The Spa Treatment

This week we are telling the story of Jenson Button’s in 2009, from its humblest beginnings to the championship winning weekend. Button crashed out of the Belgium Grand Prix on the first lap, after a collision with Romain Grosjean. This was his only retirement, and only non points finish of the year.

Credit: Brawn GP

Force India – Dr Vijay Mallya – We got there and we got there in style

The Belgian GP was a sensational weekend for Force India as the team recorded its first ever pole position and subsequently its first points with Giancarlo Fisichella’s brilliant run to second place. It was a great day for everyone in the camp, and not least team principal Vijay Mallya. We asked Dr Mallya for his thoughts on the result and what it means for the future.

Q: Was Spa one of the best days of your life?

‘It certainly was. I think the podium finish and getting into the finals of the IPL cricket are two sporting moments that I will never forget!’

Q: The qualifying fuel weights suggested that Giancarlo was quite competitive, but looking at the cars behind did you really think that he would hang on and get a podium?

‘Absolutely. We didn’t go deliberately low on fuel. In fact, our race strategy seemed to coincide with Kimi Raikkonen’s pretty well, so it wasn’t that we were trying to grab a lot of attention with a light fuel load. We knew we had a quick car. At the end of the day I’m not greedy. I think we’ve done exceptionally well, we’ve redeemed ourselves, and we’ve silenced all our critics. And more importantly it’s been a huge morale booster for the entire team, and all the young guys who have worked tirelessly for this moment. This will be such a motivating factor that we will only get better from here.’

Q: A good finish has been coming over the past three or four races, but to do it in this style must be so special.

‘It’s very special, as we’ve been distinctly unlucky in several races this year where we should have been in the points but then because of an accident we missed out. But this time our luck held out. Fisi drove brilliantly. I was really hoping that Adrian would get into the points as well. He was really quick, but that extra pit stop [after being hit by Alonso at the start] cost us everything. I think from pole position to finishing second is more than just respectable. So I hope that we use this as a confidence booster in our abilities, and that we hopefully get better from here.’

Q: And to do it on one of the great, classic tracks?

‘Absolutely. It’s really special.’

Q: Where do you go from here – is it going to be hard to top this?

‘Such results are fantastic, but they also create more and more expectations, so it puts pressure on us. But there’s no reason why we should feel pressured. We’ve developed our car, and it’s clearly competitive. If others can do it, so can we. I think the boys have done a great job, and we really have our aerodynamic programme together. So I’m quietly confident. I feel good for the team and for myself. Sometimes when you keep missing and a level of frustration kicks in and that’s very dangerous. People then ultimately say we try so hard, and we never seem to get there. I think we got there and we got there in style, and I think that was the most important achievement.’

Q: Was that the longest hour and a half of your life?

‘I promise you, I had palpitations right through the race. In the last five laps I thought I was going to faint or something!’

Williams – Belgian Grand Prix Review

SYNOPSIS
With low drag circuit characteristics demanding less aerodynamic focus and resource because of their relative scarcity on the calendar in 2009, it was perhaps no great surprise that the form guide in Spa would show a number of discrepancies from the usual order. However, so many leading teams appeared to be struggling on Friday and the AT&T Williams team was no exception, managing no better than P12 in an unrepresentative wet morning session.

The loss of the morning session to the weather meant that the team didn’t become fully aware of its lack of competitiveness until late on Friday, and this in itself precipitated a late night of engineering consideration to ensure some ground could be recovered in P3 and Qualifying.

A number of significant aerodynamic modifications were made and the team also made a number of tyre compares which led them to feel that the prime tyre might, uncharacteristically, provide better single lap performance for qualifying. This view was validated by a tyre compare in Q1, with the harder prime tyre offering an advantage of 4 to 5/10ths, but only after 2 or 3 laps of use. As a consequence, the team had to maintain its nerve to base its qualifying hopes around a single long run in order to record a competitive time. Although Kazuki had succumbed in Q1, Nico Rosberg’s final lap pace in Q2, with a purple time in the all-important long sector 2, saw him transit to Q3, a significant achievement by driver and engineers alike considering the team’s competitive position only 24 hours before.

Having secured a top ten position, the team then focused on Sunday’s needs and fuelled Nico on almost the heaviest load of the two stoppers, with only Sutil carrying more. The tactical need for the start was to keep Lewis Hamilton’s KERS-powered one-stopping McLaren behind him and if Nico failed in this requirement, his race would be over in the first lap. In the event, an accident on the first lap accounted for Hamilton, and much to the advantage of the long first stint two stoppers and the one-stoppers, a safety car was deployed for three laps. Nico climbed to P7, but lost the place he had gained from Vettel and ran eighth until his first stop. The race promised more for Rosberg on occasion, not least in the dying stages when Barrichello’s ailing Brawn appeared to have what might be a terminal problem with oil losses. However, with no fall off in performance, the conclusion was quickly reached that Nico would not be gifted another point and in the event finished the race in the final points scoring position of 8th. Team-mate Nakajima had an uneventful run to P13.

Q&A with Sam Michael, Technical Director

1) How would you sum up AT&T Williams’ Belgian Grand Prix?
Our car wasn’t strong enough. Of course the gaps are very close, with our qualifying and race performance within 0.5 seconds of the fastest, but in the current competitive field that means being just inside the points.

2) Nico ended Friday Practice 19th and finished eighth in the race. What caused this turnaround in performance?
We really struggled during Friday practice. We changed a lot of the bodywork on the car for Saturday and the car improved.

3) Your cars were slowest through the speed trap in qualifying, yet Nico also set the fastest time through sector 2. Please explain why this was the case.
Our low drag performance is not strong enough. Sector 2 is predominantly about downforce and the FW31 has always been strong through sectors like that. Of course Nico did well to get the best out of it in qualifying and race.

4) When Barrichello’s engine started to smoke in the race, did Nico receive any messages from the pitwall?
Yes. We told him to be careful in case Barrichello’s engine was about to let go, but then we quickly noticed that his top speed and laptime was not that different so we assumed it was an oil tank problem rather than an engine issue.

5) Your thoughts on Kazuki’s race weekend?
Kazuki struggled with the car during the weekend – and looking at how difficult it was for Nico to squeeze a point out of the race it wasn’t too surprising. He’s still pushing hard and he should have a strong finish to the season.

6) Why was the tyre situation so critical for many of the teams at Spa?
The two tyre compounds were quite close through Friday and Saturday. At Williams we favoured the prime tyre for the race, but in reviewing our choice post-race we perhaps could have been using the option tyre earlier as the car was most competitive on the softer rubber on Sunday.

7) What can Williams do to ensure they are more competitive at Monza?
We’ve got some work going on in the wind tunnel. We don’t expect to be very competitive there, but we’ll do our best to be respectable and look to returning to strong form for the final four races of the season that are in the traditional lift to drag region.

Toyota – Belgian Grand Prix Debrief – Q+A with Timo Glock

Was Spa as much fun with the 2009-specification car as it was in the past?
Absolutely. Spa is just a great circuit and even though the cars have changed a bit, the circuit is the same and it is still a huge challenge. Every season I look forward particularly to racing at Spa and it is a really nice feeling when practice starts and you can do your first laps. Last weekend was only my third time at Spa in a Formula 1 car but I am sure that feeling never goes away.

Spa is also famous for its changeable weather; were you expecting rain over the weekend?
We knew the most likely day for rain was going to be Friday and that is how it turned out. It was dry at the start of first practice but after a few minutes I saw the spots of rain on my visor and I knew what was coming. It was a typical Spa session really; low clouds and continuous rain. We were quite confident on Friday that it would stay dry for the rest of the weekend so there wasn’t a lot to be gained by testing wet-weather set-ups, which meant we lost quite a bit of track time. Still, that was the same for everyone and it’s never a surprise to have a rainy session at Spa!

You targeted an improved qualifying performance in Belgium so were you happy with seventh?
My lap in qualifying wasn’t bad and I had been consistently in the top 10 through all the sessions, which shows the improvement we made. It was great for the team to see Jarno on the front row and having both cars in the top eight at a time when the competition is so tight is a good sign that we are achieving more performance in qualifying. I would have preferred to be a little higher because I think I had the potential to be in the top six but anyway we were in a promising position.

Were you surprised how competitive Toyota was in qualifying considering the result in Valencia?
We thought Spa should suit us but after Valencia, when we didn’t really understand why qualifying was so disappointing; it was difficult to make any predictions. From the start of practice the car felt strong and that gave us confidence because it was clear we were more competitive than in Valencia. Immediately before qualifying we were quite optimistic so it wasn’t a big surprise to see Jarno and myself fighting towards the front.

What happened in the race?
My start was okay and as always at Spa the first corner was really tight, with a few cars making contact. I was fighting for the top six at the end of the first sector when things got a bit crazy. Kimi (Raikkonen) went wide and nearly hit Robert (Kubica) when he rejoined, then further back there were two separate accidents. I managed to avoid all the trouble and ended up fourth, but unfortunately the safety car came out.

How did the safety car affect you?
Starting with a relatively light fuel load, a safety car was the last thing we wanted because it prevented me taking advantage of the lighter car and pulling away from the guys behind. As well as that I struggled a bit to warm up the prime tyres so lost a bit of ground at the restart. But I was still in a reasonable position and was expecting to finish in the points.

But you lost time at your first pit stop…
Unfortunately the fuel rig didn’t engage properly so the guys had to switch to the back-up. They did a really good job to make the change so quickly but it still cost us a few seconds. That caused me to come out in a bit of traffic, so I lost a little more time and that was basically where we lost the chance for points. I had the potential to finish in the top six because my race pace was pretty good – I set the fifth fastest race lap – but it just didn’t happen.

What are your thoughts ahead of the next Grand Prix in Italy?
I am quite encouraged by some aspects of the Belgian Grand Prix weekend, particularly the significant improvement in qualifying pace. We had a bit of bad luck in the race which prevented us from getting a good result but we must be positive and ready to fight back in Monza. It is another high-speed, low-downforce circuit so hopefully we can be strong, although the field is so close at the moment it’s not easy to predict what will happen.

King of the Hill

Kimi Raikkonen takes his first win of the year at Spa-Francorchamps this past weekend. Kimi started 6th on the grid, but made a storming start and was up to second by the time the safety car came out. He overtook Fisichella on the restart and led the way to the end.

The Only Way Is Up

The BBC film a segment for their coverage of the Belgian Grand Prix with teenage European Skateboard Champion Axel Cruysberghs. He started at the top of Eau Rouge and skateboarded down the circuit, reaching speeds of 30mph.

Credit: Vladimir Rys/Bongarts/Getty Images

30-Aug-09: Raikkonen Takes Win Over Fisichella at Spa

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Listen to this episode

This is F1 Minute and it’s the 30th August 2009.

Fisichella didn’t quite manage to hold on to his pole position through a manic Belgian Grand Prix, but he did finish on the podium.

Let’s start from the beginning, Barrichello had a poor start, struggling against the anti-stall again, but not as poor as Button. After just a couple of corners, Grosjean ran into Button, and the pair of them hit the barrier. Hamilton backed off to avoid trouble, but confused Alguersuari who ran into the McLaren. The pair of them also hit the barriers. Four cars out, safety car deployed and not one lap yet completed.

Thankfully, the rest of the race was a lot calmer, although plenty of overtaking to enjoy. Raikkonen easily got past Fisichella on the restart, and led the way to the end of the race. Fisi took second, whilst Vettel stepped up on the podium in third.
Elsewhere, the FIA have confirmed they are investigating last year’s Singapore GP as there appears to be new evidence that may show Piquet’s crash and Alonso’s subsequent win may not have been coincidental.

That’s all for now, I’ll be back tomorrow with another F1 Minute.

Force India – Race Day – Belgian GP

Giancarlo Fisichella has finished a nail-biting Belgian Grand Prix in second position – just one second from first place – marking the Force India Formula One Team’s first-ever World Championship points. The eight points now bring Force India to ninth position in the constructors’ championship and Giancarlo to 14th in the drivers’.

Adrian Sutil (car 20, VJM02/01)

11th +42.636secs

Giancarlo Fisichella (car 21, VJM02/04):

2nd +0.939secs

Giancarlo started from pole position, making an excellent start to lead the field through the first hairpin turn and round the first lap. An accident further down the field called for a safety car to be deployed and, despite strong defence on the restart he was unable to hold off the KERS-equipped Ferrari of Kimi Raikkonen. Giancarlo then matched Kimi’s lap times lap after lap until they pitted on exactly the same lap (lap 14). Rejoining just metres from Kimi, Giancarlo continued to shadow the Ferrari until his second stop, which again came on the same lap (lap 31). Giancarlo was generally quicker than the Ferrari but Kimi’s use of KERS kept him ahead, leaving Giancarlo just 0.939secs away from scoring an unprecedented win.
Adrian Sutil had started from 11th position but was unfortunately a victim of a start line accident that cost him his front wing. The German was forced to pit and rejoined far down the field. A strategy adjustment to a one-stopper gave him opportunity to move to 9th position, pulling off some spectacular overtaking maneouvres in the process. He again finished a strong race within sight of the points in 11th position.

Adrian Sutil (car 20)
It was a great weekend for the team, particularly for Giancarlo. He did a great race today, second position, which is a big achievement for everyone. We have clearly made a very good step and I think today anything was possible and we can look forward to the next race. Personally I am a little disappointed as someone crashed into me at the first corner and the race was over at that point. I think it was Alonso, who went straight into my rear and turned me around and destroyed my front wing. In the end it was disappointing as the car had the speed and I tried to get back in the race but it was frustrating. I am still very happy with the car and for the team as second place is still a very good position. I hope I can get a similar result in Monza.

Giancarlo Fisichella (car 21)
It’s been another great day and it was an amazing result today. Before coming to Spa if you had asked all the team if we would have been happy to finish eighth we would have said it was a fantastic result but second is a dream, just great. Actually if I can be honest I am a little disappointed as I felt we could have won the race. I was unlucky with the safety car when Kimi came past me at the restart and overtook me with the KERS. Actually behind him I was quicker but with the KERS I couldn’t get past as it was impossible to be quick on the long straight. But we can’t take it away from the fantastic result, both at the track and in the factory to get this result. After yesterday I was pretty confident to score points, it’s positive for the championship and for the coming races. A big thank you to everyone.

Dr Vijay Mallya, chairman and team principal
What a result. I am so proud of this race, which will ultimately go down in the history books as India’s first-ever World Championship points. It’s been a fantastic Saturday, fantastic race and to get our first podium and championship points is just unbelievable. We’ve worked so very hard to get this with a solid plan of upgrades coming through on the factory. Giancarlo drove a truly outstanding race. We can all be so proud of the entire effort.

Brawn GP – 2009 Belgian Grand Prix – Race

An eventful Belgian Grand Prix for Brawn GP saw Rubens Barrichello finish in seventh position at the end of the 44-lap race to score two points for the team’s championship challenge, with team-mate Jenson Button retiring from the race on the first lap.

Rubens had a slow getaway from fourth place on the grid due to a clutch problem which dropped him back into the field. The team therefore took advantage of the safety car on the first lap to bring Rubens into the pits and change his strategy. He then drove a determined race to charge through the field and be challenging Heikki Kovalainen for sixth position before an oil leak just two laps from the end put paid to his battle, requiring Rubens to back off and manage the pace to guide the car home.

Jenson had a good start progressing up to 11th position before the rear wheel of his car was struck from behind by Romain Grosjean at turn five on the first lap, an incident which took out four cars and brought out the safety car, ending Jenson’s race.

JENSON BUTTON
“I had a really good start and had made up a few places in the first few corners to be ahead of Lewis and Rubens. I had a good run going down the straight to turn five just after Eau Rouge. I was on the outside of Heikki and turned in for the corner but quite simply Romain outbraked himself and hit my back wheel. That was it for my race today. It’s frustrating as I was in a reasonable position having made up some places and with a lot of fuel on board but it’s better to have my first retirement here where I haven’t been so competitive than when I’m running at the front. We’re determined get back on the track at the next race and be more competitive there at a track which should be quite good for our car.”

RUBENS BARRICHELLO
“I have to be happy with seventh place and the two points really after such an eventful race. We should have had far more from today but the problem with the clutch at the start took away any chance of a podium which is frustrating for me and the team. We changed my strategy at the end of the first lap to fuel longer for the first stint which was a good move and gave me the chance to get into the points. I had fun in the race from then on and the move on Mark Webber at the Blanchimont bend was definitely one of the highlights. The oil leak gave us some worrying laps but I was able to manage the pace and bring the car safely home which was a big relief.”

ROSS BRAWN
“It was a very disappointing race for us today when there was potential for more. Rubens’ car went into anti-stall at the start which left him stranded on the grid which was very frustrating for the whole team. It was a technical problem on the car and we have to get on top of that quickly as it has caught us out too many times this season. When the safety car came out, we took advantage to switch Rubens onto what was effectively a one-stop strategy and he drove extremely well from there. His car had an oil leak with two laps to go therefore we asked him to back off from chasing Heikki Kovalainen and manage the car to the end of the race. Jenson had a really good start from 14th and gained a few places before he was hit from behind at turn five which ended his race. There are important lessons which we can take from this weekend and some hard work to be done back at the factory before the final five races of the season.”

BMW Sauber F1 Team – Belgian Grand Prix – Race

Weather: dry, partly cloudy, 16-18°C Air, 28-34°C Track

Spa-Francorchamps (BE). The BMW Sauber F1 Team walks away from Spa with a further nine championship points in its pocket. This is exactly the total the team has collected in all the previous eleven races this year. While Robert Kubica improved from fifth on the grid to fourth in the Belgian Grand Prix, his team mate, Nick Heidfeld, was not so happy as he started third and finished fifth in the race. The team had the pace to record the second and third fastest laps in the race.

Robert Kubica: 4th
BMW Sauber F1.09-08 / BMW P86/9
Fastest lap 1:47.664 min on lap 41 (3rd fastest overall)
“I managed to make a good start and was second after the first corner. I was surprised to see Kimi next to me going through Eau Rouge. Approaching the fifth corner he braked very late and went off. It is a very tricky place. He came back on the track right in front of me and I played it safe as we saw a lot of accidents there over the weekend. Although we had a slight touch, I was able to continue. At times we lacked a bit of speed but, of course, it is good to be fighting for podiums again. The result means a lot of points for the team and is good. Unfortunately we didn’t have the chance to achieve anything better. The result proves we are quite competitive on low downforce tracks, which is a positive sign for Monza. However, we have to analyse why the car was more competitive and felt better during qualifying yesterday.”

Nick Heidfeld: 5th
BMW Sauber F1.09-07 / BMW P86/9
Fastest lap 1:47.371 min on lap 35 (2nd fastest overall)
“Although it is a good result for the team, I have to admit I’m disappointed. From third on the grid I had higher expectations, but I lost the race on the first lap. My thought pattern before the race went back and forth as to whether I should take the harder or the softer compound for the start. The harder was the quicker one but, of course, not the better one for heating up quickly. Because the sun was shining I went for the harder compound, and paid for it. After the start I tried to out brake Jarno on the inside of La Source, but I lost ground because the tyres weren’t warm enough. Up the hill to turn five several cars were in the gravel, including me, and that’s where I lost more positions. Later at my first pit stop I had to lock up the brakes in the pit lane to avoid crashing into Mark, who I was then able to immediately overtake on the track. In the last stint my pace was really good and I closed the gap to Robert. But, even though I was quicker than him, I couldn’t overtake because as soon as you are less than two seconds behind another car you start sliding due to losing downforce in the dirty air.”

Mario Theissen (BMW Motorsport Director):
“After our best qualifying this was also the best race result of the season. With fourth and fifth we were the only team that managed to get both cars into the top eight, and we scored nine championship points. Nick lost the chance of a podium position on the thrilling first lap. Robert damaged his front wing right at the beginning, but was able to continue. A big compliment to the whole team for this strong performance.”

Willy Rampf (Head of Engineering):
“We were all very excited before the start because we expected some action. And this happened exactly as expected. Unfortunately, Nick lost the advantage of his strong starting position in the chicane after the Kemmel straight. After this incident he was able to maintain a very good pace and he finally clinched fifth. Robert had contact with another car right at the beginning and lost part of his front wing. We checked the aero data and decided it would not make sense to bring him into the pits, which turned out to be the right decision. Today’s result is the reward for all our hard work during recent weeks.”

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