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2008 Belgian Grand Prix

The 2008 Belgian Grand Prix (formally the LXIV ING Belgian Grand Prix) was a Formula One motor race held on September 7, 2008 at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, Spa, Belgium. It was the 13th race of the 2008 Formula One season. The race, contested over 44 laps, was won by Felipe Massa for the Ferrari team. Lewis Hamilton, of McLaren, crossed the finishing line first after overtaking Kimi Räikkönen, also of Ferrari, with 2 laps to go. After the end of the race, Hamilton received a drive-through penalty for cutting a chicane (changed to a 25 second penalty as it occurred in the last five laps of the race), handing victory to Massa. McLaren appealed unsuccessfully against the penalty.

Hamilton started from pole position alongside premier title rival Massa. Hamilton's McLaren team-mate Heikki Kovalainen started from third next to the 2007 winner Räikkönen. Following a spin by Hamilton on the second lap, Räikkönen led the race, until rain fell on lap 41 and Hamilton performed the penalised pass. Räikkönen later crashed. Massa finished second on the road after Hamilton, followed by Nick Heidfeld of BMW Sauber.

Massa's retrospective win, with Hamilton demoted to third, narrowed the gap in the Championship from six points to just two. The decision by the FIA to penalise Hamilton was described by former world champion Niki Lauda as "the worst judgement in the history of F1.

Report

Practice

Felipe Massa was fastest during the first practice session, ahead of teammate Kimi Räikkönen and McLaren drivers Lewis Hamilton and Heikki Kovalainen. They were followed by Alonso, Webber and both Toro Rossos. Toyota's Jarno Trulli was out most of the session after his car suffered electrical problem.

The second session saw reduced practice time due to rain and bad track conditions. This caused multiple accidents including Webber, who slid of the Rivage and had to abandon his session. Räikkönen spun on Turn 9 and hit the back of his car on the barriers, causing large amount of water to be dislodged on the track. Giancarlo Fisichella fell victim to this wet patch and his car aquaplaned into barriers . Fisichella's crash resulted the session being red flagged for 10 minutes while the Turn 9 was attended to. The track still remained difficult to drive, with Piquet Jr. nearly replicating Räikkönen accident on Turn 9. It was only in the closing minutes that drivers were able to log better timings, with Alonso topping the sheets at the end of session.

Nick Heidfeld of BMW Sauber topped the final session, ahead of the McLarens on second and fourth positions, with Alonso securing third position. The conditions were damp at the start, and became worse as the rain continued throughout early part of the session. The track, however, dried towards the end of the practice.

Qualifying

Sébastien Bourdais of Toro Rosso led the time-sheets in first qualifying session with a late flying lap, ahead of Kovalainen and Massa. Williams' Kazuki Nakajima, was eliminated in this session, along with both Honda and Force India cars, Force India using their seamless-shift gearboxes for the second time in this race.

The second qualifying session was dominated by McLarens, with Kovalainen claiming first position. They were followed by Räikkönen and Heidfeld, who managed to outrun Massa. Rosberg, who faced problems with car's grip, much like his teammate Nakajima, was relegated to the bottom of the table for this session. The Toyotas on the other hand battled with tyre temperatures, as Trulli and Glock were eliminated in positions eleven and thirteen respectively. Piquet Jr. and David Coulthard were the other two drivers who didn't qualify for third session.

Lewis Hamilton secured the pole position, beating Massa's lap time during the final runs in the third session. They were followed by Räikkönen, Kovalainen and Heidfeld. Alonso, Webber and Kubica were sixth, seventh and eighth fastest for the session. Toro Rosso continued their strong weekend, taking the last two positions of top ten.

In the press-conference following qualifying, Massa said the difference between pole-position and second place was down to the car. He said that strategy would be the most important aspect of Ferrari's race, while both McLaren drivers remained confident that the balance of their car was solid, with Kovalainen identifying the second sector (turns 7 to 15) as a possible weakness.

Race

Several cars were slow away on the slippery track, most notably Heikki Kovalainen. The main beneficiaries off the line were Sebastien Bourdais and Jarno Trulli, however they made contact in turn one. Trulli then spun later on the lap. Lewis Hamilton lead from Kimi Räikkönen, with Felipe Massa third. Nelson Piquet, Jr. was the only driver not to start on dry tyres, and he gained five places on lap one; his team-mate Fernando Alonso also made a quick start. Sebastian Vettel locked up and ran wide, losing two places.

On lap 2 at La Source Lewis Hamilton spun and lost his lead to Kimi Räikkönen on the main straight. On lap ten Heikki Kovalainen attempted to pass Mark Webber at the bus stop chicane, but hit Webber, causing him to spin. Kovalainen was given a drive-through penalty, and dropped to the back of the grid. Räikkönen put a three second lead on Hamilton and stayed out a lap longer in the first stint. On lap 13 Piquet spun off into the wall and retired. On lap 17 Rubens Barrichello retired with a gearbox problem.

Last few laps

By the second pit stops Räikkönen was five seconds ahead of Hamilton, but Hamilton began to close in on Räikkönen during the last stint as a result of the harder compound tyres suiting his McLaren Mercedes. Rain appeared on lap 41, Hamilton then closed the gap on Räikkönen to 0.988 seconds, still six seconds ahead of Massa. Hamilton attempted to pass Räikkönen at the Bus Stop chicane but he cut across the corner. Consequently, Hamilton led out of the chicane but allowed Räikkönen to re-pass him halfway down the straight. Hamilton then immediately passed him again at the La Source hairpin under braking. Räikkönen tried an over and under to get the position back but the line was defended resulting in Räikkönen touching his front wing on Hamilton's gearbox. The rain started coming down heavier and Hamilton adjusted much better than Räikkönen, who started using the run off areas at turn 10 to gain momentum and nearly passed Hamilton. Rosberg spun in front of both causing Hamilton to run onto the grass. At the next corner, Räikkönen spun and gave the lead back to Hamilton. He then spun again coming out of Blanchimont and hit the barrier, causing him to retire.

Hamilton was first to finish the race, followed by Massa and Heidfeld. Heidfeld rose from ninth position during final laps, thanks to intermediate tyres he put on during a pitstop two laps prior to the end of the race. Fernando Alonso and Timo Glock similarly benefited from intermediate tyres, Alonso finishing fourth and Glock eighth. On the other hand, Toro Rosso drivers Bourdais and Vettel, who were third and fourth with one lap to go, was pushed down to seventh and fifth positions due to incompatibility of dry weather tyres.

Post race

Timo Glock was handed a 25-second penalty for overtaking Mark Webber under yellow flags during the final lap of the race. The penalty pushed Glock from eighth to ninth place.

Hamilton Penalty

Hamilton appeared on the podium and subsequent press conference in the winner's position. When questioned on the incident at the press conference, Hamilton defended his actions:

Two hours after the conclusion of the race, the FIA issued a statement announcing that Hamilton was guilty of contravening Article 30.3 (a) of the 2008 FIA Formula One Sporting Regulations and Appendix L, Chapter 4, Article 2 (g) of the International Sporting Code which states that cutting a chicane and gaining an advantage is subject to a drive-through penalty. As the race had finished, a 25 second penalty was added to Hamilton's time instead. As a result of the penalty, Massa was promoted to winner of the Grand Prix, and Hamilton was dropped down to third position.

Appeal

On September 9, two days after the race, McLaren lodged an official complaint with the FIA about the incident. In their appeal hearing on September 22, McLaren alleged that they had twice been advised by race director Charlie Whiting that Hamilton had correctly returned the position to Räikkönen. Further, they presented telemetry evidence suggesting that Hamilton had not only crossed the finish line after Räikkönen, but that he was travelling 6.7km/h slower at the time. Finally, they presented the previous case of Vitantonio Liuzzi at the 2007 Japanese Grand Prix, specifically the FIA's claim that the presiding chief steward at the race, Tony Scott Andrews, had admitted fault in awarding the penalty to Liuzzi, a claim Andrews denied. McLaren went on to use the case as a precedent for the Spa incident.

The biggest issue for McLaren was that drive-through penalties cannot subject to appeal. McLaren lawyer Mark Phillips, QC, attempted to convince the court that since the penalty was in the form of time added on, the case was admissible.

A day later, the Court of Appeal issued its decision, ruling that the appeal was inadmissible.

Reaction

The original penalty received mixed reactions in the world press. Byron Young in Britain's Daily Mirror said that it was the stewards' decision "that mars sport and turns fans away, that ruins the efforts of even the best competitors, taints the day and leaves fans wondering what exactly they are "fans" of.

However, in Italy, the newspaper La Gazzetta dello Sport declared that the decision was justified, stating that Hamilton "should have waited at least another turn rather than attacking so soon.

For his part, Räikkönen agreed with the stewards' decision:

Other Formula One drivers believed that though Hamilton had gained an advantage, the penalty was too harsh. Sébastien Bourdais of Toro Rosso said that "the penalty is really rough but in the end it's up to you to give the position back or not. Pretty straightforward." The view was reiterated by his fellow drivers Nico Rosberg and Jarno Trulli. Trulli stated that "In my opinion Hamilton got an advantage by cutting the chicane", and going on to add "Had he stayed on the road, he wouldn't have had the speed to overtake the Ferrari. In the same way at Monza someone could cut the first chicane, catch a rival's draft, and overtake him under braking at Roggia.

Former world champion Niki Lauda stated that he did "not understand this completely wrong decision ... It's unbelievable how the best driver in yesterday's race makes no mistakes and only gets six points." He called for the formation of permanent race stewards, instead on the temporary steward system currently in place. He called it "the worst judgement in the history of F1", adding "It's absolutely unacceptable when three [stewards] influence the championship like this.

Three-time world champion Jackie Stewart agreed with Lauda, saying that "F1 attracts the largest capital investment in sport ... but it’s being overseen by people who are not doing it full-time and we get inconsistent decisions.

The incident led to a clarification by the FIA, saying that drivers must wait one further corner after cutting a chicane before attempting another overtaking manoeuvre.

Formula One Driver Mark Webber, who is also a director of the Grand Prix Drivers' Association, said that the clarification had made the issue much clearer:

Classification

Qualifying

Pos	No	Name	Constructor	Part 1	Part 2	Part 3	Grid
1	22	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren-Mercedes	1:46.887	1:46.088	1:47.338	1
2	2	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	1:46.873	1:46.391	1:47.678	2
3	23	Heikki Kovalainen	McLaren-Mercedes	1:46.812	1:46.037	1:47.815	3
4	1	Kimi Räikkönen	Ferrari	1:46.960	1:46.298	1:47.992	4
5	3	Nick Heidfeld	BMW Sauber	1:47.419	1:46.311	1:48.315	5
6	5	Fernando Alonso	Renault	1:47.154	1:46.491	1:48.504	6
7	10	Mark Webber	Red Bull-Renault	1:47.270	1:46.814	1:48.736	7
8	4	Robert Kubica	BMW Sauber	1:47.093	1:46.494	1:48.763	8
9	14	Sébastien Bourdais	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	1:46.777	1:46.544	1:48.951	9
10	15	Sebastian Vettel	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	1:47.152	1:46.804	1:50.319	10
11	11	Jarno Trulli	Toyota	1:47.400	1:46.949		11
12	6	Nelson Piquet Jr.	Renault	1:47.052	1:46.965		12
13	12	Timo Glock	Toyota	1:47.359	1:46.995		13
14	9	David Coulthard	Red Bull-Renault	1:47.132	1:47.018		14
15	7	Nico Rosberg	Williams-Toyota	1:47.503	1:47.429		15
16	17	Rubens Barrichello	Honda	1:48.153			16
17	16	Jenson Button	Honda	1:48.211			17
18	20	Adrian Sutil	Force India-Ferrari	1:48.226			18
19	8	Kazuki Nakajima	Williams-Toyota	1:48.268			19
20	21	Giancarlo Fisichella	Force India-Ferrari	1:48.447			20

Race

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	2	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	44	1:22:59.394	2	10
2	3	Nick Heidfeld	BMW Sauber	44	+9.383	5	8
3	22	Lewis Hamilton ¹	McLaren-Mercedes	44	+10.539	1	6
4	5	Fernando Alonso	Renault	44	+14.478	6	5
5	15	Sebastian Vettel	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	44	+14.576	10	4
6	4	Robert Kubica	BMW Sauber	44	+15.037	8	3
7	14	Sébastien Bourdais	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	44	+16.735	9	2
8	10	Mark Webber	Red Bull-Renault	44	+42.776	7	1
9	12	Timo Glock ²	Toyota	44	+1:07.045	13
10	23	Heikki Kovalainen	McLaren-Mercedes	43	Gearbox	3
11	9	David Coulthard	Red Bull-Renault	43	+1 Lap	14
12	7	Nico Rosberg	Williams-Toyota	43	+1 Lap	15
13	20	Adrian Sutil	Force India-Ferrari	43	+1 Lap	18
14	8	Kazuki Nakajima	Williams-Toyota	43	+1 Lap	19
15	16	Jenson Button	Honda	43	+1 Lap	17
16	11	Jarno Trulli	Toyota	43	+1 Lap	11
17	21	Giancarlo Fisichella	Force India-Ferrari	43	+1 Lap	20
18	1	Kimi Räikkönen	Ferrari	42	Spun off	4
Ret	17	Rubens Barrichello	Honda	19	Gearbox	16
Ret	6	Nelson Piquet Jr.	Renault	13	Spun off	12

Hamilton given a 25-second penalty for cutting a chicane and gaining an advantage, losing first place.
Glock given a 25-second penalty for overtaking Webber under yellow-flags, losing eighth place.

Standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings

Pos	Driver	Points
1	Lewis Hamilton	76
2	Felipe Massa	74
3	Robert Kubica	58
4	Kimi Räikkönen	57
5	Nick Heidfeld	49

Constructors' Championship standings

Pos	Constructor	Points
1	Ferrari	131
2	McLaren–Mercedes	119
3	BMW Sauber	107
4	Toyota	41
5	Renault	36

Notes

Lap Leaders: Lewis Hamilton 3 (1, 43-44), Kimi Räikkönen 37 (2-12, 14-25, 29-42), Felipe Massa 4 (13, 26-28).
Räikkönen's accident ended his chances to win four consecutive Belgian Grands Prix. He won in 2004, 2005 and 2007. The 2006 Belgian Grand Prix was not held due to the reconstruction of the track.