F1 – Iceman Winneth At Spa

Kimi Räikkönen took the lead on lap 1 in Spa on Sunday and never looked back despite some creditable pressure from possibly Ferari bound Giancarlo Fisichella.  After winning a shock pole, Fisichella drove a good race to lock up Force India’s first points in Formula One.  Sebastien Vettel did well to get on the podium and shave six points off Jenson Button’s championship lead, while Rubens Barichello nursed home a wounded Brawn machine in seventh and claim a pair of championship points.

Button was the unlucky victim of the usual Spa stupidity in the opening laps, with rookie Romain Grosjean playing culprit in causing a first lap melee that also took out Jaime Alguersauri and Lewis Hamilton before one lap had even been properly run.  Also having a bad day were Jarno Trulli, whose first row starting spot meant little when the brakes on his Toyota failed near the halfway point and Fernando Alonso, whose Renault team had problems AGAIN with a wheel on a pit stop.

And poor, poor Luca Badoer.  Well off the pace and the last car running.  You have to feel for the guy, but honestly, he’s clearly out of his depth in a current F1 car.

 

GP2 – Parente, van der Garde Winners in Wild Spa Weekend

The eternally erratic Alvaro Parente finally came good for Ocean Racing Technology in the feature race of GP2’s weekend at Spa.  Parente managed to hold off the challenge of soon-to-be F1 pilot Nico Hulkenberg through a drama filled Saturday afternoon which featured multiple multi-car incidents and Hulkenberg’s only real championship rival, Vitaly Petrov, retire early due to engine failure.

Giedo van der Garde took advantage of the inversion for the Sunday sprint race, cruising to victory over Rodriguez and Nunes in a crazy race that saw eight cars retired before five laps had been completed.  This time it was Parente’s turn for engine woes, while Nico Hulkenberg was taken out in an early lap smash-up.  Vitaly Petrov didn’t make all that much ground up as he looked for a championship miracle, finishing seventeen seconds back in sixth place.