2008 Belgian GP

OSRN 1

Round 13 of the 2008 F1 season at Spa.

Transcript

00:00:00Hello, everybody.

00:00:01I'm bob varsha with david hobbs, steve matchett, peter windsor.

00:00:08As you can see, the fans have turned out.

00:00:10Good seats abound around this amazing racetrack.

00:00:13One of the drivers' favorites.

00:00:15One that has been a part of the world championship since the very beginning back in 1950.

00:00:22Good news, the helicopters can fly.

00:00:23That means we can go racing in this fog.

00:00:25Let's get right to our morning warm-up with the big stories of the weekend.

00:00:29Well, for me, it is lewis hamilton putting the car, the mclaren mp4 23 on pole and on

00:00:36pole in fine style at a racetrack where a driver makes a real difference.

00:00:41There comes a point just prior to qualifying when the engineers have to hand the car over

00:00:46to the driver and say, that is all we can do.

00:00:48The rest is up to you.

00:00:51And lewis hamilton put the car on pole in fine style.

00:00:54He will want to win this grand prix.

00:00:56David hobbs.

00:00:57Ferrari have always had a designated number one driver, especially in the schumacher years.

00:01:01And with the world championship under his belt, kimi raikkonen was a natural going into

00:01:05this year.

00:01:06But he was only two wins, the last one back in spain.

00:01:09Lots of mistakes.

00:01:10Very poor qualifying through the year.

00:01:12His teammate, felipe massa, now leads it by 13 points in the championship.

00:01:17So what is ferrari to do?

00:01:19Today is going to be a huge turning point for ferrari.

00:01:22They may have to change their direction completely.

00:01:24With all their money on felipe massa.

00:01:27One of the other big stories of the weekend, toro rosso ferrari is for real.

00:01:32Sebastian vettel and his fellow sebastian, sebastian bordet, put both cars into the final

00:01:37round of qualifying two weeks ago in valencia, spain.

00:01:39They did it again this weekend on as different a racetrack as you'll find between the street

00:01:44circuit in spain and mighty spa.

00:01:47Bordet has his best qualifying performance yet in formula one.

00:01:51Vettel, though he's headed for the red bull renault team next year, has reason to think

00:01:55that might not be a great idea because this team really appears to be coming on.

00:02:00Vettel only made one run in final qualifying.

00:02:03We expect he's heavy on fuel, perhaps going for a one-stop strategy.

00:02:07Back to live pictures.

00:02:08There is lewis hamilton who will start from pole in his mclaren mercedes.

00:02:11One other story that just came our way this morning, the lead story at autosport.com is

00:02:17that formula one boss bernie yeckelstone met with the teams this morning and told them

00:02:21that the chances are very, very good that the u.S. Grand prix will return to the calendar

00:02:28in the 2010 season.

00:02:29That is great news indeed for formula one fans in the united states.

00:02:34Now as the cars begin to make that long four-mile lap to get to the grid, let's welcome the

00:02:39fourth member of our speed broadcast team, peter windsor.

00:02:42Peter.

00:02:43Thanks very much, bob.

00:02:46Down here on the grid, all eyes on those fast-moving clouds overhead.

00:02:49It's great.

00:02:50It's warmer than it was, but already during the driver's parade, we've had a torrential

00:02:54downpour.

00:02:55Right now, the track is wet.

00:02:56It's not raining.

00:02:57If the race was starting right now, I think everyone would be on drives, but this is spa.

00:03:01This is the ardennes mountains.

00:03:02Anything can happen.

00:03:03Back to you.

00:03:04No question about that.

00:03:06David hobbs has lots of experience.

00:03:07You just had a quick look there at roman grosjean, the young gp2 star and renault development

00:03:12driver who won the feature race of the gp2 championship this weekend.

00:03:17He is in a close battle for that title.

00:03:20That will be fought out next week at manza in italy.

00:03:22We'll have it for you, of course, here on speed.

00:03:25Right now, we're about formula 1, and we'll be back.

00:03:31Welcome back live to the pit lane at spa francorchamps.

00:03:34Dry weather, bridge stone tires on adrian sutile's force india ferrari and a lot of

00:03:38front wing.

00:03:39I didn't notice which way they were turning, steve, putting the front wing in or taking

00:03:43some out as they desperately try to come to terms with these damp but drying conditions

00:03:48in preparation for the grand prix.

00:03:52Let's get down to peter windsor and see if we can learn more.

00:03:55Peter?

00:03:56Well, bob, you said it.

00:03:59Damp and drying conditions.

00:04:00Every driver's and every engineer's nightmare.

00:04:02What do you do when the conditions and variables change this much?

00:04:05I'm with patty low, technical director at mclaren.

00:04:08Great job on the pole, but I guess it doesn't mean anything when the weather is so uncertain

00:04:11like this.

00:04:13It's always good to start from the front in any conditions, particularly the wet with

00:04:17the spray.

00:04:18But as you say, I just overheard you having these mixed conditions is our worst nightmare

00:04:24because you add such a lottery element to the race.

00:04:29You know, which tire do you choose?

00:04:30What do the other guys choose?

00:04:32Was it the right one, especially around this circuit?

00:04:35It's such a long lap that if you've got it wrong, you've got it wrong in a bad way and

00:04:41you can lose a lot of time in one lap.

00:04:43Yeah, very good point, patty.

00:04:44Let's hope you get it absolutely right.

00:04:46Thanks for talking to us.

00:04:47Yeah, very good point.

00:04:48That Bob, of course, if they do get it wrong, it's a lot of time you're going to lose on

00:04:51that lap.

00:04:52Jean-Michel.

00:04:53Let's have Jean-Michel back with us.

00:04:54He's been doing the Olympic Games.

00:04:55Not the camera.

00:04:56Jean-Michel, if you had a good time.

00:04:57Great stuff.

00:04:58Just let's make way for Lewis Hamilton.

00:05:00Let's just have a look at Lewis.

00:05:01They're pushing his car up.

00:05:02He was talking a little bit about the clutch friction point there as he left the pit lane.

00:05:06Very, very important start here, of course, to get into La Source before anybody away

00:05:10from what potentially is the first corner accident.

00:05:13Nick Heidfeld just over here.

00:05:14We might be able to just have a quick word to Nick.

00:05:16Great to see quick Nick.

00:05:17I think we can call him that again now.

00:05:19Responding well to that note.

00:05:20Let's go down to Mark Webber, Jean-Michel, because Nick's going to be with the delectable

00:05:25German television for a while.

00:05:27But Mark's always good for a comment in these conditions.

00:05:30And good day, Mark.

00:05:32Just live on Speed, mate.

00:05:33Just...

00:05:34I'll be here, mate, for sure.

00:05:35It's truth, mate.

00:05:36The condition's pretty changeable.

00:05:37Wet on that parade lap.

00:05:38Now it's not raining.

00:05:39Wet track.

00:05:40What was it like out there?

00:05:41The whole track is dry, except for the 300, 400 metres of this section of this asphalt.

00:05:51So trying to stop the car into the bus stop in the first lap on slicks is going to be,

00:05:56obviously, very challenging for all the guys and getting away from the line.

00:05:59So the worst part of the track is wet.

00:06:02The rest of the track is bone dry and it's slicks.

00:06:04So yeah, it's a nasty call.

00:06:07Mark, one other question.

00:06:08All the drivers, including you, have been saying Eau Rouge is easy flat this year.

00:06:12Will it be flat on the first lap of the race?

00:06:15Probably not.

00:06:16I mean, there'll be small lifts, probably.

00:06:17I mean, well, we'll see what it's like, and obviously the pressures are a little bit lower

00:06:21as well.

00:06:22The car's touching a bit more.

00:06:23Last year I was and I got a good move on Heidfeld out the top, but I think with it being a bit

00:06:26greasy in the bottom and guys on slicks and the white lines as well, if you touch them,

00:06:32you're in the wall.

00:06:33Well, Nick's just in front of you there.

00:06:34Let's hope you get another good move on him from your point of view.

00:06:36Thanks for talking to us, Mark.

00:06:37I think we've got a little bit more time, so let's just keep moving down the grid.

00:06:40Jean-Michel, Robert Kubica over here.

00:06:43I'm dying to ask Robert, well, I know you guys in the booth are too, why he's not as

00:06:46quick as Nick.

00:06:47I'm not quite sure how to phrase that, and I see my colleague from Italy Sky Sports about

00:06:52to line up.

00:06:53So what I'm going to do is toss it back, but I'm going to try and talk to Robert because

00:06:57we want to know what he thinks about qualifying, because Nick has outqualified him here.

00:07:00Back to you, Bob.

00:07:01That's right, Peter.

00:07:02Robert Kubica has been a bit troubled, you might say, at BMW Sauber.

00:07:06He was wildly unhappy on Friday when apparently the team put the incorrect setup on his car,

00:07:12and he really hasn't recovered yet.

00:07:14We'll be back.

00:07:19Welcome back live to the grid at Spa-Francorchamps.

00:07:24Drivers walking around.

00:07:25It must be a very awkward moment for a driver in these final moments before the race, David.

00:07:29The mechanics have the car.

00:07:31You're walking around.

00:07:32You make your final bathroom stop, and you really don't quite know where you're supposed

00:07:35to be.

00:07:36It's a very awkward time.

00:07:37You're right, Bob.

00:07:38Absolutely.

00:07:39Kimi Räikkönen coming around to the grid.

00:07:40There's V.J.

00:07:41Malya, the team principal at Force India Ferrari with Colin Coles, his team manager.

00:07:46We understand that everybody is not happy with everybody else in that team.

00:07:50Let's go to Peter Windsor.

00:07:54Thanks very much, Bob.

00:07:55Yes, just going to have a quick chat to Nick Heidfeld, who's bounced back, as we were saying,

00:07:58beautifully from that performance in Valencia.

00:07:59Nick out of the car now, and, you know what, Robert Kubica didn't want to talk, so I think

00:08:05that's quite a good storyline.

00:08:06Nick, we're just live now.

00:08:11Congratulations, Nick, after Valencia.

00:08:13Great to be where you are on the grid here at Spa.

00:08:14Yeah, it was quite a good weekend for me so far.

00:08:17As you said, Valencia had a lot of trouble.

00:08:19So I was quite happy with the whole weekend here, especially with the weather conditions.

00:08:23Normally, it should be difficult to heat the tyres up, and I managed here, and I hope that's

00:08:28a good indicator for the rest of the season.

00:08:30When we spoke on Friday during the rain break, you were a bit concerned about top speed here

00:08:34relative to Ferrari and McLaren.

00:08:35How does it pan out?

00:08:36You don't look too bad.

00:08:37No, it looks better now.

00:08:39On Saturday, I was among the quickest on some places, even the quickest.

00:08:43We did some small adjustments on the aero, obviously, and it seemed to be enough.

00:08:48Robert doesn't seem very happy.

00:08:49No, I think he struggled a bit with the balance.

00:08:52He's not happy.

00:08:53Obviously, it was not so easy here to find a good one, because we were limited with the

00:08:57time.

00:08:58But I have to say, for me, it's not too bad.

00:08:59Well done.

00:09:00Congratulations.

00:09:01Have a good race.

00:09:02So, let's go back up to the grid.

00:09:04Here's Timo Glock.

00:09:05We'll just say hi to Timo.

00:09:06Hi, Timo.

00:09:07Good luck.

00:09:08Timo, of course, didn't have a brilliant race in Spain, but he scored some points.

00:09:13He did okay.

00:09:14Ron Dennis with Anthony Hamilton over near Lewis's car.

00:09:18But let's have a look over at the Kimster, the Raikkonen situation in Massa, because

00:09:23this has been a fraught weekend for Kimi so far.

00:09:26He went off on Friday.

00:09:27He damaged the car.

00:09:28He had two speeding fines, which Chris Dyer, his race engineer, and I think we can see

00:09:34him there, Jean-Michel, Chris Dyer, says it was definitely not Kimi's fault.

00:09:38But, you know, he's been outqualified again, and that is not the greatest of situations

00:09:42for the Kimster.

00:09:43Anyway, his car is just being pushed into position here.

00:09:46Chris, not the right time to talk to Chris, but concerned paces.

00:09:51Let's just walk a little bit back, because I want to have a look at Felipe Massa, too.

00:09:56He's done such a great job with this car all weekend, and asserting his dominance just

00:10:01the time he used to do that.

00:10:03All quiet and calm at Ferrari.

00:10:05Rob Smedley here.

00:10:06We'll just have a quick word to Rob.

00:10:07Rob, can we have a very quick word for speed, or are you about to go?

00:10:10Rob?

00:10:11Rob?

00:10:12Oh, sorry, sorry.

00:10:13You're going.

00:10:14Okay.

00:10:15Far be it from me to intrude on the gorgeous Austrian television.

00:10:20You know what, Bob?

00:10:21I think I might send it back to you just for a couple of minutes, and then we'll come back

00:10:24to the grid again.

00:10:25Okay, Peter, you just keep orbiting the gorgeous Austrian television, and we'll get back to

00:10:30you as Robert Kubica talks it over with the team.

00:10:33On a more somber note, certainly everyone in motorsports knows now that we lost the

00:10:38great Phil Hill about ten days ago.

00:10:41He'll be buried this week in his native California.

00:10:43But it was in places like this, Spa or Monza or Le Mans, where he came to worldwide renown.

00:10:49And so it's somehow appropriate that here, now, on this weekend, we remember Phil Hill.

00:10:57Phil Hill first demonstrated his affinity for driving at the age of nine.

00:11:01His racing skills were honed in the competitive California sports car scene following World

00:11:05War II, and those skills were formidable.

00:11:08In 1958, he made his Formula One debut in the French Grand Prix, driving a Maserati.

00:11:14Later that season, Hill would get behind the wheel for Ferrari, the mark he would represent

00:11:18for much of his career.

00:11:20Two years later, Hill became the first American to win a Formula One World Championship race,

00:11:25the Italian Grand Prix at Monza.

00:11:27A year later, he would win an epic race at Spa in the Belgian Grand Prix after a race-long

00:11:32battle with his teammate, Wolfgang von Trips.

00:11:35And once again, he claimed the win at Monza.

00:11:38With these victories and consistent finishes, Hill became the first American driver to win

00:11:43the World Championship.

00:11:45Hill excelled in sports cars as well as Grand Prix machinery.

00:11:49He was the first American-born winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, taking three victories

00:11:53in all partnered with Belgian Olivier Gendivien.

00:11:57Hill also won the 12 Hours of Sebring on three occasions and many other events in many different

00:12:02cars around the world.

00:12:05Following his retirement in 1967, Hill pursued his passion for all things mechanical as a

00:12:10partner in the renowned Hill and Vaughan automotive restoration business.

00:12:14He was a staple at historic racing events, classic car shows, and could still be seen

00:12:19in the paddock at many Formula One events.

00:12:22The prototypical thinking man's racer, he remained one of the sport's great ambassadors

00:12:26the rest of his life.

00:12:28Forever America's first world champion, Phil Hill was 81.

00:12:39Welcome back to Spa-Francorchamps, sun shining on the grid, you can see the shadows and that

00:12:43is good news.

00:12:44Hopefully the track will dry.

00:12:46Let's get right back down to the grid now.

00:12:48Peter Windsor is standing by with the man who makes everything happen in Formula One,

00:12:51Bernie Ecclestone.

00:12:52Bernie, rumors beginning to emerge about the U.S. Grand Prix being back on the calendar

00:12:58in 2010.

00:12:59What can you tell us?

00:13:002010?

00:13:01I don't know about 2010.

00:13:02I hope I'm around still.

00:13:03I'm sure you will be.

00:13:04You're the fittest guy in the pit lane, no doubt about that.

00:13:06Seriously, the U.S. Grand Prix, the future thereof.

00:13:09We're trying.

00:13:10We're doing our best.

00:13:11Venue?

00:13:12Venue?

00:13:13Location?

00:13:14We have two or three ideas.

00:13:18Indianapolis one of them?

00:13:19We're looking everywhere.

00:13:20Very, very open and clear as ever, but the smile on his face, I think, tells us that

00:13:26the U.S. Grand Prix may well be back in the United States by 2010.

00:13:31That will certainly bring smiles to the faces of a lot of fans.

00:13:34Thank you, Peter.

00:13:35Now, as Peter mentioned earlier, one of the more persistent topics in Formula One of late

00:13:38deals with that team.

00:13:40Not so much Felipe Massa right there who will start on the front row today, but his teammate.

00:13:44What is going on with the world champion?

00:13:47Earlier this weekend, Peter Windsor picks up that story.

00:13:52There is, of course, no doubting the speed of Kimi Räikkönen here at Spa.

00:13:55His record of three straight wins does speak for itself, and nor is there any doubt that

00:13:59Kimi remains well in the running for the 2008 Formula One World Championship.

00:14:03However, as we go into the Belgian Grand Prix, we have to say that if he doesn't shine today,

00:14:08that even Kimi's most ardent supporters are going to begin to ask serious questions.

00:14:13Not that it's easy to get answers out of Kimi Mattias.

00:14:17I broach the subject of Kimi's qualifying at the recent European Grand Prix at Valencia.

00:14:24Could you have run less fuel?

00:14:26Should you have run less fuel going into Q3?

00:14:27I don't know.

00:14:28I don't think it would have made an awful lot of difference.

00:14:32I mean, the issues are what they are, and I mean, if we can fix those problems, it makes

00:14:39a much bigger difference than anything to do with the fuel.

00:14:43What are the issues?

00:14:44I mean, it's the small things, that we're not happy how the car handles in some areas,

00:14:49and it costs you a lot of time every time when it happens, so I mean, it doesn't look

00:14:57a big thing.

00:14:58I mean, every time, like I said, when it goes wrong, it's a big chunk of time, and you know

00:15:03that you lose many places.

00:15:07Having said all that, Kimi referred to issues.

00:15:09We never really did get down to the issues, and sometimes, of course, we never actually

00:15:12get to see all the qualifying laps of all the drivers, so we don't really know where

00:15:16Kimi is losing time on some of those Q3 laps, but if I personally had to make a guess, I

00:15:20would say it's going into slow corners from high speed.

00:15:24This is where Felipe Massa has been so strong in recent races, making very, very few errors

00:15:29on the slow corners, where, of course, it's so much easier to lose time, and with Felipe

00:15:33Massa outqualifying Kimi here at Spa, making it now nine to four in favor of the Brazilian

00:15:38against Kimi in qualifying this year, the question is, how will this affect Ferrari's

00:15:43approach to the remainder of the 2008 season?

00:15:48As we said yesterday during qualifying, the intra-team stories are about as interesting

00:15:52as the inter-teams in the battle for the world championships.

00:15:56We've got another break on the Acura pre-race show, and then we'll be back for the Grand

00:16:00Prix.

00:16:01Stay with us.

00:16:02Speed's coverage of the Belgian Grand Prix pre-race show is brought to you by...

00:16:08The forest of the Ardennes, dense with pines and history.

00:16:13The track here diving through deep descending valleys, soaring like a great bird catching

00:16:18a mountain updrag, twisting through the forest stronghold, its broad asphalt swath bringing

00:16:24each year the new cars to this ancient place called Spa.

00:16:30It is here that Formula One digs back to its roots.

00:16:34It is here that the great masters of Spa have used the danger and difficulty of the track

00:16:39to leave lesser men far behind, and it is here that two Americans, Dan Gurney and the

00:16:45late Phil Hill, scored stirring victories.

00:16:49Today the focus is on Kimi Räikkönen.

00:16:51He has won three Grands Prix in a row here, and now he must win a fourth.

00:16:56Not to earn a spot in the pantheon of great Spa drivers, he has already done that, but

00:17:01to save his season and his standing within the Ferrari team.

00:17:05He is the defending world champion, but he hasn't been driving like it or acting like

00:17:10it either.

00:17:11But Spa can change all that.

00:17:13Sure, there aren't more championship points to be won here than at other races, but a

00:17:18victory today can turn skeptics into believers.

00:17:21Spa is the crucible, its dark forests an impartial witness to the dooms of man.

00:17:28What will they see today?

00:17:30Find out as you watch the Grand Prix of Belgium at Spa, next.

00:17:44Silverstone, Monaco and Monza are three of the four tracks on the 2008 Formula 1 schedule

00:17:51that were a part of the original Formula 1 season back in 1950.

00:17:55Welcome to the fourth.

00:17:57Spa-Francorchamps, site of the Belgian Formula 1 Grand Prix, live here on speed.

00:18:03Hello, everybody.

00:18:04I'm Bob Varsha with David Hobbs, Steve Matchett and Peter Windsor.

00:18:07Spa is one of those tracks where a driver can make a difference.

00:18:11Let's take a lap of it now with David Hobbs and our BMW track analysis.

00:18:15Well, on board with Lewis Hamilton, he's coming down to La Source hairpin.

00:18:18Very, very, very hard braking for an incredibly tight corner.

00:18:21And a good exit here is vital because from here on, you're flat on the throttle for 23 seconds

00:18:28down the sweet, steep hill here.

00:18:30Huge compression right there.

00:18:31You can see the yellow mark.

00:18:32You can hear the engine slowing down through sheer compression and tire rub as you go up

00:18:37the long straight, the Kemmel straight here.

00:18:39Interlake Côme.

00:18:4023 seconds flat out.

00:18:42Tough on engine.

00:18:4360 yards.

00:18:44Boom.

00:18:45Not going to brake.

00:18:46Interlake Côme.

00:18:47Sweeping through the first right-hander then.

00:18:49The left-hander.

00:18:50Now the Malmedy sweep and this car starts to swoop downhill to Rivage coming up next.

00:18:55A downhill right-hander.

00:18:56The road slopes away.

00:18:57A lot of understeers is induced here.

00:19:00Difficult to get rid of.

00:19:01Down to this little next corner has no name.

00:19:03This is turn nine.

00:19:05But a good exit there is vital because a long run downhill to Pouhon.

00:19:09A double apex.

00:19:10Listen here.

00:19:11Just take it.

00:19:12One downshift.

00:19:13Then straight on the throttle and up again as they go past the second apex.

00:19:17Coming down to Fania here.

00:19:19We've got a right-left complex.

00:19:21Good surface here.

00:19:22Bit of grip but obviously aerodynamic downforce and lack of drag is important here as is obviously

00:19:28great engine power.

00:19:29Into Stavola.

00:19:30The lowest point of the circuit.

00:19:32A triple apex right-hander.

00:19:34Out of which another long 17-second uphill climb.

00:19:39Absolutely flat out all the way through Blanchiment.

00:19:42Coming up right here.

00:19:44Flat out corner.

00:19:46Hard on the throttle.

00:19:47Smooth overtaking opportunity coming up into the bus stop chicane.

00:19:51Been re-situated the last couple of years.

00:19:53A tight right-left corner.

00:19:55And of course always those dark clouds overhead and is it going to rain?

00:20:00And of course if it rains here, you've got a very high-speed track and of course incredibly slippery.

00:20:06It's not the original nine-mile spa that was so intimidating and had so many heroic races.

00:20:12But at about four and a third miles, it is still an epic racetrack.

00:20:20Now the cars roll off.

00:20:21And it looks like everyone is on the white stripe softer of the two.

00:20:25Bridgestone compounds available.

00:20:27Felipe Massa is not the pole sitter and he better not stay ahead of the man who is.

00:20:31Let's check our Bridgestone starting grid for today's race.

00:20:34On the front row, the top two men in the world championship.

00:20:37Points leader Lewis Hamilton from McLaren Mercedes.

00:20:40The 11th pole in his amazing 30 race career.

00:20:43But most importantly, his first at Spa.

00:20:45Next to him, the Ferrari of Felipe Massa.

00:20:47Six points behind in the world championship standings.

00:20:50He could come out of the race today as Ferrari's undisputed number one.

00:20:54Row two is the finish contingent.

00:20:55The McLaren of Heikki Kovalainen right behind his teammate.

00:20:58And behind his teammate, the Ferrari of last year's pole sitter and winner of the last three races here at Spa.

00:21:03Kimi Räikkönen, also the only man in the last 12 years to win this race from outside the top four.

00:21:09On row three, the BMW Sauber of German Nick Heidfeld.

00:21:12This is a home race for him.

00:21:13The closest track to his hometown.

00:21:15With his career in the balance this weekend, he has been comprehensively outrunning his teammate.

00:21:20Next to him, Fernando Alonso in the Renault.

00:21:22The two-time world champion has never won here at Spa.

00:21:25In four of his five starts here, Mark Webber has either qualified ninth or seventh.

00:21:29Right where he is today in his Red Bull.

00:21:31He's not very happy with his setup.

00:21:32Next to him, the BMW Robert Kubica, outqualified by his teammate for only the second time this year.

00:21:37He was not very happy on Friday when the team put the wrong setup on the car.

00:21:41Row five is all Sebastian Bordet and Vettel.

00:21:44Sebastian Bordet, the former champ car champion, hasn't raced here at Spa since 2002 in Formula 3000.

00:21:50But he was a very happy man after his best qualifying performance yet in Formula 1.

00:21:55Next to him, Vettel, the young German.

00:21:57Both Toro Rosso Ferraris in the top ten for the second straight race.

00:22:01In 11th spot, the Toyota Yano.

00:22:02Truly the first time he's qualified out of the top tens since 2001.

00:22:06He was on the pole in 04.

00:22:07Probably has a wet setup.

00:22:08He's very slow through the traps.

00:22:09Next to him, the second Renault of Nelson Piquet.

00:22:12The only guy, he's not on the option tire as the field leads off.

00:22:16He won his last race here, the GP2 race, in 05.

00:22:20On row seven, Timo Glock in the second Toyota.

00:22:23He made a one-stop strategy work in Valencia two weeks ago.

00:22:26He may try it again today.

00:22:27Next to him, David Coulthard of the Red Bull Renault.

00:22:30The Scotsman making his final trip to Spa.

00:22:32He won here in 1999 for McLaren.

00:22:35Nico Rosberg in his Williams Toyota lines up 15th.

00:22:37Way off the pace.

00:22:38He qualified fifth last year.

00:22:39Another one hoping for rain.

00:22:40Next to him, the very slow Honda, Rubens Barrichello.

00:22:43On row nine, the other Honda in the hands of Jenson Button.

00:22:46If there's one team happy to see a wet track, it would be the Honda team.

00:22:50Next to him, Adrian Sutil in the first of the Force India Ferraris.

00:22:54Using their new seamless shift gearbox, but they are a team in disarray.

00:22:58Kaz Nakajima starts 19th, making it the worst combined qualifying performance

00:23:02by Williams forever here at Spa.

00:23:04Next to Nakajima starting last, the Force India car of Fisichella.

00:23:08As the field makes its way back around, one final chicane.

00:23:11Looks very wet down there, and everybody on dry tires.

00:23:15Let's turn to our Toyota storylines.

00:23:17I'll kick things off.

00:23:18When you think of Spa, you think of the weather.

00:23:21Six times in the last 14 runnings of the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa,

00:23:25the track has been wet at some point.

00:23:27We understand it is not going to rain for at least 30 minutes,

00:23:30but after that, all bets are off.

00:23:32Well, of course, the typical wet weather setting is you soften the car up,

00:23:35and you also put more aerodynamic drag on it,

00:23:38both of which are absolutely deadly here if it does not rain,

00:23:41and we think that's probably what the Toyotas have done.

00:23:43So you slow in the straights, and of course the car is softly sprung,

00:23:46not what you want here at Spa.

00:23:48Yeah, and for me, safety car and fuel strategy.

00:23:51If a safety car comes out because of bad weather,

00:23:54well, those guys have got a lot of fuel on board,

00:23:56and I'm thinking particularly of Bordet and Vettel in the STR chassis around mid-pack.

00:24:00Those fellas could be looking very, very good indeed.

00:24:03All the runners will pull in.

00:24:04STR will be looking right up the top of the running order.

00:24:07A very damp starting grid.

00:24:09Everyone on dry tires.

00:24:10Here come the lights for the Belgian Grand Prix.

00:24:25Lewis Hamilton on challenge to La Source.

00:24:27Lewis Hamilton is going to get nudged out of here by Vettel.

00:24:29Contact one of the BMW salvers.

00:24:32Lots of tire smoke, and lots of cars taking to the asphalt runoff in La Source.

00:24:37Jimmy Raikkonen being one of them.

00:24:40Saw a car going very slowly down the hill.

00:24:42Oh, boy, Kovalainen made a desperate start.

00:24:45Look at that.

00:24:46Having got himself gathered together there,

00:24:48Hamilton and Raikkonen and Massa side-by-side.

00:24:51Oh, the two Ferraris together on the Kemmel straight.

00:24:54Oh!

00:24:55Is that Raikkonen moving his teammate Massa right to the edge of the road?

00:24:59No, it's Massa moving Raikkonen over.

00:25:01There's Fernando Alonso.

00:25:03Alonso making a fantastic run there, overtaking...

00:25:09Yeah, it is Raikkonen, Massa as far as the two Ferraris are concerned, guys.

00:25:12And we were saying that going into this weekend,

00:25:15that the Ferrari teammates would be duped as hell for control of pecking order at Ferrari.

00:25:20And it's already happening.

00:25:23Down the hill through turn nine.

00:25:25This is Pujol.

00:25:27Well, if I was Lewis Hamilton looking in my mirror

00:25:30and seeing Kimi Raikkonen rather than Felipe Massa,

00:25:32I'd be very nervous.

00:25:33Kimi Raikkonen has won this race three years in a row.

00:25:40Alonso again making a great start

00:25:42and doing a heck of a job with the Renault.

00:25:45And there's his teammate.

00:25:46Not that far behind.

00:25:47He must have made a good start, too.

00:25:48Nelson Piquet after seven.

00:25:51And here's that Heidfeld and Kovalainen

00:25:54banged wheels in the first corner.

00:25:56Let's see if anybody suffers for it.

00:25:59Oh, that Vettel getting very wide.

00:26:02Those curbs are much wetter than the racetrack.

00:26:06Oh!

00:26:09Robert Kubica is on charge here.

00:26:11Now they're getting into the damp spot.

00:26:13This is going to be...

00:26:14Kubica goes around the outside of Glock.

00:26:17Oh, and already won.

00:26:19Whoa!

00:26:21Wow!

00:26:23How did they avoid contact?

00:26:26It looks like one of the two Williams cars,

00:26:28probably Rossberg.

00:26:31You've got to tiptoe your way around the source here, gentlemen.

00:26:38Wow!

00:26:39Raikkonen all over the back of the McLaren.

00:26:44Gives you a great idea of how steep that hill is

00:26:47as they launch onto the Kemmel straight.

00:26:48We believe the Ferrari...

00:26:50He's making the move, guys.

00:26:51He's making the move right now.

00:26:53We think he's got more fuel than the McLaren.

00:26:55He's got it.

00:26:56He's got it around the outside.

00:26:58Unbelievable!

00:27:00Boy, oh boy.

00:27:01Well, there's a reaction.

00:27:02We were saying this is definitely Ferrari and McLaren.

00:27:05The performance of these cars are very, very close to the match.

00:27:08But boy, Raikkonen needed a good race

00:27:10and he's already leading the race.

00:27:13There are horses for courses.

00:27:14The great Jimmy Clark and Ayrton Senna

00:27:16each won four races in a row here at Spa.

00:27:19Even though Clark reportedly hated the place

00:27:22because it was so dangerous.

00:27:24Kimi Raikkonen is the Spa master of the current generation.

00:27:30What an unbelievable run by Kimi Raikkonen.

00:27:32Third on the grid there.

00:27:33Got pushed off the source first time round.

00:27:36Dropped back a little bit.

00:27:37Got squeezed.

00:27:38His compatriot going up the hill the first lap.

00:27:41And then did a fantastic...

00:27:42He must have done an incredible job second time through the source.

00:27:45Oh, there's Kovalainen.

00:27:46Spun or punted.

00:27:50On board with Hamilton.

00:27:51Oh, that's what...

00:27:53That's what happens to Hamilton.

00:27:57That's how Raikkonen got up to him.

00:27:58That's how Raikkonen got up to him, yeah.

00:28:00But then Raikkonen made the pass.

00:28:02Giancarlo Fisichello in the Force India Ferrari

00:28:04is shown in the pit lane.

00:28:06You saw on that chart that he had made no laps in the race.

00:28:11On board with Kovalainen.

00:28:12Kovalainen.

00:28:13Kovalainen now down in 11th spot

00:28:15from that third grid spot.

00:28:23Look at them skitter around.

00:28:29Spray from the car in front on the lens.

00:28:31Very tricky.

00:28:32Very gingerly.

00:28:33But obviously we saw what happened to Hamilton

00:28:35at the end of lap one.

00:28:37David Coulthard in ruins by DiChello.

00:28:42Two guys with the most experience in the whole race.

00:28:44And now into the bright sunshine.

00:28:46Welcome to Spa in the Ardennes Forest.

00:28:49Hamilton's not down and out then yet.

00:28:51Meanwhile, that fellow there, Alonso,

00:28:53just sets the fastest lap of the race so far.

00:28:56Getting in that chase with Raikkonen, Hamilton and Massa.

00:29:00Alonso Ferrano currently running fourth.

00:29:02Kovalainen has gotten by Glock.

00:29:04And Sebastian Bordet up to fifth spot there

00:29:07in front of Mark Webber and the other Red Bull.

00:29:09Sebastian Vettel is down in 12th spot.

00:29:12So he must have had some sort of contretemps

00:29:14on that first lap.

00:29:15The order is Raikkonen, Hamilton, Massa, Alonso,

00:29:18Bordet up in fifth, Mark Webber, Robert Kubica,

00:29:21Nelson Piquet in eighth, Nick Heidfeld ninth,

00:29:24Timo Glock now 11th behind Kovalainen

00:29:27who's taken over 10th.

00:29:29You see Kovalainen.

00:29:31Heavy contact with Nick Heidfeld.

00:29:33Whoa.

00:29:34Whoa, whoa, whoa.

00:29:35Somebody gets entirely sideways.

00:29:37That was Kaz Nakajima in the Williams Toyota

00:29:40who took a wrap from Giancarlo Fisichella.

00:29:42What a great stop.

00:29:43Miano truly whistling past everybody there now

00:29:46because he's going to stop it.

00:29:47That's mind-blowing.

00:29:48Something else entirely.

00:29:49Obviously he had a bit of trouble with that

00:29:51little bit of the equation.

00:29:52On board with Sebastian Bordet.

00:29:57Look at Trulli go.

00:30:00Look at Trulli go.

00:30:01Trulli shot from a gun.

00:30:03Bordet thinking if he can do that.

00:30:05Oh.

00:30:07That did some damage to Bordet's car.

00:30:11You bet.

00:30:14Kovalainen going past Heidfeld.

00:30:16Heidfeld trying to get back past him again.

00:30:18Got to wonder if that BMW Sauber is in perfect shape.

00:30:22Boy, oh boy.

00:30:23Raikkonen goes fast lap three seconds quicker

00:30:26than the one previously laid down by Alonso.

00:30:2852.772 for Raikkonen.

00:30:31Meanwhile, right behind him Hamilton

00:30:33sets fast in sector one.

00:30:35Raikkonen replies in sector two.

00:30:38And Massa in sector three.

00:30:39So these guys are all very evenly matched.

00:30:44Well, the fuel load tail will be told

00:30:46in the first round of pit stops.

00:30:47In replay, let's check.

00:30:49That's Heidfeld and Kovalainen.

00:30:54Passing Heidfeld.

00:30:55Right in front of him is Nelson Piquet

00:30:57who also made a terrific start.

00:30:58Nelson Piquet qualified 12th.

00:31:00He's now up to 8th.

00:31:03Susanne Lecombe at the top of the hill.

00:31:05Oh, Glock coming right across the bow of

00:31:09Barrichello.

00:31:10Truly passing Barrichello.

00:31:12David Coutard in hot pursuit of Barrichello again now.

00:31:16Oui!

00:31:17That's Adrian Sutil.

00:31:18Adrian Sutil in the Force India car there

00:31:20wants to be part of this action as well.

00:31:22He had a good ride here last year.

00:31:25Down the hill for that turn 9

00:31:27which caught a lot of people out

00:31:28including Kimi Raikkonen

00:31:29in practice on Friday and Saturday morning.

00:31:31Backed it into the tyre wall.

00:31:32Tore the rear wing off the Ferrari.

00:31:35Adrian Sutil and David Coutard

00:31:37had a heavy collision two weeks ago in Valencia.

00:31:44Kovalainen now hot on the tail of Nelson Piquet.

00:31:46In front of him there's a go through Stabilo.

00:31:48This long 17-18.

00:31:50Oh, he's got a good toe here.

00:31:55Ooh.

00:31:56Through Blanchimont.

00:31:58Around the outside at Blanchimont.

00:32:01Kovalainen very aggressive early on here.

00:32:05Well, of course he's got to be

00:32:06because he's got so far down.

00:32:08He made an absolutely terrible start.

00:32:10We suspect he may be the heavier of the two McLarens.

00:32:12Yes, I think he is.

00:32:15So he has got to push to the front.

00:32:19There's Heidfeld looking at the back of Piquet now.

00:32:23Boy, that was a nicely judged pass.

00:32:25Nicely judged by Nelson Piquet too.

00:32:27Nicely judged because it worked.

00:32:29Yeah.

00:32:31Yeah, right.

00:32:36Raikkonen, Hamilton goes through.

00:32:37Raikkonen sets another fast lap.

00:32:401.51.439.

00:32:43Still taking huge chunks off the lap time.

00:32:47We saw 1.47s in qualifying.

00:32:50The lap record,

00:32:53the all-out lap record, a 1.45.994

00:32:56by Kimi Raikkonen back in 2007.

00:32:59And look at that blue sky up there.

00:33:00Yeah.

00:33:01Wonder of wonders.

00:33:05Hokey Kovalainen just sets a pass to sector one.

00:33:10I don't have to insult them.

00:33:13Look at those hillsides full of fans.

00:33:16Not to be deterred by the weather.

00:33:18Veterans of Spa know exactly how to pack.

00:33:20Take everything.

00:33:27You see the gaps between Piquet and Heidfeld.

00:33:31Piquet on the prime Bridgestone.

00:33:33That's the hard compound.

00:33:35Everybody else, including the man with whom you ride,

00:33:37Nick Heidfeld, on the white stripe medium Bridgestone.

00:33:49Here's Stabilo, a corner that we mentioned yesterday

00:33:51in qualifying will be renamed for the late Belgian

00:33:54racer and journalist Paul Frère.

00:33:57Got a good draft here.

00:33:58And you're back on the wet.

00:33:59Into that, yeah, very dodgy looking chicane.

00:34:03The sun's out, so this will dry out fairly quickly.

00:34:07And then when it dries out a little bit

00:34:09and the temperature goes up

00:34:10and the sun starts to warm the track up,

00:34:11which it will do very quickly,

00:34:13old Piquet on those prime tires

00:34:16might be looking pretty good.

00:34:18Lewis Hamilton resets fast lap that time around.

00:34:21150.364.

00:34:27Closes up a little bit on the race leader, Raikkonen.

00:34:3044 laps scheduled.

00:34:32Five are complete.

00:34:36Off into a race of their own.

00:34:38World Championship contenders,

00:34:40Kimi Raikkonen and Lewis Hamilton

00:34:42lead the way at Spa-Francorchamps.

00:34:44We'll be back with more live speed coverage

00:34:46of the Belgian Grand Prix.

00:34:49Welcome back live to Spa-Francorchamps.

00:34:52Flashing through Pouhon,

00:34:54headed toward the Fagnes corners.

00:34:55That's Nelson Piquet being chased by Sebastian Vettel.

00:34:59Two of the young lions of Formula 1

00:35:00disputing 10th place in the Belgian Grand Prix.

00:35:04Up front, Lewis Hamilton during the break

00:35:06reset fast lap,

00:35:07breaking into the 1 minute 49 second zone.

00:35:11And now Kimi Raikkonen answers across start-finish

00:35:13with a 1.49.7 to retake fast lap.

00:35:17Now looking at the speed trap figures

00:35:18between McLaren and Ferrari here

00:35:20at Hamilton and Raikkonen.

00:35:21Raikkonen always seems to get the fastest sector time

00:35:24through sector 2,

00:35:25which is where you need the downforce.

00:35:27Hamilton's fastest through the 1st and the 3rd sector

00:35:30where you really need to trim the wing off.

00:35:32Which again makes me believe

00:35:34maybe Ferrari running a little bit too much wing

00:35:36for these conditions

00:35:37and it's hampering them up the straight.

00:35:39That's where McLaren have the advantage.

00:35:40But should weather conditions change,

00:35:42then of course that will play into Ferrari's advantage.

00:35:47Steve, I don't know whether this is significant or not,

00:35:51but in Parc Ferme,

00:35:53or when the cars came out of Parc Ferme this morning,

00:35:55Ferrari were given permission

00:35:57to change on the Felipe Massa cars.

00:35:59We see Heikki Kovalainen here

00:36:01looking for another way around the BMW.

00:36:04Not so easy there,

00:36:05but I'm sure you'll get him in a little bit of time.

00:36:07But on the Felipe Massa engine,

00:36:08they changed the number 5 spark plug,

00:36:10the engine loom and the power box

00:36:12on the left-hand side coil,

00:36:13which suggests, does it not,

00:36:15that maybe Massa wasn't 100% happy with his engine.

00:36:18And here we saw on lap 2,

00:36:20Kimi blasting past him on the straight.

00:36:22I wonder about Massa's engine right now.

00:36:24Yeah, absolutely.

00:36:26And changing one spark plug

00:36:28is not something the team would like to do,

00:36:30I think, voluntarily.

00:36:31I'm sure they would have applied to the FIA

00:36:33to change them all.

00:36:34And Charlie Whiting would have said,

00:36:36you can change the one that you're not happy with.

00:36:38Which one's giving you the problem?

00:36:42Well, Piquet missed his braking point

00:36:44and gives up the position to Vettel.

00:36:46That was for 10th place.

00:36:48The order is Raikkonen, Hamilton, Massa.

00:36:51And Massa, 4.9.

00:36:53Call it 5 seconds behind the 2nd place Hamilton.

00:36:55That's how fast Raikkonen and Hamilton are lapping.

00:36:58Alonso remains 4th.

00:36:59Sebastian Bordet, despite that heavy contact

00:37:01with Jarno Trulli at the start,

00:37:03is still 5th with that damaged Dora Rosso Ferrari.

00:37:06Wonder how that makes Mark Webber behind him

00:37:08in the fully healthy Red Bull Renault feel.

00:37:11He is 6th.

00:37:12Then Robert Kubica, 7th.

00:37:13Hickey Kovalainen, the battle we were watching a moment ago.

00:37:16And Nick Heidfeld, 9th.

00:37:18And Sebastian Vettel, as we mentioned, is now 10th.

00:37:20Yeah, we just saw the front of Bordet's car.

00:37:22That was a bit of a difficult shot to pick out.

00:37:24But it did do quite a bit of damage

00:37:25because we saw a lot of stuff flying off.

00:37:27I imagine that bridge piece over the nose

00:37:29has gone for a start-off.

00:37:31And it looks like Heidfeld coming through

00:37:34the hairpin there on his own.

00:37:36Yeah, sunshine up in Le Combe.

00:37:38And again, Raikkonen sets fastest lap,

00:37:41and it's Hamilton fastest so far through sector 1.

00:37:44We're riding with Kovalainen.

00:37:45Kubica.

00:37:47Boy, Kovalainen was quick out of the sort.

00:37:50Quick through Eau Rouge.

00:37:53Gets a tow, whistles by.

00:37:55I'm sure he'll disappear at the rate of around about

00:37:57three quarters of a second a lap now,

00:37:59having got round him.

00:38:00So now, his sights will be set on Mark Webber.

00:38:04And Dennis looking on, saying,

00:38:05that's my boy.

00:38:07Oops.

00:38:08Adrian Sutil

00:38:09taking the less-than-ideal line.

00:38:12Oh, my goodness me.

00:38:14That is really less-than-ideal.

00:38:17I think that might have been down to nine.

00:38:19There's so little grip out there.

00:38:20It just never works.

00:38:23Where's the gravel with the good grip?

00:38:24And again, Raikkonen passes through that middle sector.

00:38:27So it's playing out again.

00:38:28Yeah, it's always Hamilton through sector 1 and 3,

00:38:31or has been.

00:38:32Raikkonen pulls it back in sector 2.

00:38:34The key now, guys, is how much fuel is on board

00:38:38these two cars.

00:38:39Raikkonen was significantly slower between Q2 and Q3 times,

00:38:44which, given a perfect lap,

00:38:46would suggest more fuel on board Ferrari.

00:38:48But we know that in previous qualifying sessions this season,

00:38:51that time difference had just been Raikkonen

00:38:53not getting on with the program.

00:38:55Hamilton, the first man into the 48s.

00:38:57Here we have another look at Kovalainen

00:39:00getting around to Robert Kubica.

00:39:02Comes out of the corner vastly faster.

00:39:05That outside pass into Lecombe

00:39:07seems to be the way to go here at Spa.

00:39:09We saw a lot of that in the GP2 races

00:39:11we hope we saw this morning here on Speed.

00:39:13Yeah, and the Formula 1 drivers,

00:39:15unlike some of the GP2 runners,

00:39:16they managed to get their braking points right as well

00:39:19and pull the move off.

00:39:20It's very easy to go flying up into Lecombe,

00:39:22but the key of the move is being able to brake

00:39:24and then get through the corner.

00:39:26Now, this is where your sector 2 starts,

00:39:28just as you go into Lecombe.

00:39:29You think that maybe the Ferrari's got a bit more wing,

00:39:31because there are nine of the 19 corners are in.

00:39:35Sector 2.

00:39:38Well, Steve, just to add to what you were saying

00:39:40about Kimi's qualifying afterwards,

00:39:42he did for the first time in a couple of races

00:39:44say he was really, really happy with his car,

00:39:46but Kimi being Kimi,

00:39:47he openly admitted that he did make a big mistake

00:39:49on his quickest golden lap.

00:39:51So, again, you know,

00:39:52the whole question of how much fuel he has

00:39:54very much an unanswered one at the moment.

00:39:57Well, it's part of the fascinating strategy

00:40:00of pit stop strategy,

00:40:02and it's going to play out soon.

00:40:03Which team is going to make the move first?

00:40:06I don't think we've seen but one or maybe two laps

00:40:09where the fast lap of the race hasn't been reset.

00:40:11Right now, Lewis Hamilton has it.

00:40:13Pit stops are coming.

00:40:14We'll be back.

00:40:18Welcome back at Spa,

00:40:19working lap number 11 of 44.

00:40:22Pit stops expected shortly.

00:40:23Just had a glimpse at the change in position

00:40:26from starting grid to a driver's current running order.

00:40:29Lewis Hamilton is in from second on lap 11.

00:40:32Oh, boy.

00:40:33Well, this is exactly what McLaren and Hamilton

00:40:35did not want.

00:40:36Now, this is evidence, I'm telling.

00:40:38I would suggest that Raikkonen there

00:40:40with more fuel on board now,

00:40:42this is Hamilton,

00:40:43should have been leading this race.

00:40:45And as you guys were saying,

00:40:46it was that spin at La Source,

00:40:47he'll be kicking himself now over that.

00:40:50Boy, he will.

00:40:51Raikkonen has also been beating him to death

00:40:54in the second sector.

00:40:56Hamilton rejoins.

00:40:57There goes Kubica.

00:40:58Here comes Kovalainen,

00:40:59who will pass his McLaren teammate.

00:41:04So, Hamilton rejoins in seventh place.

00:41:11And Kimi Raikkonen now has a gap of 7.2 seconds

00:41:15to his teammate, Felipe Massa.

00:41:19Drive-through penalty.

00:41:22Perhaps you haven't seen that collision in that case.

00:41:24Welcome aboard.

00:41:25There's Webber.

00:41:26Driver's left.

00:41:27Kovalainen dives in under on the brakes.

00:41:30They touch.

00:41:31And Webber is spun around.

00:41:33Here you see it from Kovalainen's point of view.

00:41:36He's well back, but he decides at this point,

00:41:38but I mean, boy, oh, boy,

00:41:39he's left it way too late, really.

00:41:42And that's more than a 19-year-old.

00:41:44He's a 19-year-old.

00:41:45He's a 19-year-old.

00:41:46He's a 19-year-old.

00:41:47He's a 19-year-old.

00:41:48He's a 19-year-old.

00:41:49He's a 19-year-old.

00:41:50And that's more than a 90-degree right-hander,

00:41:52so he has to know Webber's going to be...

00:41:54That never had a real chance of coming off that.

00:41:57I mean, Webber would have absolutely had to

00:41:58just jump right out of the way to let him through.

00:42:03Ferrari in the pit lane.

00:42:06Mark Webber has spun his way back to 9th place.

00:42:11And Raikkonen is in from the lead on lap 12.

00:42:21Here's the light gantry, boys.

00:42:23We were talking about it at the previous race.

00:42:25That's what they're going to key off.

00:42:27That's the way to do it, gentlemen.

00:42:29That's much better.

00:42:30I don't suppose that went through his mind

00:42:32as he was sitting there.

00:42:34Another short stop.

00:42:35Short stops from both Lewis Hamilton and Kimi Raikkonen.

00:42:38Raikkonen's going to get out in front.

00:42:44Here's one of the Toro Rossos.

00:42:47Bordet.

00:42:48Kubica.

00:42:51Kovalainen and Hamilton.

00:42:53So, Raikkonen rejoins ahead of Hamilton.

00:42:57Mark Webber hits the pit lane from 10th.

00:43:01Look how steep that hill is up to Radillon.

00:43:04Strange...

00:43:05Well, only strange that McLaren didn't bring Kovalainen in that lap

00:43:08because it might have made Lewis' job a little easier.

00:43:10As it is, he's having to watch this battle between Heccy,

00:43:13which is a minimous battle, really,

00:43:14Heccy and the BMW, because he's got to come in.

00:43:17Look at the way Hamilton closes on the brakes.

00:43:19Yeah, this is not what he needs with Raikkonen out in front there,

00:43:22putting away.

00:43:23Steeply downhill now, through Rivage.

00:43:26You bring up a very good point there, Peter.

00:43:28I agree 100%.

00:43:29McLaren really should have called Kovalainen in,

00:43:31just got him out of the way.

00:43:33Absolutely.

00:43:35He has to comply with that regulation now

00:43:37to come in and serve that drive-through penalty

00:43:39within three laps.

00:43:40If he fails to do that for whatever reason,

00:43:43he'll be shown the black flag and disqualified

00:43:45and that'll be his race done.

00:43:47So, there's really little to be gained by keeping him out at this point.

00:43:51Kovalainen has been consistently the quickest man in Sector 1.

00:43:54He just goes purple once again,

00:43:56meaning quickest of all of 31.6.

00:44:00I tell you what, this has been a great gift for Kimi Raikkonen there.

00:44:04The two McLarens bottled up behind Kubica

00:44:07and, of course, Hamilton bottled up behind Kovalainen.

00:44:11Here comes Felipe Massa.

00:44:14From the race lead,

00:44:15there were two more laps of fuel on board.

00:44:17Two more laps around here, don't forget,

00:44:19which is nine miles.

00:44:22Fernando Alonso pits from second.

00:44:24Also on lap 14.

00:44:26They've been rehearsing that procedure, haven't they,

00:44:28since the last race?

00:44:29There goes Raikkonen.

00:44:31At the bottom of your screen,

00:44:33Sebastian Bordet

00:44:35will move up to second.

00:44:40Followed by Robert Kubica.

00:44:46Making...

00:44:48Kovalainen, he's making a full pit stop.

00:44:50Now, this will not qualify as his drive-thru.

00:44:57They have dated fuel to continue, but...

00:44:59Yeah, they have to be careful here

00:45:01because they cannot count this pit stop

00:45:04as being the drive-thru.

00:45:05The penalty is you are not allowed to work

00:45:08or gain any performance advantage,

00:45:10i.e. refuel the car, work on the car,

00:45:12during that drive-thru.

00:45:13So, I have to bring him back in again.

00:45:15David Coulthard and Rubens Bannekello

00:45:16into La Source,

00:45:17and the Honda comes away

00:45:19with the over-under

00:45:20to take the position back.

00:45:24Two old pudges bashing it out together.

00:45:28Oh, 34.5.

00:45:29Yeah, right.

00:45:32Something about a pot...

00:45:38Speaking of Rubens Bannekello,

00:45:39one of his Ferrari racing suits

00:45:41can be found on eBay

00:45:43with the proceeds, we are told,

00:45:44going to the Charity Foundation,

00:45:47set up by Barrichello,

00:45:48fellow Brazilian and fellow racer

00:45:50and close friend, Tony Kanaan,

00:45:52from the IndyCar series.

00:45:54Go check that out.

00:46:00Oh, heavy impact for Nelson Piquet in the Renault.

00:46:04Well, that front wing won't do much.

00:46:05It's flapping a bit,

00:46:06but it won't give you any lift.

00:46:07Is that up in Lacombe?

00:46:09It's a long run-off.

00:46:16It might.

00:46:17I can't tell where it is.

00:46:21I think it's over.

00:46:23I think if he had drive,

00:46:24he'd be gone by now,

00:46:25he would think.

00:46:30I'm OK, but I'm out.

00:46:32Yeah.

00:46:33I'm OK, but I'm out.

00:46:34Yeah.

00:46:37Well, Nelson Piquet's father,

00:46:39the three-time world champion,

00:46:40never won here at Spa.

00:46:42The junior will not win this year.

00:46:44I think he just kind of lost it on his own.

00:46:48Yeah, that's fine.

00:46:49Yeah, I think that's...

00:46:52Kovalainen is serving

00:46:53his drive-through penalty right now.

00:46:54I think that was his third and last lap

00:46:56to get it done,

00:46:57and Nick Heidfeld is also pitted from sixth.

00:47:01Ah, Hamilton.

00:47:02Locked up behind Robert Kubica.

00:47:04Robert Kubica,

00:47:05who's been lapping,

00:47:07was lapping about a second slower than him.

00:47:09Raikkonen has just done a 48.5.

00:47:11Kubica done a 49.5.

00:47:13Hamilton a 49.

00:47:14But, of course, unless he can get around him,

00:47:16we're going to have

00:47:18Raikkonen pulling away from Hamilton

00:47:20at the tune of about a second a lap.

00:47:22It's a shame for Nelson Piquet,

00:47:24who won here in GP2

00:47:26on his last drive here.

00:47:29He's one of the drivers in the mix

00:47:31Will he or will he not be back with Renault next year?

00:47:34A local yellow.

00:47:36No safety car for that accident.

00:47:38The running order is Raikkonen

00:47:40with three seconds over Sebastian Bourdais

00:47:42up into second in the Toro Rosso Ferrari.

00:47:44He has yet to stop.

00:47:46Robert Kubica has not stopped.

00:47:47He's third for BMW Sauber.

00:47:49Then Lewis Hamilton, who has stopped

00:47:51in his McLaren Mercedes.

00:47:53Felipe Massa is fifth.

00:47:55Nick Heidfeld sixth.

00:47:56Then Sebastian Vettel, Fernando Alonso,

00:47:58Timo Glock and Nico Rosberg.

00:48:00On board with the four-time champ car champion.

00:48:03Sebastian Bourdais heads for the pits

00:48:05from second on lap 16.

00:48:07I wonder if they'll change that nose.

00:48:11Going pretty well with the broken one he's got.

00:48:13Probably not.

00:48:14Robert Kubica pits behind him

00:48:16from fifth.

00:48:18We have a mechanic here with a speed brace

00:48:20to do a little downforce adjustment,

00:48:21but no spare wing in the pit lane to change.

00:48:29They're going to release it.

00:48:31How many times have we seen this?

00:48:39No problem.

00:48:40It might have just been the angle

00:48:42looking up the pit lane.

00:48:43I think it was fairly close.

00:48:49So they return in the order they entered.

00:48:52Boy, oh boy.

00:48:53Kimi Räikkönen.

00:48:54I mean, what a race for the reigning world champion

00:48:57when he needed one desperately.

00:48:59Race after race, he's been saying,

00:49:01if I could just qualify better, I'd have a shot.

00:49:04He reminds everybody that he's closer

00:49:06to the world championship lead now

00:49:08than he was at this point last year,

00:49:10but the doubters outnumbered the supporters,

00:49:13I think, when it came to Kimi Räikkönen's chances

00:49:16of his second straight world championship for Ferrari.

00:49:19But here he is on a track he loves like no other.

00:49:23Well, as far as the world championship goes,

00:49:25I mean, this is absolutely an amazing year.

00:49:27I mean, there's virtually no points across the top four.

00:49:30Any one of them could easily win it,

00:49:32because, I mean, he came 20 points back this time last year

00:49:35to win it by one point,

00:49:36so it's going to go right down to the wire again.

00:49:38There's absolutely no doubt about it.

00:49:40Sebastien Ferdinand's wife, Blair.

00:49:44The only Frenchman in the world championship

00:49:48The only Frenchman in Formula 1.

00:49:51Actually, that wing doesn't look too bad, does it, Steve?

00:49:54The bridge piece is still there.

00:49:56This is down at Stavolo.

00:49:58We don't know how much of the damage was off of Bordet's car

00:50:01and how much was off of Trulli's.

00:50:04Well, Robert Kubic and the BMW can't seem to do anything

00:50:06about Sebastien Bordet's pace.

00:50:08They came out together,

00:50:10and they're still right about together.

00:50:12Sebastien Vettel, in the second Tour de France,

00:50:15so he's now up to fourth,

00:50:17who has yet to stop.

00:50:20Yeah, you're right.

00:50:21Vettel just set his personal best of 49 seconds.

00:50:25High-key, so his penalty is now behind you.

00:50:28High-key behind.

00:50:31David Coulthard ahead on the road.

00:50:33You ride with the man he's concerned with.

00:50:35We're thinking about Vettel's fuel strategy

00:50:37at the top of the race there, going into this.

00:50:39Vettel seemed to be very heavy.

00:50:42He did very, very little running in Q3,

00:50:44having got into Q3.

00:50:45He may well be on this one-stop strategy.

00:50:50Well, look at these guys together.

00:50:51Kubic, Zaglock, Heidfeld, Rosberg, Weber.

00:50:58It's still pretty damp down there.

00:51:00Yeah, it really is.

00:51:01At La Source, you've got to be really careful.

00:51:02That sun that came out and was shining

00:51:04seems to have gone away again a bit now.

00:51:12They head up the Kemmel straight.

00:51:13We go to Peter Windsor.

00:51:15Well, Bob, only to add to that story on the Toro Rosso.

00:51:17Yes, Sebastian Vettel, a nice pass here.

00:51:20Very, very nice inside the Honda there from Mark Webber.

00:51:24Recovering from that incident with Heikki Kovalainen.

00:51:27Sorry, David Coulthard there.

00:51:29But going back to the Toro Rosso,

00:51:31yes, no running done by Sebastian Vettel in Q3.

00:51:34But Bordet made the point that the car was terrible

00:51:36when they put fuel into it for Q3.

00:51:39So that just adds to the quality of his drive now.

00:51:41Obviously, some front wing or nose damage to that car.

00:51:44The car's not good with fuel on it.

00:51:46And look at him leading Robert Kubica in the BMW.

00:51:48A fantastic performance.

00:51:50Adrian Sutil has pitted it out in 4th Indy.

00:51:53Excuse me, Steve.

00:51:54I agree.

00:51:55I think a lot of fuel on board the STR

00:51:57and that extra wing damage is going to...

00:51:59Vettel hits.

00:52:01From 4th.

00:52:02Yeah.

00:52:03Lap 18.

00:52:04Meanwhile, while that's happening,

00:52:05I'll tell you, Kimi Räikkönen just sets another fastest lap.

00:52:0848.229.

00:52:12See how much fuel goes in.

00:52:15Taking a little wing out of the front.

00:52:20Nicely controlled pit stop.

00:52:22Yeah.

00:52:23Kimi Räikkönen has reset fast lap down to 148.229.

00:52:31The difference in sector time performance

00:52:33we were watching in sector 1.

00:52:35Excuse me, in the first stint of the race

00:52:37between sectors 1, 2, and 3

00:52:40seems to have gone away a little bit now

00:52:42between Räikkönen and Hamilton.

00:52:43They're almost neck and neck.

00:52:4431.7 and 31.6 for Räikkönen and Hamilton respectively

00:52:48through the first sector.

00:52:50Vettel rejoins in 7th.

00:52:52Heidfeld coming up on Glock in the Toyota.

00:52:54Oh, jeez.

00:52:56Oh, Glock.

00:52:57Glock was...

00:52:59Thought he'd move over there, but it didn't work.

00:53:01Glock, of course, has yet to stop.

00:53:03Glock is now running in 8th,

00:53:04so Heidfeld is now in 8th.

00:53:07Glock is 9th.

00:53:09Glock, the highest-placed of the drivers

00:53:11who have yet to stop.

00:53:13Mika Rosberg, the next one, in 10th.

00:53:15Then David Coulthard in 12th.

00:53:17Jensen Button.

00:53:19Kaz Nakajima have yet to stop.

00:53:21Rubens Barrichello completes his first stop in the Honda

00:53:24and falls back to 16th place.

00:53:28Aboard with Hamilton.

00:53:32He was so delighted to take his first career pole at Spa.

00:53:36This track means so much to these drivers.

00:53:38You're right, David.

00:53:40Those clouds are looming once again.

00:53:42We'll be back.

00:53:44Welcome back to the Belgian Formula 1 Grand Prix

00:53:47live here on Speed.

00:53:49I'm Bob Varsha with David Hobbs, Steve Manchin,

00:53:51and Peter Windsor.

00:53:52You're watching the best battle on the racetrack.

00:53:54It's for 5th place.

00:53:55Sebastian Bourdais leads this man,

00:53:57Robert Kubica, in the BMW Sauber.

00:53:59And right behind Kubica now is Sebastian Vettel.

00:54:03After that pit stop, Sebastian Vettel,

00:54:05his last lap was nearly a second quicker than these two coves.

00:54:08So he's catching up.

00:54:10Bourdais, one lap shorter than you.

00:54:17They think Bourdais will pit one lap ahead of Kubica.

00:54:21That takes some of the pressure off.

00:54:27Robert Kubica is one of those guys who just wants to race.

00:54:30If he has a shot at passing Bourdais,

00:54:32I'm guessing he'll try it.

00:54:34Up front, Kimi Räikkönen has expanded his lead

00:54:37over second place Lewis Hamilton to 6.1 seconds.

00:54:40So in qualifying, where it appeared that McLaren-Mercedes

00:54:43had the pace on Ferrari after so many recent races,

00:54:47when Ferrari appeared to be easily the quicker car,

00:54:51has seen it all kind of go up in smoke.

00:54:54He was able to take a tenth of a second off on that last lap,

00:54:57but Räikkönen still with a six-second lead.

00:55:00Massa is third.

00:55:02Alonso fourth.

00:55:04Then the Bourdais-Kubica battle for fifth.

00:55:08Sun shining down at the bottom of the hill.

00:55:10Very dark clouds looming.

00:55:12Rubens Barrichello.

00:55:13I was about to say, Barrichello shown back in the pits.

00:55:16In fact, he's in the garage.

00:55:18It's over.

00:55:22He has been very slow all weekend.

00:55:25That's his 15th race here at Spa.

00:55:28They tested heavily at Monza last week,

00:55:30and supposedly they worked out the braking issues

00:55:33that Rubens has with that car,

00:55:35but it just hasn't appeared here at Spa.

00:55:38No, you're right.

00:55:40And Ross Braun's succinct comments at the end of the test were,

00:55:44we just really didn't get the car down.

00:55:47There was hardly any positive news at all out of all this test.

00:55:53Right along with the world champion in his Ferrari.

00:56:01And the world champion in his Ferrari.

00:56:07The Kimster has been fast everywhere this weekend,

00:56:10except in qualifying.

00:56:12To his detriment, he's been fast in the pit lane.

00:56:14He's been fined nearly 5,000 euros

00:56:17for a couple of speeding infractions in the pit lane.

00:56:21I haven't checked the exchange rate recently,

00:56:24but it's got to be up around 10,000 U.S. dollars.

00:56:28I'm curious, this performance differential

00:56:30between the McLaren and the Ferrari.

00:56:32As we were saying in the first stint,

00:56:34there was a definite advantage to Ferrari in Sector 2,

00:56:36certainly in Kimmy's car.

00:56:38But now, whether or not the tyres have made a difference,

00:56:41they're both using the same compound of tyres.

00:56:43Again, they're both using the soft tyre.

00:56:46But the performance difference between Sectors 1, 2 and 3

00:56:49are about the same now.

00:56:5131.6, 31.5, Wright and Hamilton respectively.

00:56:5547.6, 47.5, Sector 2, Wright and Hamilton respectively.

00:56:59So they're absolutely neck and neck now.

00:57:02Yes, it's a very, very evenly matched performance-wise.

00:57:06I think as Peter said earlier,

00:57:08obviously what happened, of course,

00:57:10in the qualifying, Kimmy just made a mistake,

00:57:12which dropped him down.

00:57:14It looked like he had more fuel on board,

00:57:16but in fact he just made a mistake on the qualifying lap.

00:57:18And Hamilton made his mistake on the second lap of the race,

00:57:22where he nearly spun it at LeSau's hairpin,

00:57:25allowing Raikkonen to get by him.

00:57:27And so it just shows how closely matched these cars and drivers are.

00:57:31Yes, absolutely.

00:57:32A little mistake here, a little mistake there,

00:57:34and it's all up in smoke.

00:57:35And to put a period on that, David,

00:57:37if our figures work out, we have them both pitting on the same lap,

00:57:40Raikkonen and Hamilton, both pitted on 28.

00:57:43So their fuel loads now should be identical.

00:57:48And Steve, the other issue, I think,

00:57:50is that as we saw in Hungary,

00:57:51when Lewis and McLaren get the tyres absolutely right in qualifying,

00:57:54they do run a bit hot in the race.

00:57:56And we can see the sun's come out now,

00:57:58and it could be that Ferrari have now got the right sweet spot with the tyres.

00:58:02Lewis is perhaps running a little bit hotter than he would want.

00:58:05But don't forget in the last stint, they're going to go to the prime tyre,

00:58:08and Lewis has run that tyre,

00:58:09and he was very, very quick on it in Q2 yesterday.

00:58:11He was the only guy that did a really quick lap on the prime.

00:58:16Yeah, of course, the other thing we have to factor in,

00:58:18and we're thinking of these guys coming in around lap 28, 29, there or thereabouts,

00:58:22those clouds, and we keep talking about the sun coming out,

00:58:25if those clouds start to form up over the track and start to spit,

00:58:29the timing of this second spit stop, pit stop, I should say,

00:58:33will be critical, because these guys will have to go to Inters.

00:58:37While thinking about pit stops, we'll take a spit stop.

00:58:40Kimi Raikkonen leads Lewis Hamilton by 5.8 seconds at Spa-Francorchamps.

00:58:45We'll be back.

00:58:49Back live at Spa-Francorchamps, on board the BMW Sauber of Nick Heidfeld,

00:58:54just past the halfway point here at the Belgian Grand Prix,

00:58:5621 laps to go, a 44th schedule.

00:58:59From David Hobbs, Steve Batshee, to Peter Windsor, I'm Bob Marcia.

00:59:02That is Eau Rouge.

00:59:04Steep climb to the Radial quarter at the top of the hill,

00:59:07and on to the Kemmel straightaway.

00:59:09Up front, Kimi Raikkonen has been laying down a tremendous pace,

00:59:12as we see Lewis Hamilton in replay here.

00:59:16I was just going to say, about to lock up the front tyre, I'll bet you any money.

00:59:21He really is good on the brakes, old Lewis.

00:59:24He really brakes very deep, but he does tend to use up his front tyres, rather.

00:59:29And that goes back to what you were saying a few moments ago, Steve.

00:59:31Maybe, well, what Peter was saying,

00:59:33maybe he's got a bit too much heat in these tyres now, the sun's come out.

00:59:36Yeah.

00:59:38We said at the top of the show,

00:59:39Kimi Raikkonen needed to stamp his authority on his Ferrari team,

00:59:44lest his teammate, Felipe Massa, become Ferrari's undisputed number one driver

00:59:48for the balance of the season.

00:59:50Yes, it is Spa where Raikkonen is the three-time defending champion,

00:59:54but he is definitely stamping his authority on this race.

00:59:58He has a 32-second lead now over fourth-placed Fernando Alonso,

01:00:02which means Raikkonen could make his pit stop

01:00:04and still preserve a podium finish, all things being equal.

01:00:09Well, as if to emphasise the point,

01:00:13Kimi resets fast lap, 1.47.490.

01:00:18Old Kimi going up the hill there at Camelot.

01:00:20Boy, he really put a squeeze on his teammate, if you remember, on lap one.

01:00:23I mean, he had massive wheel, just about on the grass,

01:00:26which Massa did not want to do because the grass being very wet

01:00:29after all the rain we've had.

01:00:30Whoa.

01:00:31What was that? What was that on that downshift?

01:00:34Bit of a dodgy downshift.

01:00:35Yeah.

01:00:37Remember, he was concerned about his clutch

01:00:39on his reconnaissance laps before going to the grid,

01:00:43was Lewis Hamilton.

01:00:46I wonder if that's what we heard there.

01:00:49So what do you do if you're a Ferrari?

01:00:51If Raikkonen wins this race,

01:00:54they will bunch up in the World Championship

01:00:56behind Lewis Hamilton, as things stand right now.

01:01:01He postponed to Monza.

01:01:02There's a look at the points if the race ended now.

01:01:05Eight-point lead for Hamilton over Massa.

01:01:09Eleven over Raikkonen,

01:01:11but just four points between the Ferrari teammates.

01:01:16I said at the top of the show, of course,

01:01:18that Kimi Raikkonen was 13 points behind his teammate.

01:01:21Of course, he was 13 points behind Lewis Hamilton.

01:01:23He was only seven points behind his teammate.

01:01:27Kimi is in the pits from the lead, lap 23.

01:01:31Well, if we're right, we'd expect Hamilton to follow him, right?

01:01:35Well, this is much earlier than our figures suggest.

01:01:39We're on lap 25.

01:01:40Check, 25.

01:01:41Yeah, we had him about 28,

01:01:42so three laps earlier than our figures suggested.

01:01:47On to the hard compound tyres.

01:01:55Temptation here to nail it,

01:01:59not to get to that line.

01:02:05They rejoin in second and third place.

01:02:10And they got just about where it was when they came in.

01:02:19No sign of rain showers.

01:02:25Last year, when McLaren Mercedes was the team

01:02:28trying to figure out who was number one,

01:02:30the great seesaw battle between Fernando Alonso

01:02:34and Lewis Hamilton within the McLaren team.

01:02:38Ferrari hasn't had much exercise

01:02:43at picking between their drivers

01:02:45after so many years of Michael Schumacher

01:02:47being the undisputed number one.

01:02:50Nico Rosberg in the Williams pit.

01:02:52Finally stopped, finally.

01:02:53That's right.

01:02:54His tyres were completely shut.

01:02:55There wasn't a sign of a white line on the rears at all,

01:02:58even though he started on the options.

01:03:04So, that pit stop shuffle.

01:03:06Massa, now the race leader.

01:03:23Oh, no sooner do we say no sign of rain

01:03:26than officially 20 minutes will bring it to us.

01:03:30Well, now, of course, they've seen that weather forecast.

01:03:32I mean, obviously, they can't just keep him out there forever

01:03:34because he hasn't got enough fuel on board,

01:03:36but it's going to be interesting

01:03:38if they're looking at their radar.

01:03:40They've docked the radar in the pits.

01:03:42Yeah, and we've seen in the past

01:03:43that the FOMFA weather predictions

01:03:46are not that reliable.

01:03:47They say it'll rain in 20 minutes.

01:03:48It rains in five.

01:03:49They say it'll rain in five, but it rains in 20.

01:03:51So, I'm sure these guys will now be absolutely

01:03:53looking at their data saying,

01:03:55this could play to Mac if it doesn't rain.

01:03:58This could play to Mac.

01:03:59If it starts to rain now,

01:04:01Massa will be absolutely in the pound seats, as they say,

01:04:04because he'll be able to go straight

01:04:05onto intermediate tires.

01:04:06That's what I'm thinking.

01:04:07The other guys will have to come in

01:04:08to change to intermediate tires.

01:04:10This race could fall straight into Massa's hands.

01:04:13If it's going to rain, it wants to rain now.

01:04:15That's what Massa suggests.

01:04:16Well, exactly.

01:04:17He may be squeezed on fuel

01:04:19if he stays out waiting for the raindrops

01:04:21to make the appropriate tire change.

01:04:23Yeah, that's what I meant.

01:04:24He's got to stay out for the convenient.

01:04:29Toyota in the pit lane for Timo Glock.

01:04:34Tonight.

01:04:37This is his one and only stop.

01:04:46Spinning those Bridgestones in the pit lane.

01:04:49Gustavo comes Massa.

01:04:53Well, they do look.

01:04:55I mean, we keep saying it,

01:04:56but those clouds do look very ominous.

01:04:58They look very ominous.

01:04:59And, of course, these guys wear tinted visors very often.

01:05:03They look even worse than that.

01:05:05It's pretty dark out in front of Lewis Hamilton,

01:05:07who is in third place.

01:05:14You see the gap.

01:05:15So Hamilton did pick up a bit of time there.

01:05:17A couple of seconds.

01:05:18Oh, two seconds.

01:05:19Maybe three seconds.

01:05:205.8.

01:05:21Wow.

01:05:22Massa stays out.

01:05:23Another lap.

01:05:24Well, you're right.

01:05:25These guys are trying to squeeze it as much as possible.

01:05:28We'll tell you what happens when we return live to round 13 of

01:05:31the 2008 Formula 1 season.

01:05:33The Belgian Grand Prix.

01:05:38Welcome back live to Spa-Francorchamps.

01:05:40There comes Felipe Massa off of pit road.

01:05:43He pitted from the race lead with a five-second gap.

01:05:46Jarno Trulli and the red and white Toyota behind him is a

01:05:48lap down as they climb the hill towards Radillon.

01:05:52While we're away, Fernando Alonso also pitted from fourth

01:05:55and rejoined in eighth place in the Renault.

01:06:02No white stripes.

01:06:03So you see Massa is on the prime, hard Goodyear compound.

01:06:08Meanwhile, Lewis Hamilton is hauling in Kimi Raikkonen.

01:06:12You're on board with Heikki Kovalainen.

01:06:14Kovalainen up against Weber again,

01:06:16who he's already had one run in with today.

01:06:18Obviously going to get by him, needs to get by him,

01:06:21but obviously has to be a bit careful how he does it.

01:06:23Had one drive through already for it.

01:06:25Oh, much quicker down there.

01:06:26Mutt is going to really get a good tow up here.

01:06:28He should be able to blast by him.

01:06:30Close in.

01:06:32Ninth and tenth, but of course, getting very close together here.

01:06:38Whoa!

01:06:39Oh!

01:06:42At the far end of the track from their collision at the entrance

01:06:45to pit lane earlier, this time Kovalainen able to get by,

01:06:48but that was close.

01:06:51It was very close, but of course, you know,

01:06:53obviously all this hysteria about battling for ninth and tenth,

01:06:55you know, sort of who cares, but of course,

01:06:57it's incredibly important because one place in front now

01:07:00is that first of the points starts at eighth,

01:07:03so very important for Kovalainen to get around Weber.

01:07:06And when they start dividing up the money in Formula 1,

01:07:09and there is lots of it in the prize purse,

01:07:11it's positions like nine and ten and eleven.

01:07:14They don't score points, but they are the tiebreakers.

01:07:18Yeah, you're right, of course.

01:07:20And for those guys that are running up the top,

01:07:22these fellas, for example, what we've seen,

01:07:24Massa have an engine problem in previous races,

01:07:26Breiklin have an engine problem.

01:07:28So all those people that are running down in ninth, tenth,

01:07:30all of a sudden they find themselves in the points.

01:07:32You have to keep pushing.

01:07:36Ooh, look at that cloud cover suddenly coming over too.

01:07:39Very gloomy there.

01:07:41The gap, look at this, the gap is now down to 1.9 seconds.

01:07:45Yeah, in the tow zone there, getting a good tow.

01:07:49Lap after lap since that second pit stop,

01:07:51we've seen McLaren pulling back onto the gearbox of Ferrari.

01:07:55You're right, Hamilton closing in now on Raikkonen.

01:07:58Everybody on the primes.

01:08:00For this final stint, you must use at least one set

01:08:03of each of the two tires. Let's listen to Bourdais.

01:08:06Three laps to the stop, three laps to the stop.

01:08:08You need to push, push now.

01:08:11Another exercise in the self-evident on the radio.

01:08:14Three laps to the stop, you need to push.

01:08:19Oh, wow, he does too.

01:08:21Three seconds ahead of Kubica.

01:08:23The Ferrari boys and the McLaren team.

01:08:27Good couple of shots.

01:08:33Imperial stormtroopers down there in the pit lane.

01:08:35As we were saying, at the moment it looks as if

01:08:39the McLaren and the Lewis Hamilton

01:08:41certainly is making it work better.

01:08:43But I wonder whether this is just this famous Ferrari

01:08:45making it difficult to get the tires up to temperature.

01:08:48And within, say, four laps,

01:08:50Kimi might have got some sort of sweet spot in the prime tire.

01:08:53We'll wait and see.

01:08:55Yeah, it is a fascinating swing

01:08:58between the two different chassis

01:09:00and the two different tire compounds.

01:09:02But at the moment it looks like it's working better

01:09:04from what we're looking at here.

01:09:06It looks like Hamilton's got the advantage.

01:09:12This is a comparison of apex speeds.

01:09:15This is Spa, they're all quick.

01:09:22This helicopter shop is just amazing.

01:09:25Watch as the cars pass by underneath.

01:09:31Poor old Masser will be kicking himself thinking,

01:09:33why didn't it start to rain about five minutes ago?

01:09:36He would have had this race in the bag if that had happened.

01:09:39Of course, he didn't.

01:09:40He had to come in, run it out of fuel,

01:09:42went on to the other set of tires.

01:09:44Well, of course, Lewis Hamilton will be kicking himself too

01:09:47because that spin at Le Source,

01:09:49which allowed Raikkonen through.

01:09:50He had a fantastic start, made a good run,

01:09:52pulled away handily from everybody

01:09:54and then threw it away the first time through Le Source,

01:09:57the second time through Le Source.

01:09:59And boy, he's going to regret that big time.

01:10:02He's now starting to lose a little bit of time again to Raikkonen.

01:10:10Got down to 1.8 and sort of stuck there.

01:10:13As Peter said, maybe the Ferraris found that sweet spot on the prime tire.

01:10:23Jimmy Raikkonen hasn't won a race since the Spanish Grand Prix

01:10:27at Barcelona back on April 27th.

01:10:31He also won in Malaysia earlier this year,

01:10:33but then he hit that rough patch,

01:10:35not qualifying well, driver problems and team problems in the race.

01:10:40And, of course, the small match of getting run into in the pit lane

01:10:44at Canada by Robert and Canada by Lewis Hamilton.

01:10:47Having his engine exploded in Valencia two weeks ago.

01:10:53Now the gap was 1.85 up to 1.916.

01:11:02Raikkonen was fractionally quicker that lap

01:11:04and Massa, Felipe Massa right there,

01:11:06not exactly out of the picture by any means.

01:11:10On board through Eau Rouge, this is it.

01:11:15I still think that's a terrific corner,

01:11:17despite the driver saying, well, it's flat now,

01:11:19it's not what it used to be.

01:11:20But in terms of that compression and going light at the top,

01:11:23it's still a great challenge.

01:11:26Dick Heidfeld pits from seventh with the BMW Sauber.

01:11:30I'll tell you what, you've got a fascinating duo going here.

01:11:33You've got the current world champion leading,

01:11:35Lewis Hamilton, who lost the championship to him by one point last year.

01:11:40Spa is supposed to be the big sort of sorter of drivers.

01:11:44Lewis Hamilton, just in the early part of his career,

01:11:47obviously Kimi Raikkonen very experienced now,

01:11:50three-time winner here already.

01:11:52But it's a sort of challenge that Lewis Hamilton's thinking,

01:11:55my gosh, if I could just look who I'm racing against.

01:11:58I mean, that is your actual, that is the real Kimi Raikkonen right there.

01:12:01I mean, that is the real Kimi Raikkonen.

01:12:03It's the real Kimi Raikkonen now.

01:12:05I'm hanging on to it.

01:12:06But where's he been all year?

01:12:07I know, where has he been?

01:12:09On board with the Lewis, with the Felipe Massa.

01:12:14The real Felipe Massa.

01:12:29You just wait for the big bang then.

01:12:32Lost a few revs there in Blanchimont.

01:12:34It tells you something about the G-loading in that corner.

01:12:42Reaching down with his right hand.

01:12:47Brake bias, I see.

01:12:49See if he picks the meter in Eau Rouge.

01:12:53Throttle 100%.

01:12:55Look at the G.

01:12:56Oh, 4.4.

01:13:00Never lifted.

01:13:03Sebastian Bordet pits from fourth place.

01:13:09And he's in the lead.

01:13:10And he's in the lead.

01:13:11And he's in the lead.

01:13:12And he's in the lead.

01:13:13And he's in the lead.

01:13:14And he's in the lead.

01:13:15And he's in the lead.

01:13:16And he's in the lead.

01:13:17And he's in the lead.

01:13:19What a great run for the Frenchman.

01:13:24Second and final stop.

01:13:29Trying to keep his place in Formula 1.

01:13:33He's been very gracious under all the pressure.

01:13:36A lot of folks are pulling for Sebas.

01:13:44It's been pretty much parallel lines as the car has gotten demonstrably better.

01:13:48Bordet's performances have gotten better.

01:13:52This is a long circuit, so when you've got 20 starters,

01:13:55they certainly get a bit spread out.

01:13:57Alonso, again, doing a great job with the recalcitrant.

01:14:01Brano in sixth position.

01:14:02We haven't seen much of him.

01:14:04Not along with him.

01:14:18Three gears down in Stavalot.

01:14:36Three gears down in Stavalot.

01:14:37There's Kubica.

01:14:38There's Kubica.

01:14:39He may have a pit stop coming up.

01:14:40He may have a pit stop coming up.

01:14:42Looking for Sebastian Bordet.

01:14:43Looking for Sebastian Bordet.

01:14:4822 seconds from 3rd to 4th, and then about 1.6 from 4th to 5th, so Kubica will pit.

01:14:56Pedal will take his spot, he'll be looking, or is that pedal coming in behind him?

01:15:00I don't know, it's pedal.

01:15:01Yep, it is.

01:15:02Now, Kubica needs a good stop here.

01:15:06These tires are looking very warped, certainly the rears are.

01:15:09The rears have no white stripe on either.

01:15:11Now we've gone on to the hard compound tires.

01:15:12Oh, they struggle to get the fuel there.

01:15:14This is just what they didn't need.

01:15:17The pedal will get out ahead of him.

01:15:22Yep, there goes pedal ahead of him.

01:15:28And here's his teammate.

01:15:29Heidfeld is going to get in front of him again.

01:15:32Oh, boy.

01:15:34Oh, man.

01:15:35Fueling mistake there.

01:15:36You didn't put a wheel over that white line, did you?

01:15:39Don't think so.

01:15:436th, 7th and 8th.

01:15:48Just close to show, David.

01:15:50Slight errors by the driver make a big difference.

01:15:53Slight errors by the team make a big difference.

01:15:55Boy, oh boy.

01:15:56Yep, so you've got Bordet, Vettel, Heidfeld, Kubica.

01:16:01Just think of all that track position he gave up with that simple error with the fuel rig.

01:16:05Yeah.

01:16:07All that struggling to get it, too, in the first lap.

01:16:10Right.

01:16:11It's just so frustrating.

01:16:13Kimi Raikkonen has finished the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa on three occasions.

01:16:18He has won on all three of those occasions.

01:16:21He is looking for his fourth in a row.

01:16:23He is leading right now.

01:16:25We'll be back.

01:16:33He was a racer.

01:16:34He was a racer.

01:16:35Front engine, rear engine, Le Mans, Formula 1.

01:16:38Yeah.

01:16:39It's a pity they don't grow them like him today.

01:16:43He, of course, being Phil Hill, who will forever be associated with that beautiful shark-nosed Ferrari.

01:16:49A winner here at Spa, world champion in 1961.

01:16:52He'll be missed.

01:16:53Rain in the distance there at Spas.

01:16:55We welcome you back to our live coverage.

01:16:57Nine laps to go.

01:16:59We want to give a special welcome to all the NASCAR drivers and crew and officials and fans up in Richmond

01:17:05waiting for the Sprint Cup and Nationwide races coming up later today,

01:17:09having to be postponed from earlier in the weekend due to the effects of Tropical Storm Hannah.

01:17:13We'll be with you.

01:17:14Race day coming up in less than two hours at 11 a.m. Eastern time.

01:17:18So don't miss that.

01:17:19And, of course, Victory Lane will end later on tonight after the speed report.

01:17:24I want to say hello to Roger Flynn, who suffered a heart attack and a quadruple bypass.

01:17:29He's probably watching this from his hospital beds.

01:17:31Hope so.

01:17:32He worked on my car back in 69 and 70 in the Formula 5000 championship.

01:17:36Quad bypass.

01:17:37Well, don't get too excited then, Roger.

01:17:39No.

01:17:44Getting blocked.

01:17:45Okay.

01:17:46Gets by easily.

01:17:47Peter Windsor.

01:17:49Well, Bob, can I just add to that by wishing a happy retirement to Simon Achlis,

01:17:52who started life in Formula One working for AP Automotive Products

01:17:55and then progressed to champion, who make a lot of spark plugs for a lot of the teams still today.

01:18:00This is Simon's retirement race.

01:18:02And, sadly, he caught an illness in the Hungarian Grand Prix

01:18:06and he isn't actually here at Spa this weekend to enjoy it.

01:18:09But best wishes to you, Simon, and congratulations on a great career in Formula One.

01:18:13Absolutely.

01:18:16Here's a view from David Hobbs, his favorite cameraman.

01:18:19The short guy.

01:18:22You see Hamilton wound him in on three out of the last four laps there.

01:18:29Wing bouncing around.

01:18:30This is the track where Bruce McLaren brought his autonomous team its first victory in 1968.

01:18:37A tidy 40 years ago.

01:18:41Lewis Hamilton would like to bring McLaren another one.

01:18:44Felipe Massa goes purple in sector one.

01:18:46I mean, Felipe Massa, he's not out of this race at all.

01:18:50He's only three seconds behind Lewis Hamilton with eight laps to go.

01:18:53That's right.

01:18:54In fact, what was a two-man race has become a three-man race.

01:18:57And who knows what's going to happen if it should rain, which it looks like it might do,

01:19:01but only just.

01:19:02I mean, it was supposed to be about five minutes ago, but we've just seen those clouds.

01:19:06It's looking awfully close.

01:19:08Yeah, absolutely.

01:19:09While we're in break, there was a radio transmission from the Renault engineering staff to Alonso

01:19:14saying, push, keep pushing.

01:19:15We need to open that gap up because if it rains, let's see what this one is.

01:19:20What do you think about the rain?

01:19:22What do you think about the rain?

01:19:27Still a possibility.

01:19:29It will be light and it will start where you are now.

01:19:34Yeah, there you are.

01:19:36They're still studying that radar, seeing where it's going to start raining,

01:19:39and they think it's going to be raining in sector two.

01:19:41Jarno Trulli has just made his second and final stop.

01:19:44Timo Glock, the best placed of the one-stoppers, in tenth.

01:19:48So it looks like that strategy will not pay off for the German and Toyota this week,

01:19:52as it did two weeks ago in Valencia.

01:19:54Now it's Nakajima pulling over to let the leaders go by as they go down the long run into Eau Rouge.

01:20:00And Alphilippe Massa is just right there.

01:20:04Hamilton picked up a half second on Raikkonen on that lap.

01:20:07Seven to go now.

01:20:09Getting a double toe there from Nakajima's car and Raikkonen's as they go up the long hill.

01:20:14Boy, this is tough on engines, this long, long run up here.

01:20:17Absolutely flat out.

01:20:19Top speed approaching 200 miles an hour.

01:20:21But if you think that's fast, wait until you see Monza next week.

01:20:25A week from today, join David, Steve, Peter, and me for live coverage of the Italian Grand Prix from Monza.

01:20:31We'll kick things off, as always, 7.30 a.m., the Acura pre-race show.

01:20:35At 8, the cars will roll off the Italian Grand Prix next Sunday at 7.30 Eastern, live here on Speed.

01:20:44As Nakajima gets out of the way nicely, he's got some special livery on his Williams this weekend.

01:20:49AT&T, a big sponsor of the team, supporting Telecom San Frontier,

01:20:54a ten-year-old agency that helps establish telecommunications and Internet services around the world when a natural disaster strikes.

01:21:11Some troops of rain in Turn 1 and Turn 14.

01:21:15Keep an eye.

01:21:19Keep your eyes on that.

01:21:20Did he say drops of water?

01:21:21He said drops of rain.

01:21:23Yeah.

01:21:24Turns 1 and 14.

01:21:27That's Stavelo and Lesaurs, basically the southern corners of the racetrack.

01:21:33Oh, boy.

01:21:34That's Lucas di Grassi, Renault development driver.

01:21:37Is it raining?

01:21:38Well, I don't know.

01:21:39He shakes his head.

01:21:41That's the most reliable weather forecast.

01:21:43Just stick your hand out there.

01:21:46Last break before the checkered flag.

01:21:49Six to go.

01:21:50And rain somewhere in the area in Belgium.

01:21:53Don't miss this.

01:21:58Back at Spa-Francorchamps.

01:22:00The Belgian Grand Prix continues now in the final five laps here on Speed.

01:22:04I'm Bob Marshall with Peter Winsor, David Hobbs, and Steve Matchett.

01:22:08Kimi Raikkonen leads Lewis Hamilton by a second and a half.

01:22:11Felipe Massa, seven seconds behind his teammate, completing the top three.

01:22:17Fernando Alonso now 40.5 seconds behind the race leader in fourth.

01:22:21Followed by Sebastian Bourdain, Sebastian Vettel.

01:22:24Another good weekend for Toro Rosso Ferrari.

01:22:27Nick Heidfeld in seventh, and his BMW Sauber teammate, Robert Kubica,

01:22:32in the eighth and final points-paying position.

01:22:35Well, Lewis Hamilton now down to 1.2.

01:22:38You can see the gap visibly closing up now.

01:22:40He really is within a good tow range.

01:22:43Yeah, last time through the speed trap, the gap was 1.5, so you're right.

01:22:47Now down to 1.8.

01:22:50Yeah.

01:22:51All right, David, you've been in the race car for well over an hour,

01:22:55maybe an hour and 20 minutes.

01:22:57Final five laps of the race, everything at stake.

01:23:00How are these guys feeling?

01:23:02Well, you've absolutely...

01:23:04Lewis Hamilton would just dearly, dearly love to get around Kimi Raikkonen.

01:23:08He knows Kimi Raikkonen is going to be extremely difficult to get by.

01:23:11Then on the other hand, you've absolutely got to look at the points situation as well.

01:23:16Oh, Lewis Hamilton took six-tenths of a second off of Raikkonen on that lap.

01:23:21Four laps to go, right, four laps to go, and 0.9.

01:23:25You can make that up in one lap with a good run around here.

01:23:29Oh, yeah.

01:23:30Keep in mind, with a four-mile racetrack, there's lots of room for passing,

01:23:33even on that final lap.

01:23:35We saw it in the GP2 race,

01:23:37and I think I also saw raindrops on that fixed camera down there in La Source.

01:23:42You've got to hold off Lewis Hamilton.

01:23:45Kimi Raikkonen, current world champion, languishing 13 points behind Hamilton at the moment.

01:23:51He'd pick up two of those points.

01:23:53He'd end up 11 behind if he finishes like it is now.

01:23:58Look at the ghosts that may be whispering in the ears of these two drivers.

01:24:02All the greats at Ferrari, all the champions at McLaren.

01:24:06Because if he wins this, that'll be a four-time winner.

01:24:10Yeah, that's pretty elite company.

01:24:12That's very elite company.

01:24:13Yeah, I mean, when you look at the point spread, the difference between first and second,

01:24:16yeah, it's only two points, but that's not what this is about at all.

01:24:19Yeah, you want to gain points, but this is winning at Spa.

01:24:23How quickly fortunes change in this sport.

01:24:25Consider Kimi Raikkonen's first victory here three races ago.

01:24:29That was at the end of that incredible drought for McLaren,

01:24:32where they went, what was it, 20 races or so without a victory?

01:24:36And then Kimi Raikkonen in the McLaren managed to win here at Spa.

01:24:46Oh, wow.

01:24:47Kimi Raikkonen turning up the weight now.

01:24:51A lot quicker.

01:24:52Six tenths quicker in sector two.

01:24:55Oh, is that rain?

01:24:57No wonder.

01:24:59Just tired, give up, as he pressed him too hard.

01:25:02Now we join Mark Webber, who has Timo Glock ahead of him on the road.

01:25:06Now back to the top two.

01:25:08Speaking of ghosts whispering in these drivers' ears,

01:25:11they could have living drivers whispering in their ears.

01:25:13Michael Schumacher's Ferrari, Mika Hakkinen's McLaren.

01:25:17Back in 2000 at the Belgian Grand Prix at this track,

01:25:19Hakkinen passed Schumacher in the closing laps.

01:25:23Remember that pass, sandwiching Riccardo Zonta in the Toyota

01:25:27up there at the end of the Kemmel straight,

01:25:29not far from, excuse me, a B.A.R. Honda,

01:25:32right about this point on the racetrack.

01:25:35Fortunately, Zonta had the presence of mind

01:25:37to just keep going in a straight line

01:25:39and let the other two world champions go around him.

01:25:41That was a pretty hair-raising moment.

01:25:43You see all that brake dust coming out.

01:25:45Yeah, a lot of brake dust coming out of it.

01:25:47Raikkonen got seven tenths back on Lewis Hamilton

01:25:51in sector three.

01:25:52That dived back down into...

01:25:54Oh, these guys...

01:25:55...the finish straight.

01:25:56Now, Hamilton replied point one.

01:25:58Got a tenth back of him round here, but you're right.

01:26:00I think there's raindrops falling.

01:26:02I think so.

01:26:03Certainly around Le Source.

01:26:05They look like they were tippy-toeing a little bit

01:26:07up there in Ravage as well.

01:26:10Hamilton drawing ever closer.

01:26:12This is the part of the track where

01:26:16Fernando Alonso thought he felt rain.

01:26:18No rain on this camera here,

01:26:20but look at this, right behind him,

01:26:22right tucked under now, getting a good draft

01:26:24as they come up through Blanchimont.

01:26:26Oh, Hamilton right up there.

01:26:28Very quick up the hill.

01:26:30He's got a good grip.

01:26:31He's got a good grip.

01:26:32He's got a good grip.

01:26:33He's got a good grip.

01:26:34He's got a good grip.

01:26:35He's got a good grip.

01:26:36He's got a good grip.

01:26:37He's got a good grip.

01:26:38Very quick up the hill here.

01:26:39Is he going to get him on break?

01:26:40He's going to bust up.

01:26:42Hamilton much quicker in the middle sector.

01:26:44He's going to try going around.

01:26:46Raikkonen won't have it.

01:26:48It's going to be...

01:26:49Oh, slight contact there.

01:26:51You can't do that.

01:26:52You've got to give it up, Lewis.

01:26:53You have to let him by.

01:26:54You've got to give it up,

01:26:55but get right on his gearbox.

01:26:57Yep, you've got two more.

01:26:58Chase him down the hill.

01:26:59Chase him down the hill.

01:27:00Up and under.

01:27:01And raindrops on this camera for sure.

01:27:03Oh, and it touched.

01:27:04Raikkonen bumps him.

01:27:05They touched.

01:27:06They touched there.

01:27:07The wing of Raikkonen

01:27:08just hit the back wheel of Hamilton.

01:27:09What a pass.

01:27:10He did it.

01:27:11Check it.

01:27:12Right on the gearbox,

01:27:13going down the hill.

01:27:14That's exactly what he did.

01:27:15Now, Raikkonen, get after him.

01:27:17Oh, my God.

01:27:18He's got...

01:27:19Now, Raikkonen's got the draft.

01:27:21Is he going to do the outside pass?

01:27:22He goes to the inside,

01:27:23goes to the outside.

01:27:24Hamilton going everywhere to avoid

01:27:26getting caught up by the Ferrari.

01:27:29He wants to be a bit careful.

01:27:31Oh, it's wet.

01:27:32Right in there.

01:27:33Slippery.

01:27:34Kimi, you can't afford

01:27:35Hamilton to get away.

01:27:36Oh, look at the raindrops.

01:27:37Tiptoeing through Lecombe and Malmedy.

01:27:39Boy, this next corner,

01:27:40Rivage coming up is always slippery.

01:27:42It's a brand-new race now

01:27:43with raindrops in the air.

01:27:45Hamilton going as quickly as he dares.

01:27:48And Raikkonen right there.

01:27:50Now, let's have another look at this.

01:27:53This was into the final chicane.

01:27:56A battle on the brakes.

01:27:58There was a touch, I think.

01:28:00Kimi pushed him wide.

01:28:01Now, going down into La Source.

01:28:05And Kimi immediately just drivers left

01:28:08trying to get under him.

01:28:09Oh, and Kimi is off.

01:28:10Wow.

01:28:11Both went off at Pouhon,

01:28:13but as you can see,

01:28:14Raikkonen alertly just looks for the asphalt.

01:28:16And Raikkonen loses no time.

01:28:18Nick Heidfeld pits.

01:28:20Oh, wow!

01:28:21It's one of the Williams.

01:28:22Push it, Raikkonen.

01:28:23Now you can get this back.

01:28:24Italy expects you to do it.

01:28:26Hamilton's off.

01:28:27And Hamilton's got down into Raikkonen's pits.

01:28:30Can this be happening?

01:28:32Oh, my.

01:28:33I can't believe it.

01:28:34Get after him, Kimi.

01:28:35Here comes Felipe Massa.

01:28:36Yeah.

01:28:39Unbelievable.

01:28:40And there is still a lap to go.

01:28:43Look at this drenched rain turning their way through here now.

01:28:46And cars are diving for the pit lane.

01:28:48I think Nick Heidfeld is on wets.

01:28:50Timo Block of the Toyota is in and out.

01:28:52If you pit for wets, it's over.

01:28:54If you pit for wets, it's over.

01:28:56You're going to lose too much time.

01:28:57There's only too much time.

01:28:58Oh, this is so fast, this corner.

01:29:00Off onto the curb.

01:29:02This is going to come down to car.

01:29:03Oh, and there's another Ferrari spinning.

01:29:05Raikkonen is into the wall.

01:29:07It's done.

01:29:08It's over, boys.

01:29:09It's over.

01:29:11But Massa is still alive.

01:29:13Kimi Raikkonen.

01:29:15Massa moves up to second.

01:29:17Unbelievable.

01:29:19What a race.

01:29:21There's Massa just behind him.

01:29:24You can't take wets.

01:29:26Rosberg heads for the pits in the Williams.

01:29:28If you take wets, you're going to lose so much time.

01:29:30There's one lap to go.

01:29:31This is down to car control by the driver.

01:29:33You've got to get around on these dry weather tyres.

01:29:37Boy, that corner there, that Blanchimont.

01:29:41It's so wet and slippery.

01:29:43Oh, be careful.

01:29:44Be careful.

01:29:45Through all rows in the wet.

01:29:46Take it steady.

01:29:47Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.

01:29:50He is off.

01:29:51He's off, but he's back on.

01:29:52Whoa.

01:29:53Where is Massa?

01:29:54No.

01:29:55Where is Massa?

01:29:56Alonso moves up to the podium in third.

01:29:59Just no grip at all.

01:30:01Where did Massa go?

01:30:03Alonso pits from third.

01:30:05There's Massa.

01:30:06He must have had a spin.

01:30:08Alonso pits.

01:30:09For at least a moment.

01:30:11Oh, my.

01:30:12Nail-biting time, even with the gloves on.

01:30:14Glock, Rosberg, Coulthard, Nakajima.

01:30:17Button all hitting.

01:30:18Relatively dry up the top here.

01:30:20Yeah.

01:30:21But all tiptoeing around, coming down to that rivage.

01:30:23This is a slippy corner.

01:30:24Watch it.

01:30:25Yeah.

01:30:26All you've got to do is just take your time now, Lewis.

01:30:29Just tiptoe around.

01:30:39Unbelievable stuff with Raikkonen.

01:30:42Unbelievable.

01:30:43Don't go too far, sunshine.

01:30:45How ironic is this?

01:30:47On a track notorious for killing engines, with 69% of the lap spent at 19,000 RPM,

01:30:54it appears the race winner is going to come around at about one-third of that rev level to take victory.

01:31:01There's the order.

01:31:02Hamilton, Massa, Bordet to the podium.

01:31:05Vettel right behind him.

01:31:08Wow.

01:31:09The last time a French driver was on a Formula 1 podium was at this track in 1998.

01:31:15That was Jean Alési in the Sauber Petronas.

01:31:20What a race.

01:31:23Hamilton was one minute, ten seconds in the second sector, which is about a 45-second...

01:31:29It was five seconds faster than Massa.

01:31:32Nonetheless, Massa now just wanting that second position.

01:31:35Eight points at stake.

01:31:36And there is Kenny Raikkonen's Ferrari.

01:31:39Oh, who's this guy?

01:31:40Is this Bordet coming up at great speed?

01:31:44It is.

01:31:45It's Bordet.

01:31:46Now that's David Coulthard on wet weather tires.

01:31:49He's a lap down.

01:31:50But the checkered flag is out, and it will wave over the most improbable finish in years,

01:31:56even at Spa.

01:31:58Forty years to the day after Bruce McLaren wins the first Formula 1 Grand Prix for his team.

01:32:04Massa's going to get beaten by Bordet.

01:32:06Is that Bordet?

01:32:07No.

01:32:08That's one of the Williams.

01:32:10One of the Williams, yeah.

01:32:11Massa second.

01:32:12Kovalainen.

01:32:14And that's...

01:32:15Is that up at nine?

01:32:17Here comes Bordet, and it's a battle for third.

01:32:19Alonso's going to try to get Bordet, and he'll do it.

01:32:22He does it.

01:32:23Oh!

01:32:24No, that's Vettel.

01:32:25Where's Bordet?

01:32:26Is he too far behind?

01:32:27There's Bordet back there behind Kubica.

01:32:29What a scramble that must have been in the final chicane.

01:32:33There's Kubica.

01:32:34Let's have another look at this.

01:32:35On board.

01:32:36Heidfeld.

01:32:37Heidfeld going for it.

01:32:39Heidfeld.

01:32:40On board.

01:32:41Heidfeld.

01:32:42Heidfeld shown as third.

01:32:44He took the intermediates.

01:32:49He goes past Kubica and Vettel.

01:32:51And that's Bordet ahead on the road.

01:32:53This is coming down to Pouhon, where the guys on dry tires don't dare.

01:32:57Oh, Bordet takes him right to the edge of the road.

01:33:01Wow.

01:33:02Tyres made all the difference there on his last lap.

01:33:05Nick Heidfeld was 20 seconds plus.

01:33:10Oh, what a history change there.

01:33:14It looked like Raikkonen was heading for his fourth ever victory.

01:33:16And he was run down by young Lewis Hamilton.

01:33:19And in the end, the guy that blinked and hit the wall was Kimi Raikkonen.

01:33:23Just not what you expected also.

01:33:25That is really going to charge up Ferrari now.

01:33:27Wow.

01:33:28Massive change there.

01:33:29Oh, boy.

01:33:30What a finish.

01:33:36But Felipe Massa stays in the hunt, of course,

01:33:38for that second spot.

01:33:39He only loses two points to Hamilton.

01:33:43And Hamilton and Massa can go over there.

01:33:45Now, no celebrating with the team, Lewis.

01:33:47Hamilton was nine seconds quicker on that last lap than Felipe Massa.

01:33:52And they go over and look at Nick Heidfeld and say,

01:33:54What are you doing here?

01:33:56Kimi Raikkonen must be just absolutely gutted.

01:34:00No fourth consecutive victory for Raikkonen.

01:34:03And what is the impact on his status in the Ferrari team?

01:34:07Well, with a 15-point lead and only five races left,

01:34:10they're still going to have to give it to Massa.

01:34:12Well, I'm sure Kimi will be the first to say he made up 17.

01:34:15This pass was brilliant.

01:34:17Now he tries to go up and under, but there's no room to go there.

01:34:21Both off in Pouhon.

01:34:26This is Kimi Raikkonen.

01:34:27Kimi Raikkonen got his foot right in it.

01:34:30Oh, there's somebody off.

01:34:31Oh, that's where the Williams came back on.

01:34:34Nico Rosberg stopped in the middle of the tunnel.

01:34:39Fantastic job, Lewis. Fantastic.

01:34:42Fantastic, Lewis. Great job. Great job.

01:34:46This is Raikkonen's off.

01:34:47That's what I'm talking about, guys. That's what I'm talking about.

01:34:57Oh, boy.

01:34:58Oh, man. Did we say something earlier about rain making all the difference at Spa?

01:35:03Wow.

01:35:05What a finish.

01:35:07And what an impact on the championship.

01:35:09We'll take a break and return with more from Spa in a moment.

01:35:15Back at Spa, Lewis Hamilton goes bounding onto the podium

01:35:20after an absolutely unbelievable closing couple of laps here at the Belgian Grand Prix.

01:35:27Ninth career win for Hamilton.

01:35:29Felipe Massa looks a little depressed.

01:35:32He should be looking pretty happy, actually, because he's been running third all day.

01:35:35And Nick Heidfeld, of course, should be looking ecstatic, which he is.

01:35:38One more lap on those wets and he might have won this race.

01:35:41Another quarter of a lap. He was going so much quicker than anybody else.

01:36:02Oh, boy.

01:36:17Isn't it amazing when a plan comes together?

01:36:20Oh, boy.

01:36:25Well, Felipe Massa's saying to him there.

01:36:28I think he's saying to Nick Heidfeld there.

01:36:30I mean, that was a slick move by BMW.

01:36:33I mean, it just dragged him up there to third spot.

01:36:36And Felipe Massa may feel badly, but his Ferrari teammate, I'm thinking, feels a lot worse.

01:36:41Oh, boy. Down there in 18th spot.

01:36:44Another guy that really took advantage of that wet weather was Vettel,

01:36:47who had been training his teammate for the entire race.

01:36:49Suddenly, at the end there, got by both Bordet and Kubica and ended up in fifth spot.

01:36:54A fraction of a second, and I do mean a fraction of a second, behind Alonso,

01:36:58who drove another great race.

01:37:01And Ron Dennis, look how thrilled Ron is with that.

01:37:04Recall one year ago at this racetrack, Ron was a late arrival

01:37:07because he had gone to Paris to get the news that the Stephanie Gates saga was not over.

01:37:15Eventually would cost the team all of their constructors' points and a $100 million fine.

01:37:20Good job, Massa. Very good.

01:37:26He should be feeling a lot more confident about his position in the team now.

01:37:29Well, that puts him to a pretty clear team leader position.

01:37:33What a weekend for that guy, Nick Heidfeld, with his job apparently on the line.

01:37:37Yeah.

01:37:38This is his 11th career Formula One podium without a victory.

01:37:41That just puts him one point ahead of the team.

01:37:44This is his 11th career Formula One podium without a victory.

01:37:48That just puts him one away from the all-time record.

01:37:5112 podiums without a win, held by Stefan Johansson.

01:37:56Yeah, Nick Heidfeld's done 145 races and Ron Dennis escaping the champagne there.

01:38:07Doesn't matter how much it rains now, it's just going to help wash off the champagne spray.

01:38:12Well done, gentlemen. That was a lot of fun.

01:38:15That was a lot of fun. Those last three laps were just...

01:38:18How they didn't both run into that Williams down at the Fania complex there.

01:38:22Goodness only knows.

01:38:24Well, the two dads together. Lewis Hamilton's dad and Felipe Massa's.

01:38:30Let's see if BMW have got better hands.

01:38:33McLaren bottle just went on the floor.

01:38:35So...

01:38:39The celebration begins, but not before we have our interviews with the top three finishers coming up.

01:38:48Welcome back. The raindrops have fallen.

01:38:50Well, it looks like we've got bright sunshine back there up on the Kemmel straight near Lacombe.

01:38:54Let's take a look at some of the highlights.

01:38:56This is our race reset.

01:38:59The Belgian Grand Prix at Spa.

01:39:01At the start, Lewis Hamilton, Felipe Massa cross the front row.

01:39:04Take a look at the Toyota of Jarno Trulli.

01:39:07Come up the inside until he gets to the corner where braking becomes a problem.

01:39:11As it did for the man behind him, Sebastian Bordet, who used the Toyota as a brake.

01:39:15On board with Bordet, there goes Trulli.

01:39:17And here comes Bordet, hard on the brake.

01:39:19But, of course, that gap has been filled up.

01:39:21You see all that debris at the top of his nose wing gone.

01:39:23But it didn't seem to slow him down much.

01:39:25He comes out ahead of Trulli.

01:39:27First lap in there.

01:39:29Hamilton spins and loses what was a pretty healthy lead.

01:39:33Look at this. Kimi Räikkönen has now gone around Felipe Massa.

01:39:36And as a result, that spin tows him up the straight and gets by into Lacombe.

01:39:41That kicked off a great battle between those two.

01:39:44Hamilton in for his first pit stop.

01:39:47Lightest fuel to the front-running drivers.

01:39:49Then Kimi Räikkönen made his stop a lap later.

01:39:52And the Ferrari re-entered the track ahead of Hamilton.

01:39:56Putting Kimi in a lead he would hold for much of the day.

01:39:58Skip to five laps to go now.

01:40:00And the weather radar is ominous.

01:40:03But Räikkönen and Hamilton are still at it.

01:40:08There was contact.

01:40:10Hamilton shortcut the chicane.

01:40:12Had to give the position back then at the end of that short straight at La Source.

01:40:15Kimi tried the over-under.

01:40:17Got into the back of the McLaren on the far side of the track.

01:40:19Rain falling heavily.

01:40:21Nico Rosberg limps onto the road in his Williams.

01:40:24Magically, both drivers escape the collision.

01:40:27It looked like Räikkönen was off free.

01:40:30But then he spun, handing the lead back to Hamilton.

01:40:33The rain began to fall harder.

01:40:35With two laps to go, Räikkönen went into a spin.

01:40:38He could not control before his Ferrari crushed itself against the track side wall.

01:40:43Meanwhile, Nick Heidfeld had slipped into the BMW Sauber pits for wet weather tires.

01:40:47And he was passing everybody on the closing laps.

01:40:50And got himself all the way up to third.

01:40:54In the end, Lewis Hamilton, even though he went wide there in the final chicane.

01:40:59And let some lap cars get close.

01:41:01He was able to limp his McLaren across the finish line.

01:41:04And take victory here at Spa.

01:41:07Felipe Massa came home second in a Ferrari.

01:41:10And then this great battle for third place.

01:41:13Or fourth.

01:41:15Alonso, Vettel, Kubica, and Sebastian Borte.

01:41:19Who wound up in seventh.

01:41:21Even though he was third when that lap began.

01:41:24An amazing race.

01:41:26In a moment, we'll come back to hear from the top three finishers.

01:41:29And begin wrapping up the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps.

01:41:35Back at Spa-Francorchamps.

01:41:36Hey mom, I'm on TV.

01:41:38In America.

01:41:39Let's go to the interview room.

01:41:41Where Peter Windsor is standing by with the top three finishers.

01:41:45Congratulations to the three podium finishers of a sensational ING Belgian Grand Prix.

01:41:49Third for the BMW Sauber team, Nick Heidfeld.

01:41:52Second for Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro, Felipe Massa.

01:41:55And on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of McLaren's first ever Grand Prix victory here at Spa.

01:42:01Winning his fifth race of the season for Vodafone McLaren Mercedes.

01:42:04Lewis Hamilton.

01:42:06Lewis, a sensational victory for you.

01:42:08Talk us through those closing laps as the rain began to fall.

01:42:11And you were closing in on Kimi Räikkönen's Ferrari.

01:42:14It was an experience and a half.

01:42:18I could see Kimi ahead.

01:42:20And after the second pit stop, he was so far ahead.

01:42:23And I was thinking, how did he make such a gap?

01:42:25But I did get stuck in traffic.

01:42:27So I was just pushing and pushing and pushing, trying to close that gap.

01:42:30And he, you know, I might have been catching him one tenth per lap.

01:42:33But then he would pull out a little bit of time.

01:42:35Then I was relying on traffic.

01:42:37I was hoping that he would catch the traffic at the right time.

01:42:40Sometimes he caught it on the straight, so he got a tow.

01:42:42And then I caught them in the mid sector and lost time.

01:42:44It was just mix and match.

01:42:46But I was just praying that it was going to come.

01:42:48Please rain, rain, rain.

01:42:50I wanted the rain to come because I knew how to deal with it.

01:42:56And so the heavens opened a little bit.

01:42:59And I saw Kimi begin to back off, brake a lot earlier than he did normally into Turn 8.

01:43:05And that was really where I knew it was on.

01:43:08The fight was on.

01:43:09But I don't know if you saw, or you probably did see, when I went into Turn 12.

01:43:15I was going reasonably wide.

01:43:17But then it looked like, I think it was Rosberg, had done a spin and he was coming back onto the track.

01:43:22And he was coming back on exactly where I was going off.

01:43:24So I nearly crashed into the side of him.

01:43:26Kimi nearly did the same.

01:43:29I went over the grass.

01:43:30Kimi spun on the exit of that corner.

01:43:32I got it.

01:43:33And then it was pretty straightforward from there.

01:43:35But it was incredibly tough.

01:43:37Lost all the temperature and the tyres.

01:43:39And I'm just babbling on.

01:43:40But it was great.

01:43:41Let's talk about that passing incident at the last chicane.

01:43:44It looked as if you obviously took the escape route there.

01:43:47Almost a collision with Kimi.

01:43:48And then you let him back past.

01:43:50And then you re-passed him again into La Source.

01:43:53Yeah.

01:43:55To be honest, he pushed me wide.

01:43:57I was a little bit ahead.

01:44:00And I was on the outside of Turn 1.

01:44:03He could have been fair.

01:44:06I had no room.

01:44:07So he basically pushed me to the point where I'd either been on the kerb and crashed into him.

01:44:12Or I'd have to go on the escape route.

01:44:13So I went on the escape route.

01:44:15And I understood I had to let him pass.

01:44:16So I let him past.

01:44:18But then I got in his toe.

01:44:20And he was ducking and diving left and right.

01:44:24And I did the same and managed to get back to the inside of him.

01:44:28But then he hit me at the apex of the corner.

01:44:31But then I think I was pretty much gone from there.

01:44:33Which was good.

01:44:35Well, you led the race from the start, Lewis.

01:44:37But at the start of the second lap, you half spun.

01:44:40It appeared at La Source.

01:44:41Tell us about that.

01:44:42You must have been thinking, these Ferraris, these Kimis.

01:44:46You know, I got a good start.

01:44:49I got away and I was feeling comfortable with the difficulties.

01:44:54Whereas the bits of the track were still wet.

01:44:58So the last corner, Turn 1.

01:45:02So having a balance, making sure you've got the right brake balance, was all a bit unknown.

01:45:09And I went into Turn 1.

01:45:10And I think the last downshift, it just lopped the rears.

01:45:14And it was a pretty pathetic spin.

01:45:16But there was really nothing I could do about it.

01:45:19But luckily, they weren't so close to each other.

01:45:21So I just pulled the clutch.

01:45:23Boom. Went as quick as possible.

01:45:25And I did get ahead, but Kimi slipstreamed me out of the straight.

01:45:30And then he appeared to be relatively comfortable.

01:45:32Certainly in the second stint where you caught some traffic, he got away about five seconds.

01:45:36And then on the prime tyre, you pulled that gap back again at the beginning of the third stint.

01:45:41Yeah. I mean, that spin really did put us on the back foot.

01:45:45So a relatively big mistake for me in terms of, if it had stayed dry, we probably could have won if I'd stayed ahead.

01:45:54So it could have been quite critical.

01:45:57But no, I think he pulled quite a big gap.

01:45:59I got held in traffic behind, I think it was Kubica and my teammate.

01:46:06And there's nothing I could do about it.

01:46:07But when I came out in the last stint, I just pushed and pushed and pushed as hard as I could.

01:46:12I mean, it wasn't over until it was over.

01:46:14I could see the clouds coming.

01:46:15So I just had to make sure.

01:46:17You know, I think three or four laps to the end, I said, I can't catch this guy.

01:46:22You know, the fact is, I can't catch this guy.

01:46:24Do I save the engine or do I keep pushing?

01:46:27But then I thought, you know, what happens if he makes a mistake or goes off or something like that?

01:46:30So it's never over until the fat lady sings, until you see the chequered flag.

01:46:34Fantastic win. Congratulations for you.

01:46:37Thank you.

01:46:38Felipe, congratulations to you.

01:46:40Yet another podium finish.

01:46:42A relatively difficult day, one suspects, for you.

01:46:44But nonetheless, you must be pleased to finish second.

01:46:47Your take on the rain, first of all.

01:46:49What was it like in those last couple of laps for you?

01:46:52Well, it was...

01:46:54To be honest, I was slower than I was supposed to be.

01:46:57Because I saw many people going off, especially Kimi.

01:47:01And then Lewis was a little bit in front.

01:47:03So I said, I don't want to risk.

01:47:05I mean, eight points is always eight points.

01:47:07So I was quite comfortable.

01:47:09And going very slow through the corners, especially it was really, really damp.

01:47:15You know, even if you...

01:47:16Sometimes you think something, you just go off like that.

01:47:19So I was just...

01:47:21You know, I made a mistake on the start.

01:47:23Because I thought the Rouge was more wet than it was.

01:47:28So I went there, I just slowed down too much.

01:47:32And then Kimi passed me.

01:47:33So it was just a mistake.

01:47:35But then, you know...

01:47:38I was just comfortable in the third place during the whole race.

01:47:42It was pretty difficult to catch those guys.

01:47:45We were all three doing very similar lap times.

01:47:47You know, sometimes I was losing a little bit.

01:47:49But then after, sometimes I was catching the pace.

01:47:52So...

01:47:54And then I...

01:47:56And then suddenly the second place came to me.

01:48:00So I'm very pleased with the race.

01:48:03We know the championship is still open.

01:48:06And we're going to fight for sure race by race to...

01:48:11To close the gap and to maybe pass those guys.

01:48:15Well, two great races for you in succession with that engine.

01:48:19But just going back to that pass when Kimi got past you on the straight.

01:48:22It did look pretty close on certainly what we could see.

01:48:24You two going down that straight out of Eau Rouge.

01:48:26Yeah, actually, I mean, Kimi was so quick.

01:48:28He was going to pass me for sure easy.

01:48:30And then he started to close the line.

01:48:33And we almost touched wheel to wheel.

01:48:35So I found a little bit strange.

01:48:37Because he was going to pass me because he was already much quicker.

01:48:41So...

01:48:42But anyway, you know, he passed me anyway.

01:48:47But then I got the second place, which was pretty lucky.

01:48:50But for the race circumstances, you know...

01:48:53These things you cannot say is lucky.

01:48:55I mean, I'm just looking to finish the race.

01:48:57And that's it. We finished second.

01:48:59Great result for you. Congratulations.

01:49:02And Nick, congratulations to you.

01:49:04A fantastic decision right late in the race to switch to the wet Bridgestone tyres.

01:49:09But you were very competitive and qualifying.

01:49:11And that to some extent fell apart when you got hit at the first corner.

01:49:13I think with Kovalainen.

01:49:14Yeah, exactly.

01:49:15I had a pretty good getaway.

01:49:17At least better than the row in front of me.

01:49:19Alonso was even a bit better.

01:49:21I decided to go to the outside rather than to the inside.

01:49:24I had the feeling that it could crash there.

01:49:26But then, unfortunately, Kovalainen drove into me.

01:49:30And I thought I would spin or the race would be over.

01:49:32The car would be banned.

01:49:33I was just very happy afterwards to feel the car was OK.

01:49:36The steering wheel was straight.

01:49:37Of course, I lost a lot of positions.

01:49:39Had to overtake a couple of cars.

01:49:41But, yeah, I still made up some positions in the first ten.

01:49:45It must have been real fun on that last lap,

01:49:47passing everybody the way you were on the outside.

01:49:49Yeah, it was.

01:49:50But it was pretty much a hero or zero decision.

01:49:53First of all, I was stuck behind cars most of the race.

01:49:59Had to stop earlier than some of them,

01:50:02including Vettel and Robert for the second stop.

01:50:06But I had a pretty good out lap and managed to overtake Robert.

01:50:09And then I was stuck behind Vettel.

01:50:12It's not easy to overtake him.

01:50:13And then when it started to drizzle,

01:50:15first lap was just a little bit,

01:50:17second lap it became more.

01:50:19And then I just thought, OK, I'll take a gamble.

01:50:22I knew it was not many laps to go

01:50:23and took the decision to go on Inters.

01:50:26Actually, the team asked me again what I wanted to do.

01:50:29And, yeah, I think it was a perfect call.

01:50:33Obviously, when I went out,

01:50:35then I asked again how many laps to go.

01:50:37They said this one and then another one.

01:50:39And I couldn't see anybody in front of me.

01:50:41And I thought probably that was the wrong decision.

01:50:44They had to go so slow that I managed to overtake

01:50:47a couple of cars in the last lap.

01:50:49I don't know who was the last car I overtook,

01:50:51if it was Toro Rosso or if it was Alonso.

01:50:54Sebastian Vettel, I think.

01:50:55But anyway, going into Turn 10,

01:50:57he really blocked pretty hard.

01:50:59I nearly went into the grass in wet conditions

01:51:01that could have been quite dangerous

01:51:03and actually just managed to stay on track

01:51:05by going wheel into wheel, you know,

01:51:08nearly touching his side pod.

01:51:09So that was not very clever, but I got by.

01:51:12And, yeah, it was a fantastic result for me.

01:51:14Well, congratulations.

01:51:15A really great race from you.

01:51:17And, Lewis, returning to you,

01:51:18really still difficult to know where to start.

01:51:20What a fantastic victory for you here on a circuit

01:51:23that you love, a circuit that's so important

01:51:25also for the McLaren team.

01:51:26And they've actually now scored their 11th victory

01:51:28here at Spa.

01:51:29So your closing thoughts, I guess,

01:51:31with those sentiments?

01:51:33A fantastic weekend.

01:51:35And just really, really I'm stoked

01:51:38to have battled through the tough conditions.

01:51:42And I think it probably was one of the most

01:51:44exciting races of my career.

01:51:46You know, I love having the battles

01:51:48with people like Kimi.

01:51:50And it was just great fun, you know.

01:51:53And I think the team did an incredible job, as always.

01:51:56The car was great.

01:51:57And so I have to say a big thank you to them.

01:51:59And there was a lot of British fans here as well.

01:52:04So a big thank you to all them for all their support.

01:52:06And we're going to keep on pushing,

01:52:08keep our feet on the ground,

01:52:10and keep pushing for the next few races.

01:52:12Congratulations.

01:52:13And the next few races will be amazing,

01:52:16beginning next week at high-speed Monza,

01:52:18followed by a night race in Singapore.

01:52:21Stay with us.

01:52:25Welcome back to Spa, Frank Herschand.

01:52:27No further rain, but we had enough

01:52:29to turn in a memorable Belgian Grand Prix

01:52:32won by McLaren Mercedes and Lewis Hamilton.

01:52:35This absolutely beautiful circuit.

01:52:37What better time to revive everybody's favorite segment,

01:52:40the Sounds of Speed.

01:53:05SOUNDS OF SPEED

01:53:35SOUNDS OF SPEED

01:54:05SOUNDS OF SPEED

01:54:35SOUNDS OF SPEED

01:55:06SOUNDS OF SPEED

01:55:16SOUNDS OF SPEED

01:55:21SOUNDS OF SPEED

01:55:28SOUNDS OF SPEED

01:55:35Welcome back to Belgium.

01:55:49I'm not sure if it's raining or if those umbrellas are being used to keep out the sun.

01:55:55Let's check the final results of the Belgian Formula One Grand Prix.

01:55:58Well, Lewis Hamilton pulls off his fifth win of the year, although there is a steward's

01:56:03inquiry involving car number one and car number 23, which of course took 22, which is Hamilton.

01:56:09Felipe Massa comes in second, Haidt on the wet tyres, comes in third, Alonso fourth,

01:56:13Sebastian Vettel swooped up to fifth there, overtaking both Kubica and Bordet on that

01:56:17last lap.

01:56:18And Timo Glock came from nowhere to score the final point, also on that last lap.

01:56:22Well, these fellas all finished out of the points, but they still had a pretty exciting

01:56:25race on their hands.

01:56:26Mark Webber, Red Bull Racing then, Heike Kovalainen and the sister McLaren down there in tenth.

01:56:32Williams down there in fourteenth with Kaz and then Jenson Button in the Honda.

01:56:37Knight down the bottom, P20, Nelson Piquet Jr.

01:56:41Five rounds of the championship remain and here's how they stand.

01:56:43Well, still very close at the top, just eight points between Hamilton and Massa.

01:56:48Robert Kubica goes past Raikkonen with one more point and Raikkonen scored none today.

01:56:52Heidfeld scored a big punchy punt to get, move up there to fifth.

01:56:56Heike Kovalainen stopped on the last lap or spun, we're not sure which.

01:57:00And then Timo Glock scored yet one more point today.

01:57:03These guys also, Sebastian Vettel had a good day today, really, none of these other guys

01:57:08and of course, Sebastian Bordet scored a couple of points today as well.

01:57:11And of the constructors, Steve.

01:57:13Going into this race, the point spread was eight.

01:57:16Coming out of this race, the point spread is six.

01:57:18McLaren Mercedes closing up on Ferrari, but nevertheless, Ferrari still out there in front.

01:57:24BMW Sauber now with a hundred and five points on the board in a solid third spot and then

01:57:29the points drop off fiercely.

01:57:31Williams Toyota 17, Honda with 14 and Force India yet to score.

01:57:35And be sure to go to speedtv.com or check the speed report tonight for the latest on

01:57:40that Stewart inquiry, Stewart's inquiry involving Kimi Raikkonen and Lewis Hamilton.

01:57:44That'll do it from Belgium.

01:57:46Next up, Monza.

01:57:47Our coverage of the Italian Grand Prix begins in just five days.

01:57:50Join us Friday at 8 a.m. Eastern for the second free practice, Saturday the 13th, also at

01:57:558 a.m.

01:57:56Eastern.

01:57:57Live coverage of knockout qualifying.

01:57:59Finally, Sunday the 14th, live coverage of the Italian Grand Prix at immortal Monza.

01:58:04We'll start off at 7.30 a.m.

01:58:06Eastern, as always, with the Acura pre-race show.

01:58:10For David Hobbs, Steve Matchett and Peter Windsor, I'm Bob Varsha.

01:58:13Thanks for joining us from Belgium.

01:58:14The fun continues next week.

01:58:16See you in five days from Monza.

01:58:18So long, everyone.

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