It took a $ 100 million penalty and a ban on Mclaren from the constructors title to finally get the Ferraris roar into action. Was almost as if the team was waiting for all this while for the FIA decision before saying “lets put this thing behind us and start racing”. Most of the Ferrari fans (me included) had started giving up on Jean Todt and his boys.
That said, what an amazing display of power by the prancing horses. Kimi was perfect from pole to flag. While Kimi dominated the race from start to finish, it must be said that he was never more than 5 seconds or so ahead of Massa. The two red cars came in within a second of each other. Amazing how quickly things turn… a week ago the Ferraris were humiliated at Monza.
Mclaren must have come to this race seething in anger over the FIA judgement. They really had a big point to prove. However, Spa with its smooth, flowing high speed corners was far away from the straight line speed focused circuit at Monza where Mclaren was so dominant. The silver arrows were out of their league. However, it was a bit unclear whether they were racing at all. The way Alonso ran Hamilton off the road on the first corner made me wonder if he wanted to end the race for both cars. Will be interesting to hear what both drivers have to say about the incident.
It was quite a boring race. The sole “racing” was between the BMWs and the Renaults and that too for inconsequential positions. It would have been multifold worse if in the end Mclaren had won. However with a Ferrari one – two, I can live with a boring race.
For me, the star of the race was Adrian Sutil for Spykar. While he started at 19th, he fought his way to 14th at the end of the race… finishing ahead of both Super Aguris and just 3 seconds behind Barrichello’s Honda. Big deal you say? Well am sure driving a Spykar isn’t easy. Must be akin to flying a propeller aircraft next to an F16. Hoping Dr. Mallya increases the budget of the team next year, puts in an Indian driver and makes the team something other than 21 and 22 on the grid. Dr. Mallya has sold a lot of beer in his life, made a successful airline. This, however will be his biggest challenge.
The season goes now to Japan and here is to Kimi cutting down on the rookie’s lead even further. A real treat would be if he drives around Hamilton on turn one the way he did with Fisichella two years ago.
