It’s fair to say that Kimi Raikkonen has not had the best of seasons and it was said that he had to do well at Spa if he was a) to avoid being instructed to support Massa for the remainder of this season and b) get an extension of his contract beyond the end of 2009 – if he wanted one that is. The Tifosi have never been entirely happy with the current driver line-up as it offers neither the thwarted passion of Jean Alesi, nor the near infallibility of Michael Schumacher. Consequently, many were looking forward to a change; Alonso possibly, though many now believe he is not enough of a team player, or Kubica, even though he looks more like an accountant than a racer (CIMA not ACA obviously) but obviously is the real deal. However, Raikkonen apparently did enough at Spa to satisfy the Ferrari management who have consequently extended his contract to the end of 2010, thus ending much speculation.

As qualifying in Belgium drew to a close it looked like my belief in Kubica may be misplaced as he was a frankly disappointing 8th, three places behind team-mate Heidfeld. A subsequent strange interview with Autosport blamed tyre pressures, though I suspect they're talking in fractions of a p.s.i. Hamilton was first and Massa was second. Raikkonen must have been very disappointed with fourth because the “odd” side of the track is a distinct advantage at Spa, and worse still, third was Kovalainen in the second Grey car.

However, Raikkonen need not have worried as when the lights changed Kovalainen dropped to 11th according to the FIA, though I'm sure I saw him as low as 13th. Hamilton led, but the hearts of the Tifosi beat a little nervously when Raikkonen pushed Massa quite hard and got into second. One couldn’t help wondering whether Raikkonen's determination had something to do with the aforementioned contractural considerations.

Massa, of course, found Raikkonen a shade ahead of him at La Source but maintained his speed and then had a choice; tuck in behind and lose pace, and perhaps have an incident, or go right off the track into the welcoming run off area and maintain speed and third place. This he did, which obviously was not problem as he did not gain an advantage.

Then Hamilton spun at La Source on lap 2. A touch of over confidence in the Mansell mould, I fear. He had a huge lead and thought he could do no wrong. A damp track (though sans white line) disagreed. Whilst he recovered, he lost the lead on the run to Les Combes. The speed at the approach to Les Combes is determined by the exit at La Source, because (amazingly to club racers) it's absolutely flat between those corners. Eau Rouge and Radillon might as well be a straight. That's another racing holy grail in the skip. Raikkonen was not to lose the lead for 41 laps (save for pit stops) and, until around lap 36, effectively controlled the race. By mid race he had a comfortable 5-6 second lead. Tifosi relaxed and opened another bottle of Lambrusco.

Raikkonen and Hamilton traded speed between laps 27 and 41, but the change to the hard compound tyres seemed to throw the Finn and a 6 second lead was gradually eroded by Hamilton to under a second, but Raikkonen pulled it back. Then, 7 laps from the end, the Ardennes clouds began to distribute their contents, gently at first, and not enough to require wets, but enough to make things very tricky. Three laps from the end the hard-charging Hamilton had a very sideways moment at the last chicane, and crossed the line a couple of seconds adrift of Raikkonen. Massa was meanwhile taking it easy in a safe but distant 3rd place.

Return to the final chicane and we're now at the notorious part of the race. “Hamilton got a run on Raikkonen and drew alongside at the chicane. The Finn defended.” Eh? What? Apart from changing the tense, I've taken those two sentences directly from the FIA website's official description of the race. “Other problems ensued.” My version is that Raikkonen braked early and Hamilton pulled an opportunistic and optimistic but viable overtaking move into the chicane. However, Raikkonen is no easy touch and, although Hamilton had his wheels ahead at one point, he got squeezed heavily. As a result, he had nowhere to go, bumped across the run off, came back onto the track and tucked behind the Finn. Almost immediately he pulled out and passed him on the run to La Source to take the lead.

Did he have an advantage by cutting the chicane? Possibly. Did Raikkonen crimp Hamilton? Certainly. Was the chicane cutting planned? I doubt it. And my evidence is that they both locked up going in. They were racing for all they were worth. Was it all legal? Race Director Charlie Whiting said that it was as Hamilton had ceded the place. Martin Brundle's TV commentary never even considered the possibility that it wasn't.

Hamilton ran wide between Pouhon and Fagnes, and Raikkonen regained the lead. But he left the track between Fagnes and Stavelot, spun on the grass and Hamilton was back in front. The only man in the leading group to keep his cool was Massa, and for that I make him my man of the race. As they went through Blanchimont, Raikkonen went wide on the outside, apparently over corrected and ended up in the wall opposite, out. All that was left was for Hamilton to teeter around for one last lap like a supermodel in stilettos on ice. He did so (as did Massa) and Heidfeld, who had pitted for wets, rose from 9th to finish 3rd in two laps.

After the race, I had one of the most joyful moments I've ever had as an armchair spectator. Hamilton, Massa and Heidfeld were together in the ante-room behind the podium. They were laughing and joking like true enthusiasts, club racers, totally devoid of the contrived, artificial celebration of the podium. As Coulthard once said, in conditions like that they don't know why they do that job for a living but they know they enjoy it more than anything in the world. It was a breath of fresh air.

The breath of fresh air changed a couple of hours later to a stench, such as you get from your shoe after treading in something unpleasant. I cannot rid myself of the stench. The Stewards decided that Hamilton had gained an advantage in cutting the corner and penalised him 25 seconds in lieu of the drive-through they were too indecisive to impose at the time. The FIA tried to justify the decision but it was an embarrassment. They subsequently issued a clarification of the rule, which states that a driver should not pass until after the corner following the one at which the incident occurred. But if the rules needed clarifying they were badly drafted to begin with and Hamilton should not have been punished.

Many fans clearly believed this was a cynical device by the FIA to penalise Hamilton and McLaren (again) and to favour Ferrari (again), to close-up the Championship and spice up the show after desperately dull Valencia. One result of this decision has been the great hostility shown towards Ferrari. Rumour has it that sponsors/partners Shell have had so many emails of complaint they have developed a standard, distancing, reply. [This website has received them too – Ed.]. Such vitriol is wholly misplaced; Massa and Raikkonen were blameless and acted properly, though some post-race Ferrari spokespersons’ statements were not to true fans’ tastes.

I have no doubt that the fault lies firmly with the FIA. Irrespective of whether you believe it was cock-up or conspiracy or neither, there is no room for amateur officials in F1 and the Stewards’ actions at Spa mean yet again meant that F1 lost all credibility. Max Mosley defended the call for permanent stewards instead of well-meaning amateurs by saying he couldn't remember how many times this had been called for. There comes a time where the only possible response to smug certainty is to blow a big, fruity .phpberry. So, I have resolved to avoid all F1 races for the rest of the year. I know it’s a futile gesture, but it’s made me feel better and nothing – not even something outrageous and wacky like rigging the race so that a Toro Rosso (Minardi) wins – will persuade me back.

Finally, a quote from Steve Rider, on seeing aged pub-rockers performing on the grid. “I don't know what they're on but I bet it's not intermediates.”. Surprising spontaneity from the master of the autocue.

(*) Result subject to appeal by McLaren

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We strive to do our best for Ferrari's sponsors, though Ovaltine would have been more appropriate at Spa

Lewis has a 'Mansell moment'. Kimi takes advantage

Ferrari powered Toro Rosso again overshadowed the Renault engined senior team

Kimi crimps Lewis....

...who cuts the corner

Soon after, Lewis leads and Kimi's in the wall

Gerhard congratulates his boys

Fred hauled his Renault into the points

Heidfeld made a demon last minute tyre chance to knick third, later second (subject to appeal)

Felipe stayed on the road and out of trouble to win (subject to appeal)

The Grey Empire have obviously heard summat's up

click for FIA lap chart

Previously...

Forty years ago it was also wet. Chris Amon in the 312

Lewis on Merc duty at the DTM Brands

pics by Ferrari Media, DPPI, FIA, Reuters, XPB, LAT, NFI, IRL & Sutton