Hamilton, Massa, and The Belgian Grand Prix: Bizarre Business at Spa

With Complete Championship Standings

Felipe Massa

Lewis Hamilton set the pace this past weekend at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps and seemed destined to walk away with the Belgian Grand Prix win. It was not to be though.

The real strangeness happened after the race was over. Race stewards watched the replay over and over again, trying to determine if Hamilton gained an unfair advantage when he tried to overtake Kimi Räikkönen even though he didn’t have the line. It turns out he did, he apparently took a short cut inside the corner while off the track (aka “straightlined the chicane”). The stewards gave him a 25 second penalty for that, which moved Massa up to the top spot and put Hamilton behind Heidfeld, but still ahead of Alonso. I always hate when any type of competition comes down to a technical decision.

Either way, this race will go down in the books as a win for Ferrari with a small asterisk and footnote next to the record. The result was enough to ensure Ferrari kept their lead in the constructor’s championship and Massa has pulled within two points of Hamilton in the driver’s title.

Hamilton, before the decision - ugh, awkward “can we have that bottle of champagne back plz?”

Belgian Grand Prix race results

1	MASSA	Ferrari	1h22m59.394s
2	HEIDFELD	BMW Sauber	+ 9.3s
3	HAMILTON	McLaren-Mercedes	+ 10.5s
4	ALONSO	Renault	+ 14.4s
5	VETTEL	STR-Ferrari	+ 14.5s
6	KUBICA	BMW Sauber	+ 15.0s
7	BOURDAIS	STR-Ferrari	+ 16.7s
8	WEBBER	Red Bull-Renault	+ 42.7s
9	GLOCK	Toyota	+ 67.0s
10	KOVALAINEN	McLaren-Mercedes	+ 1 lap, transmission
11	COULTHARD	Red Bull-Renault	+ 1 lap
12	ROSBERG	Williams-Toyota	+ 1 lap
13	SUTIL	Force India-Ferrari	+ 1 lap
14	NAKAJIMA	Williams-Toyota	+ 1 lap
15	BUTTON	Honda	+ 1 lap
16	TRULLI	Toyota	+ 1 lap
17	FISICHELLA	Force India-Ferrari	+ 1 lap
18	RÄIKKÖNEN	Honda	+ 2 laps, accident
19	BARRICHELLO	Honda	+ 26 laps, gearbox
20	PIQUET	Renault	+ 32 laps, accident
Fastest Lap	RÄIKKÖNEN	Ferrari	1m47.930s

NOTE: Hamilton was initially classified first, but had 25 seconds added to his race time for gaining an advantage through cutting the final chicane. Glock was initially classified eighth, but had 25 seconds added to his race time for passing under yellow flags.

Driver’s Championship Standings so far

1	HAMILTON	McLaren-Mercedes	76 Points
2	MASSA	Ferrari	74 Points
3	KUBICA	BMW Sauber	58 Points
4	RÄIKKÖNEN	Ferrari	57 Points
5	HEIDFELD	BMW Sauber	49 Points
6	KOVALAINEN	McLaren-Mercedes	43 Points
7	TRULLI	Toyota	26 Points
8	ALONSO	Renault	23 Points
9	WEBBER	Red Bull-Renault	19 Points
10	GLOCK	Toyota	15 Points
11	PIQUET	Renault	13 Points
12	VETTEL	STR-Ferrari	13 Points
13	BARRICHELLO	Honda	11 Points
14	ROSBERG	Williams-Toyota	9 Points
15	NAKAJIMA	Williams-Toyota	8 Points
16	COULTHARD	Red Bull-Renault	6 Points
17	BOURDAIS	STR-Ferraro	4 Points
18	BUTTON	Honda	3 Points

NOTE: Super Aguri withdrew from the championship after round four.

Constructor’s Championship Standings

1	FERRARI	131 Points
2	MCLAREN-MERCEDES	119 Points
3	BMW SAUBER	107 Points
4	TOYOTA	41 Points
5	RENAULT	36 Points
6	RED BULL-RENAULT	25 Points
7	WILLIAMS-TOYOTA	17 Points
8	STR-FERRARI	17 Points
9	HONDA	14 Points

NOTE: Super Aguri withdrew from the championship after round four.

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