MOTOR SPORT/Belgian Grand Prix: Justin Hynes at Spa Francorchamps:With everything else in Formula One appearing to be so carefully engineered, Ferrari's dominant one-two finish at yesterday's Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps almost seemed designed to deliver some kind of justice on a weekend in which McLaren were dumped out of the constructors' championship while the team's drivers raced on unpunished.
Kimi Raikkonen's third straight victory at the classic circuit, back on the F1 calendar after a year's absence, handed the Italian team a muted constructors' title with three races still to run but it was the McLaren story that still dominated paddock talk in Belgium.
Stripped of their constructors' points and handed down a $100 million fine in Paris last Thursday, the paddock fizzed all weekend with debate over whether the drivers' should have been penalised.
Yesterday, Max Mosley, president of governing body the FIA (Federation Internationale de l'Autombile) confirmed that the World Mostosport Council had considered a penalty for Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton. "I would have taken all the points away from Hamilton and Alonso on the grounds that there is a suspicion they had an advantage that they should not have had," he said.
"The lawyers all felt everything should go because how can you give the cup to a driver who may have had an unfair advantage over the other drivers," said Mosley. "But on the other side of it we have a brilliant championship between Alonso and Hamilton, and the sporting people were saying 'If you interfere with that you are spoiling a very good championship. It wasn't the drivers' fault'.
Hamilton and Alonso are, however, still in the game and the championship is edging closer to a contest solely between the two. If there is a suspicion that the championship will fall to drivers with an unfair advantage then neutrals will take heart in Raikkonen's flawless drive to maximum points yesterday, which gives him some hope of playing a part in proceedings.
The Finn had scored a dominant pole on Saturday and, as is Raikkonen's wont, he chose yesterday to put in the kind of race performance he only deems to deliver on the classic circuits.
Unchallenged into the reprofiled La Source hairpin at the start, the Finn quickly stretched a gap over team-mate Felipe Massa and left the McLarens of Alonso and Hamilton to scrap over third and fourth.
The pair took up that challenge, Hamilton, starting from fourth, attempting a move around the outside of Alonso into turn one when the Spaniard was slightly blocked when Massa locked his brakes. Alonso though was having none of it and made the most of a bad exiit to drift wide and force Hamilton off-track for a moment.
The pair blazed down to the fearsome Eau Rouge left-right flick at top speed but, on the inside line and with a lap less fuel on board, Alonso, with hardly any room to spare edged ahead for the run up the hill to Radillon and the long Kemmel straight.
And that was it. The quartet maintained position through a dull race to leave the gap at the top of the title race at just two points between leader Hamilton and bitter rival Alonso. The victory gave Raikkonen an outside chance of having a say in the final race for the title on 84 points, 13 adrift of the Englishman.
(44 Laps): 1 K Raikkonen (Fin) Ferrari 1hr 20mins 39.066secs, 2 F Massa (Bra) Ferrari 1:20:43.761, 3 F Alonso (Spa) McLaren 1:20:53.409, 4 L Hamilton (Gbr) McLaren 1:21:02.681, 5 N Heidfeld (Ger) BMW Sauber 1:21:30.945, 6 N Rosberg (Ger) Williams 1:21:55.942, 7 M Webber (Aus) Red Bull 1:21:59.701, 8 H Kovalainen (Fin) Renault 1:22:04.172, 9 R Kubica (Pol) BMW Sauber 1:22:04.727, 10 R Schumacher (Ger) Toyota 1:22:07.640, 11 J Trulli (Ita) Toyota 1:22:22.702, 12 V Liuzzi (Ita) Scuderia Toro Rosso at 1 Lap, 13 R Barrichello (Bra) Honda at 1 Lap, 14 A Sutil (Ger) Spyker at 1 Lap, 15 T Sato (Jpn) Super Aguri at 1 Lap, 16 A Davidson (Gbr) Super Aguri at 1 Lap, 17 S Yamamoto (Jpn) Spyker at 1 Lap Not Classified: 18 J Button (Gbr) Honda 36 Laps, 19 A Wurz (Aut) Williams 34 Laps, 20 D Coulthard (Gbr) Red Bull 29 Laps.
Drivers: 1 Hamilton 97pts, 2 Alonso 95, 3 Raikkonen 84, 4 Massa 77, 5 Heidfeld 56, 6 Kubica 33, 7 Kovalainen 22, 8 Fisichella 17, 9 Rosberg 15, 10 Wurz 13, 11 Webber 10, 12 Coulthard 8, 13 Trulli 7, 14 Schumacher 5, 15 Sato 4, 16 Button 2, 17 Vettel 1.
Manufacturers: 1 Ferrari 161pts, 2 BMW Sauber 90, 3 Renault 39, 4 Williams 28, 5 Red Bull 18, 6 Toyota 12, 7 Super Aguri 4, 8 Honda 2
