica BMW Sauber 44+1:25.66114
1011 Flag of Germany.svg Ralf Schumacher Toyota 44+1:28.57410
1112 Flag of Italy.svg Jarno Trulli Toyota 44+1:43.6538
1218 Flag of Italy.svg Vitantonio Liuzzi Toro Rosso-Ferrari 43+1 Lap13
138 Flag of Brazil.svg Rubens Barrichello Honda 43+1 Lap17
1420 Flag of Germany.svg Adrian Sutil Spyker-Ferrari 43+1 Lap19
1522 Flag of Japan.svg Takuma Sato Super Aguri-Honda 43+1 Lap18
1623 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Anthony Davidson Super Aguri-Honda 43+1 Lap20
1721 Flag of Japan.svg Sakon Yamamoto Spyker-Ferrari 43+1 Lap21
Ret7 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Jenson Button Honda 36Hydraulics12
Ret17 Flag of Austria.svg Alexander Wurz Williams-Toyota 34Fuel pressure15
Ret14 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg David Coulthard Red Bull-Renault 29Hydraulics11
Ret19 Flag of Germany.svg Sebastian Vettel Toro Rosso-Ferrari 8Steering16
Ret3 Flag of Italy.svg Giancarlo Fisichella Renault 1Suspension22
Source: [10]

Championship standings after the race

See also

References

  1. "2007 Belgian GP". ChicaneF1. Retrieved 30 May 2022.
  2. "2007 Belgian Grand Prix". Motor Sport . Retrieved 30 May 2022.
  3. "Belgia". Formula1.com. Archived from the original on 2007-10-31. Retrieved 21 December 2020.
  4. "Ferrari trying out a new light system to let the drivers go from a pit stop". Motorsport.com. Retrieved 12 January 2021.
  5. "2007 FORMULA 1 ING Belgian Grand Prix - Qualifying". Formula1.com. Formula One Group. 16 September 2007. Archived from the original on 31 October 2013. Retrieved 27 December 2015.
  6. "Kubica to drop 10 grid places". ITV-f1. 2007-09-15. Archived from the original on September 29, 2007. Retrieved 2007-09-15.
  7. "Engine change puts Fisi to the back". ITV-f1. 2007-09-15. Retrieved 2007-09-15.[ dead link ]
  8. 2007 Autocourse, Belgian race report
  9. 2007 Autocourse, Belgian race report
  10. "2007 FORMULA 1 ING Belgian Grand Prix - Race". Formula1.com. Formula One Group. 16 September 2007. Archived from the original on 28 December 2014. Retrieved 27 December 2015.
  11. 1 2 "Belgium 2007 - Championship • STATS F1". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved 13 March 2019.
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50°26′14″N5°58′17″E / 50.43722°N 5.97139°E / 50.43722; 5.97139