A.Wayne

OK, Before we start a Moment of Silence for our friends @ Speedtv, who where besides themselves over Lewis being much Slower than Alonso ,in P2 until he caught up, C'mon guys get back to reporting the racing .....



Raikkonen dominates practice 1 - Belgium

By Pablo Elizalde Friday, September 14th 2007, 09:36 GMT

Kimi Raikkonen dominated the opening practice session for the Belgian Grand Prix, finishing over half a second clear of his closest rival.

The Ferrari driver posted a best time of 1:47.339 after spending a long time in the pits before finally kicking off his work.

The Finn completed 16 laps and finished 0.542 seconds ahead of championship leader Lewis Hamilton, who led McLaren teammate Fernando Alonso, third fastest.

The session took place under clear skies and the weather is expected to remain dry during the weekend.

Raikkonen's promising start was in contrast with teammate Felipe Massa's poor session, the Brazilian failing to set a time.

Nick Heidfeld was fourth quickest, with Williams driver Nico Rosberg splitting the BMWs, finishing ahead of Robert Kubica.

Alex Wurz completed a strong start to Williams' weekend by finishing in seventh place, in front of Jarno Trulli and Heikki Kovalainen. Jenson Button continued to show improved form from his Honda team by rounding up the top ten.

The session saw few incidents, with Massa's exit the highlight of the 90 minutes.

The Ferrari driver's day came to an end after just two laps after he went off at the Rivages corner. His Ferrari seemed to go just go straight off the track at the exit of Les Combes, the Brazilian's car nudging the tyre barriers head-on.

Massa ended at the bottom of the timesheets without a timed lap.

The Ferrari driver finished right behind Sakon Yamamoto, whose session also finished early when he stopped on track with some six minutes to go.

The Spyker driver wound up over a second behind teammate Adrian Sutil, who showed good pace with the B-spec car and finished in 19th position.

Drivers were allowed to practice starts at the end of the session to test the new track surface.

Pos Driver Team Time Laps
1. Raikkonen Ferrari (B) 1:47.339 16
2. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes (B) 1:47.881 + 0.542 19
3. Alonso McLaren-Mercedes (B) 1:47.994 + 0.655 17
4. Heidfeld BMW Sauber (B) 1:48.052 + 0.713 20
5. Rosberg Williams-Toyota (B) 1:48.372 + 1.033 18
6. Kubica BMW Sauber (B) 1:48.605 + 1.266 20
7. Wurz Williams-Toyota (B) 1:48.920 + 1.581 20
8. Trulli Toyota (B) 1:48.994 + 1.655 19
9. Kovalainen Renault (B) 1:49.138 + 1.799 22
10. Button Honda (B) 1:49.330 + 1.991 22
11. Fisichella Renault (B) 1:49.380 + 2.041 25
12. R.Schumacher Toyota (B) 1:49.548 + 2.209 21
13. Webber Red Bull-Renault (B) 1:49.894 + 2.555 23
14. Coulthard Red Bull-Renault (B) 1:49.931 + 2.592 19
15. Barrichello Honda (B) 1:50.264 + 2.925 22
16. Vettel Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B) 1:50.482 + 3.143 27
17. Sato Super Aguri-Honda (B) 1:50.640 + 3.301 16
18. Davidson Super Aguri-Honda (B) 1:50.648 + 3.309 20
19. Sutil Spyker-Ferrari (B) 1:50.768 + 3.429 22
20. Liuzzi Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B) 1:51.628 + 4.289 12
21. Yamamoto Spyker-Ferrari (B) 1:52.379 + 5.040 21
22. Massa Ferrari (B) No time 2

A.Wayne

www.autosport.com


By Pablo Elizalde Friday, September 14th 2007, 13:33 GMT

World champion Fernando Alonso moved to the top of times in second practice for the Belgian Grand Prix, in a session dominated by McLaren.

Alonso's best lap of 1:46.654 was the fastest of the day, and 0.111 seconds quicker than teammate Lewis Hamilton's.

Felipe Massa bounced back from a dismal first session to post the third quickest time, nearly three tenths behind Alonso. The Ferrari driver had completed just two laps in the morning after going off and crashing against the tyre barriers.

Teammate Kimi Raikkonen, fastest in the morning, had to settle for fourth position in the afternoon. The Finn, looking for his third consecutive win at Spa, was over half a second slower than Alonso after completing 26 laps.

Toyota driver Jarno Trulli and Ralf Schumacher shone for the Japanese squad, finishing as fifth as sixth fastest, ahead of Renault's Giancarlo Fisichella and Red Bull's Mark Webber.

The top ten was completed by Robert Kubica in the BMW-Sauber and Heikki Kovalainen in the second Renault.

Webber's teammate David Coulthard was one of few drivers who hit trouble during the session. The Scot pulled off at the Fagnes chicane with an apparent mechanical problem, but later managed to return to action once his car had been fixed.

Adrian Sutil crashed his Spyker after 24 laps, going off at the exit of the Les Combes corner. The car sustained some damage and the German was unable to continue in the session.

Toro Rosso's Tonio Liuzzi managed just nine laps in the afternoon, finishing over four seconds off the pace.

Pos Driver Team Time Laps
1. Alonso McLaren-Mercedes (B) 1:46.654 29
2. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes (B) 1:46.765 + 0.111 29
3. Massa Ferrari (B) 1:46.953 + 0.299 27
4. Raikkonen Ferrari (B) 1:47.166 + 0.512 26
5. Trulli Toyota (B) 1:47.491 + 0.837 33
6. R.Schumacher Toyota (B) 1:47.946 + 1.292 34
7. Fisichella Renault (B) 1:48.086 + 1.432 30
8. Webber Red Bull-Renault (B) 1:48.271 + 1.617 29
9. Kubica BMW Sauber (B) 1:48.279 + 1.625 37
10. Kovalainen Renault (B) 1:48.567 + 1.913 38
11. Heidfeld BMW Sauber (B) 1:48.606 + 1.952 36
12. Rosberg Williams-Toyota (B) 1:48.840 + 2.186 32
13. Coulthard Red Bull-Renault (B) 1:48.883 + 2.229 17
14. Button Honda (B) 1:48.919 + 2.265 29
15. Barrichello Honda (B) 1:49.364 + 2.710 31
16. Wurz Williams-Toyota (B) 1:49.393 + 2.739 28
17. Yamamoto Spyker-Ferrari (B) 1:49.697 + 3.043 32
18. Vettel Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B) 1:49.720 + 3.066 34
19. Sato Super Aguri-Honda (B) 1:50.168 + 3.514 23
20. Sutil Spyker-Ferrari (B) 1:50.399 + 3.745 24
21. Davidson Super Aguri-Honda (B) 1:50.542 + 3.888 24
22. Liuzzi Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B) 1:50.865 + 4.211 9

A.Wayne

www.autosport.com


Friday, September 14th 2007, 17:38 GMT

McLaren boss Ron Dennis said on Friday that he had tipped off the governing body about evidence that cost his team the Formula One constructors' title and a record $100 million fine.

"Once I became aware that new evidence might exist, which I did on the morning of the Hungarian Grand Prix (August 5), I immediately phoned the FIA to keep them informed," he said in a statement at the Belgian Grand Prix.

McLaren were stripped of their 2007 constructors' points and fined on Thursday after the International Automobile Federation (FIA) found they had gained from confidential Ferrari information.

cooleyjb

Well if that's teh case, methinks there is still much of this story to play out in the next few months.

A.Wayne

Regardless of who wins this championship , with all the BS that has happened this year, Next year is going to be boring or it will have to be completly off the wall to top this year......

Man, you could'nt script what has happened so far this year and i have a funny feeling we have.nt seen " It " Yet....

multi21

Great qualifying sessions with Kimi, Massa and Alonso all being separated by less than .1 around a 4.3 mile track!!

It's good to get back to just racing and two great, old style tracks like Monza and Spa

skl

No kidding about Spa and Monza- names from when I started watching or reading about this stuff in the mid 60's!! Actually for a new track Turkey is pretty good- it's just that all the surroundings of the new tracks look the same. Watching Spa makes me think of our "Spa", Road America...

A.Wayne

Great Q3 Session, that last lap was something else , the top 3 covered by a hair, Alonso went from 10th to 3rd what a flyer, with the times so close let me see if rain is in the near future.....

By Matt Beer Saturday, September 15th 2007, 13:04 GMT

www.autosport.com

Kimi Raikkonen beat Felipe Massa to pole position for the Belgian Grand Prix, as Ferrari secured only their second front row sweep of the season.

The McLarens took third and fourth, with Fernando Alonso ahead of Lewis Hamilton.

Massa had escaped a scare in Q1 when a problem with the rear of his car meant he only left the Ferrari garage with four minutes of the session to spare. But he easily proceeded through to Q2 and then Q3, where he beat Raikkonen's provisional pole time on his final run.

Raikkonen then responded with a 1:45.994 lap, usurping Massa by 0.017 seconds.

Alonso lost his first Q3 flying lap to a spin at Rivage. But his next run took him to third, only 0.097 seconds slower than Raikkonen, with Hamilton a further four tenths of a second adrift on the outside of row two.

BMW's Robert Kubica was fifth fastest but will lose ten places having required an engine change before the session.

That will elevate Williams' Nico Rosberg to fifth, ahead of Kubica's teammate Nick Heidfeld.

Mark Webber took eighth, despite leaving the pitlane too late to complete a second flying lap in Q2. Fortunately for the Red Bull driver, his first run had been sufficient for eighth in the session.

The final two top ten spots went to Toyota's Jarno Trulli and Renault's Heikki Kovalainen.

Giancarlo Fisichella missed the top ten cut for the second time in a week, ending up 11th, ahead of Ralf Schumacher and David Coulthard.

Jenson Button managed to get more speed out of the Honda than teammate Rubens Barrichello throughout practice, and the pattern continued into qualifying, as Button took 14th while Barrichello struggled to 18th.

Toro Rosso and Spyker had both set promising times in practice, but only Vitantonio Liuzzi managed to get through to Q2. He beat Williams' Alex Wurz to 15th, while teammate Sebastian Vettel was just 0.015 seconds away from reaching the second session but had to settle for 17th.

Adrian Sutil moved up to 12th in the closing moments of Q1, before being pushed back down to 20th as others improved. Teammate Sakon Yamamoto was at the bottom of the timesheets again, with the struggling Super Aguris of Takuma Sato and Anthony Davidson taking 19th and 21st.

Pos Driver Team Q1 Q2 Q3
1. Raikkonen Ferrari (B) 1:46.242 1:45.070 1:45.994
2. Massa Ferrari (B) 1:46.060 1:45.173 1:46.011
3. Alonso McLaren-Mercedes (B) 1:46.058 1:45.442 1:46.091
4. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes (B) 1:46.437 1:45.132 1:46.406
5. Kubica BMW Sauber (B) 1:46.707 1:45.885 1:46.996
6. Rosberg Williams-Toyota (B) 1:46.950 1:46.469 1:47.334
7. Heidfeld BMW Sauber (B) 1:46.923 1:45.994 1:47.409
8. Webber Red Bull-Renault (B) 1:47.084 1:46.426 1:47.524
9. Trulli Toyota (B) 1:47.143 1:46.480 1:47.798
10. Kovalainen Renault (B) 1:46.971 1:46.240 1:48.505
11. Fisichella Renault (B) 1:47.143 1:46.603
12. R.Schumacher Toyota (B) 1:47.300 1:46.618
13. Coulthard Red Bull-Renault (B) 1:47.340 1:46.800
14. Button Honda (B) 1:47.474 1:46.955
15. Liuzzi Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B) 1:47.576 1:47.115
16. Wurz Williams-Toyota (B) 1:47.522 1:47.394
17. Vettel Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B) 1:47.581
18. Barrichello Honda (B) 1:47.954
19. Sato Super Aguri-Honda (B) 1:47.980
20. Sutil Spyker-Ferrari (B) 1:48.044
21. Davidson Super Aguri-Honda (B) 1:48.199
22. Yamamoto Spyker-Ferrari (B) 1:49.577

smlporsche

I felt sorry for Vettel who looked like he was a shoe in for Q2 only to be bumped in the last few seconds. I see good things for him in the future...

A.Wayne

We will have a lot of analysis on Vettel and Toro Roso , when the really important stuff has settled ....Liuzzii 3- Vettel -1

A.Wayne

By Pablo Elizalde Saturday, September 15th 2007, 15:28 GMT

Fernando Alonso at SpaWorld champion Fernando Alonso says he is not concerned about the possibility of losing the support of his McLaren team in the remainder of the season.

FIA president Max Mosley confirmed today that Ron Dennis had told him after the Hungarian Grand Prix that Alonso had "threatened" the McLaren team boss with giving the governing body information concerning McLaren's involvement in the spying affair.

Dennis's call to Mosley, which subsequently led to McLaren's exclusion from the constructors' championship and a record US$100 million fine, was triggered by the row between Alonso and Dennis after qualifying in Hungary.

Mosley told ITV on Saturday: "On the morning of the Hungarian Grand Prix, Ron rang me and he said, 'I've just had Alonso in the motorhome and he says he's got information and he's threatening to give it to the Federation.'"

When asked after qualifying at Spa about the threat, Alonso himself refused to comment.

"I will not comment. That is what you think," the Spaniard said.

"I have no comment on this," added Alonso, speaking about Hungary. "Everybody speaks, everybody speculates about everything. We are here racing, I think that is the first thing we have to talk about, racing.

"If Ron said something it is because he wanted to. If Max said something today, it is because he wanted. I am a racing driver and I will answer questions about tyres, engines and things like that."

Alonso also insisted that nothing has changed at McLaren, and he is expecting to have the full support from the team to keep fighting for the drivers' championship title.

"For the team I don't think that many things change," Alonso said. "We are all here in the race, preparing for qualifying and the race, the strategy, and try to win this one as we try to do every race. I didn't feel any change."

When asked if he fears the team would stop supporting him, the reigning champion replied: "No, not at all. I have no concern.

"I am totally happy with the team behaviour in this situation, and they always said that they will do the best they can to win races and championships. It is the way it is going now."

cooleyjb

One of the first things I look for when looking at the Q results. Liuzzi vs. Vettel

A.Wayne

Saturday, September 15th 2007, 18:42 GMT

TV Unilaterals

Q. First all Ferrari front row, and another first for you, fastest in qualifying, quickest in Q2 for the first time this year.

Kimi Raikkonen: Yeah, it was good, but actually in the last qualifying, after the first run I found the car was not the same any more as it was. I think there is a little problem at the rear of the car but I still decided to try and improve my lap time and I managed to do it, but it doesn't feel exactly right. But we can check it later. I'm happy to be on the pole, it's good here, and it was a good result for the team.

Q. Well, a demanding circuit on which to have such a problem, particularly after the incidents at Monza last week. Tell us about the state of your neck at the moment and indeed, your love of this circuit.

KR: No, the neck is OK. For sure it's not 100 percent right but it should be fine. The circuit is very nice. I think most people like it here, it's a proper circuit for Formula One cars, long corners and it's very flowing, excellent to drive. I always like it here and it seems to be very good for me.

Q. What a difference a week makes compared with the Ferrari performance at Monza, relative to McLaren-Mercedes. Here at Spa, the car looks great.

KR: Yeah, we knew that Monza was going to be a bit tricky for us and this is a bit more (similar) to Turkey, Istanbul, so we expect to be strong again here, but it's going to be very close tomorrow and we just to need the best that we can. I think we are in a good position with both cars, so we will see what we can do.

Q. Felipe, the first Ferrari front row of the season. It's been a little bit of an up and down weekend. It began with an off on cold tyres yesterday morning but here you are on the front row.

Felipe Massa: Yeah, that was a small issue, just on the first lap on Friday but today I think we are back in the competition, especially looking at the last race where McLaren were a bit stronger. Here we look pretty competitive. It's pretty close, isn't it?

Qualifying was so close between the drivers and I just almost... I just locked the wheels in the last chicane where I think I lost a little bit which maybe caused a bit of a problem but anyway, I'm happy with the lap and I'm happy with the car as well, also with the strategy.

Q. That last chicane, and indeed the last sector perhaps defining the lap for many drivers. It's a long lap here, maybe difficult to keep the tyres perfect throughout the lap on that quick lap.

FM: Yeah, for sure, I was pretty happy on my lap until I got to the last corner and maybe I just was a little bit too enthusiastic and I tried to gain even more lap time but I lost a little bit. Anyway, I think it was a good lap, it's not so easy to keep the tyres working perfectly, from the beginning to the end, but it seems to work in a reasonable way.

Q. And how do you enjoy the fast corners here in the Ferrari?

FM: Well, it's very good. For sure Eau Rouge isn't a very demanding corner any more but we have many many others like turn 10, like many quick changes of direction which I enjoy a lot, this kind of circuit, and it's always nice to come back to Spa.

Q. Fernando, what happened on your first run there, going into that tight right hander?

Fernando Alonso: Yeah, I lost control of the car completely. I spun and the first set of tyres were just gone at that moment. I had only one chance, at the end, with the last new set of tyres, only one opportunity, so I was a little bit worried that something might happen on that single lap. Maybe my position was not good enough, but everything went smoothly on the lap, with no more problems and I was lucky to make the last lap good enough to be in the front.

Q. What's the feeling within the team regarding the Ferrari performance here, how quick they are, and how quick you can be in race conditions?

FA: We are quite confident. To be honest, as they said, we all knew that Spa was maybe a little bit more like Turkey and we saw the Ferraris very strong there, so we expected them to be strong and fighting for the win tomorrow. But we made some improvements on the car from Turkey as well and it should pay off tomorrow in the race. I don't know if we can fight with them for the victory but it will not be an easy one for them, as it was in Turkey. I hope.

Q. Kimi, obviously in a great position, but an interesting first corner at Spa, perhaps the most interesting of the year, that tight right hander.

KR: Yeah, it's always going to be a good challenge, not so much when you're in front, but in the middle and towards the back, something usually goes wrong there every year, so it will be interesting, but I think we should have a good start and we try to go from there. Hopefully everything goes right.

Press Conference

Q. Kimi, well done, the speeds have been pretty remarkable around here, the lap times.

KR: I don't know. Compared to maybe some past years, but the circuit has been changed, so it's been pretty difficult to compare.

Q. But the car has been perfect?

KR: Not all weekend, but I think today it's been pretty good. We had some problems on the second attempt. The rear of the car doesn't feel good, but hopefully we can find the issue and fix it.

Q. It's a very fast circuit, and if you have a problem with the rear of the car, that surely must affect your confidence.

KR: Yeah, but I just decided to try and improve and see what happens. There was nothing that we could do. We tried to look at the data but it wasn't so easy. Once we get the car back, we will try to find the problem and fix it. I just tried to do my best and it was good but the car wasn't as good as in the first run.

Q. And you're pretty confident for tomorrow?

KR: Yeah, I think so. We are usually strong in the race, so I am hopeful that we can have a strong race. Anything can happen but we will do the best that we can.

Q. Is it possible to be doing a one stop strategy here?

KR: I think it is. Maybe somebody will try, maybe not. I don't know.

Q. A big difference between the hard and soft tyres?

KR: You seem to get a bit more grip from the soft tyre, but I think in race conditions the hard tyres are going to be the better choice. I think in qualifying the tyres were working well.

Q. Felipe, interesting overtaking Lewis at the start of that session. I know it doesn't mean that much.

FM: It's always nice to overtake. Practice for the race.

Q. You had the problem on Friday; did you lose any time, have you been playing catch-up since then?

FM: Yeah, we lost time, I didn't do the whole session but it didn't affect our performance for sure. For sure, also, the session we did here some months ago was also important to find the right direction. So I don't think we needed so much time to learn the track. It was only just to improve the set-up, small modifications and that's it.

Q. On your first run, it looked as if you were just a little bit late on the brakes for La Source.

FM: Yeah, I had a bad lap, but then on the last attempt I managed to do a good lap and I think I was a little bit too aggressive at the last corner where maybe I lost important time to fight for pole position.

Q. It's seems it's quite possible to be a little bit late there as we've seen quite a few drivers doing that.

FM: It is possible for sure, it's a very long straight, you arrive very quickly and there's very hard braking. For sure the grip level there is also not very very high, so it's always possible to lock wheels and lose important time.

Q. Fernando, you lost half-an-hour this morning with an oil leak. How much did that lose you in terms of set-up time for this afternoon?

FA: Nothing. It was not a big issue because normally at 11 o'clock on a Saturday morning you learn not too much to be honest because the track temperature is completely different at qualifying. So, you know, we programmed to do two runs yesterday and we did those two runs. So more or less we did not lose any time.

Q. So the car feels as good as it could do?

FA: Yes. There is always room to improve but it is difficult. We are managing a little bit of oversteer or understeer. You know when you drive so close to the limit as we drive in qualifying if you improve the understeer the car will be loose at the rear, if you improve the rear the car will understeer. The drivers, remember, are never happy with the car balance. There is always something to improve. But from yesterday it is much, much better and we should have a good race pace in our car, I hope.

Q. From a mental point of view, when you have a spin, as you did, how do you pull yourself together for the next run?

FA: Well, you have only one chance and you are P9 or P10, so you need to complete the next lap with no mistakes and with no problems of losing too much time. So probably you don't risk as much as you would risk if you have a set time already and it is quite comfortable. So I tried to do my best, the lap was clean enough with no problems and I managed to be in the front. But for sure I was not very calm in qualifying because the spin makes things quite stressful after that.

Questions From The Floor

Q. (Heikki Kulta - Turun Sanomat) Kimi, considering the whole season, was this your best qualifying with Ferrari so far?

KR: It is difficult to say, it is a different place, I have had some good ones before, so overall maybe yes but only the last one really counts so… it was good.

Q. (Dan Knutson – National Speed Sport News) Kimi, quite often in qualifying you have not been able to get everything out of the car. What made the difference this time, so you could get the maximum out of the car?

KR: I think that the balance was very good this morning already. This makes your life a bit easier when you go into qualifying the car should be pretty good. Sometimes we haven't really been able to do that for one reason or another. It still wasn't perfect but I was able to try the best I want and it has not been too bad.

Q. (Juha Paatalo – Financial Times Germany) Kimi, you said you had some problems in your last try. But still in the first sector you were three-tenths faster than anybody else, so how did the problems affect your driving?

KR: The rear didn't feel as good as it should, it felt too soft really and the first sector is mainly a really straight line. There is really only one corner, so for sure it doesn't affect there as much as in the middle.

Q. (Juha Paatalo – Financial Times Germany) Fernando, everything that happened in Paris how has it affected your mood and the mood of the team during this weekend?

FA: Nothing for me and for the team I don't think that many things changed. We are all here in the race preparing for qualifying and the strategy for tomorrow. Everybody is very focused in the race weekend and we try to win this one as we try to win every race. I didn't feel any change.

Q. (Marco Evangelisti – Corriere dello Sport) Fernando, I understand what you are saying, but today Max Mosley was so concerned about the situation you are in that he said the FIA will be monitoring carefully what is going on in McLaren. Are you really concerned, really afraid, that the team could not support you until the end?

FA: No, not at all. I am not concerned, I am fully convinced and totally happy with the team's behaviour in this situation. They always said that they will do the best they can to win races and to help both drivers to win races and championships. That is the way it is going now, so I am not concerned.

Q. (Andrea Cremonesi – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Fernando, this morning Ron explained what happened on the morning in Hungary. Could you please give us your version, just what you can say to us about it?

FA: I have no comment on this. Everybody speaks to everybody, speculates about everything… We are here racing, so I think it is the first thing we have to talk about. If Ron says something it is because he wanted, if Max said something today it is because he wanted. But I am a racing driver. I will answer questions about tyres, engines and things like that.

Q. (Andrea Cremonesi – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Felipe, you are in a very difficult situation because the first corner is very tight here and most Grands Prix are decided in the first corner. Considering Kimi has more points than you in the championship, there is a very small window for the championship. What do you want to do tomorrow is the first thing?

FM: To try to win.

Q. And then?

FM: And then we will see. Then we have three more races.

Q. (Miran Alisic – POP TV) I have a question for the three of you regarding racing. We are having a situation where Ferrari have won the Constructors' Championship actually and McLaren are out of the Constructors' Championship. Is it going to affect your racing at all because you are now free of thinking of the Constructors' Championship?

FM: No.

KR: No.

FA: No.

Q. (Ian Parkes – The Press Association) Fernando, I hear what you said earlier. But it is not speculation what Ron said earlier. He held a briefing with the British media and during that briefing he confirmed that he had an exchange with you at the Sunday morning of the Hungarian Grand Prix at which you informed him that you had information that would be damaging for the team and were threatening to go to the FIA with it. I was just wondering what your response to that would be and why you would threaten your team principle like that?

FA: I will not comment. That is what you think.

A.Wayne

By Matt Beer Sunday, September 16th 2007, 13:27 GMT

Kimi Raikkonen took his third consecutive victory at the Belgian Grand Prix, comfortably edging away from teammate Felipe Massa in a Ferrari one-two.

The McLarens were no match for the Ferraris and had to settle for third and fourth, with Fernando Alonso finishing ahead of Lewis Hamilton and narrowing the rookie's championship lead to just two points with three rounds remaining.

The result meant that, pending McLaren's decision to appeal their penalty, Ferrari are constructors' champions.

Massa had briefly challenged Raikkonen on the outside at the start, before settling into second place.

Just behind, the McLarens were also wheel to wheel into La Source. Alonso edged Hamilton onto the extended run-off area, but the Briton found excellent traction and accelerated back on track level with his teammate.

They then ran side by side into Eau Rouge, with Alonso holding on around the outside at the first part of the corner before claiming third as the track turned right.

Raikkonen proceeded to dominate the race, easily establishing a four second lead over Massa and maintaining it to the flag.

The McLarens ran longer stints, but simply lacked the pace to get on terms with the leaders, and fell 20 seconds adrift in the middle stint.

Hamilton went four laps further on his second fuel load in a bid to vault ahead of Alonso, but the Spaniard found more speed on his fresh tyres than his teammate could muster from his very light car, and Hamilton rejoined six seconds behind him.

He pushed hard to close the gap, even going off the road briefly at Pouhon, but had to settle for fourth.

The result means that Hamilton is now two points ahead of Alonso, with Raikkonen closing to within 13 points of the leader.

Nick Heidfeld lost ground running wide at La Source on the first lap, but jumped ahead of Nico Rosberg and Mark Webber in the first stops and then pulled away from them to secure fifth. Rosberg also edged away from Webber and finished sixth.

Renault's Heikki Kovalainen used a one-stop strategy to fend off the charging Robert Kubica for the final point. After his engine change penalty in qualifying, Kubica made good progress in the opening laps but lost time behind the one stopping cars in the middle stages.

The two-stopping Jarno Trulli again lost ground at the start and consequently spent the race in traffic. That meant he finished behind his one-stopping Toyota teammate Ralf Schumacher in 11th. Toro Rosso's Vitantonio Liuzzi took 12th.

The star of the largely uneventful race was Spyker's Adrian Sutil, who used a relatively light fuel load to charge through the field to 12th in the opening laps. He ultimately finished 14th, right behind Honda's Rubens Barrichello.

Jenson Button retired the second Honda with hydraulic problems, the same failure that also eliminated Red Bull's David Coulthard.

Alex Wurz also dropped out after a messy race that saw him spin at the Bus Stop and then fall to last - behind Sakon Yamamoto - when he ran across the grass at Les Combes.

The race hardly even got going for Giancarlo Fisichella, who retired with a suspension problem on the opening lap.

PROVISIONAL RACE RESULTS

The Belgian Grand Prix
Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium;
44 laps; 308.176km;
Weather: Sunny.

Classified:

Pos Driver Team Time
1. Raikkonen Ferrari (B) 1h20:39.066
2. Massa Ferrari (B) + 4.695
3. Alonso McLaren-Mercedes (B) + 14.343
4. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes (B) + 23.615
5. Heidfeld BMW Sauber (B) + 51.879
6. Rosberg Williams-Toyota (B) + 1:16.876
7. Webber Red Bull-Renault (B) + 1:20.639
8. Kovalainen Renault (B) + 1:25.106
9. Kubica BMW Sauber (B) + 1:25.661
10. R.Schumacher Toyota (B) + 1:28.558
11. Trulli Toyota (B) + 1:43.633
12. Liuzzi Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B) + 1 lap
13. Barrichello Honda (B) + 1 lap
14. Sutil Spyker-Ferrari (B) + 1 lap
15. Sato Super Aguri-Honda (B) + 1 lap
16. Davidson Super Aguri-Honda (B) + 1 lap
17. Yamamoto Spyker-Ferrari (B) + 1 lap

Fastest lap: Massa, 1:48.036

Not classified/retirements:

Driver Team On lap
Button Honda (B) 37
Wurz Williams-Toyota (B) 35
Coulthard Red Bull-Renault (B) 30
Vettel Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B) 9
Fisichella Renault (B) 2


World Championship standings, round 14:

Drivers: Constructors:
1. Hamilton 97 1. Ferrari 161
2. Alonso 95 2. BMW Sauber 90
3. Raikkonen 84 3. Renault 39
4. Massa 77 4. Williams-Toyota 28
5. Heidfeld 56 5. Red Bull-Renault 18
6. Kubica 33 6. Toyota 12
7. Kovalainen 22 7. Super Aguri-Honda 4
8. Fisichella 17 8. Honda 2
9. Rosberg 15
10. Wurz 13
11. Webber 10
12. Coulthard 8
13. Trulli 7
14. R.Schumacher 5
15. Sato 4
16. Button 2
17. Vettel 1

A.Wayne

By Jonathan Noble Sunday, September 16th 2007, 11:56 GMT

The FIA has clarified the implications of McLaren's exclusion from the constructors' championship following uncertainty about what it means for other teams in races.

With McLaren not eligible to score points for the rest of the season, there had been some uncertainty about whether or not other teams would benefit in terms of getting more points for races if they finished behind Lewis Hamilton or Fernando Alonso.

But in a statement issued shortly before the race, the stewards confirmed that teams would only get their normal tally of points for finishing positions.

"Points in the FIA Formula One Constructors' Championship will be awarded strictly in accordance with 2007 Formula One Sporting Regulations, Article 6.4, that is to say the points awarded to a constructor will relate solely to the position in the race achieved by each constructor's car, regardless of any position attained by Vodafone McLaren Mercedes," read the statement.

This means that if McLaren finish 1-2 in a race, then the third place car will still get the regular six points for third place. There had been some suggestions the first non-McLaren car home would get 10 points for effectively being the first constructor.

The stewards also confirmed in the statement that if McLaren win a race then no representative of the team will be allowed on the podium and no constructors' trophy will be presented.