Rule of Thumb: in Formula 1, NO means YES

When just over twenty four hours ago Vijay Mallya declared that the has been no contact with Ferrari and Fisichella was looking forward to driving for Force India at Monza, what he really meant was, it's a done deal.

Of course when yesterday he declared that there had been no financial quid pro quo with Maranello, what he meant was: yes, we made a deal for that 2008 engine bill I still have not paid.

I don't think for a second that Ferrari paid 4.5 million, the rumored amount outstanding debt from Force India, for Fisichella's services but I'm sure some restructuring and accommodations were made.

It is also interesting to note that Fisichella had a "per point" contract with Force India, apparently at 200000 Euro per. Fisico scored eight points in Belgium and might have scored more at Monza. He may have actually just bought his way out of the Force India contract!

Luca di Montezemolo in an interview to Italy's RAI 1 declared he chose Fisichella because he's "in good form, he's experienced and especially because he's Italian" . Again, one can't help being skeptical, Fisichella has been passed over by Ferrari all these years, despite "being Italian" for quite a while now.

Ferrari needed a driver with no prospects for the future and who would not demand a racing seat in 2010, this is certainly why Kubica, for example, was not chosen. Then again, Di Montezemolo stated Fisichella will be "Ferrari's third driver" in 2010, most likely this just means he will be the reserve driver but, who knows, maybe the three car team option will materialize at which point Fisichella will be set aside until Schumacher decides if his neck looks best with a HANS or a tiger claw necklace around it.

Everyone is happy for Fisichella, he's been a consistent driver who never quite got the right ride at the right time and in this whole affair is the only guy who's words can be taken at face value, when he says driving for Ferrari is a dream come true, he really does mean it.




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It was Ferrari by a KERS

Ferrari did in fact win the race though it might be hard to tell with all the excitement about Giancarlo Fisichella's great second place.

In fact both Fisichella and Raikkonen drove great races at Spa, neither making any mistakes. Fisichella was simply "in the zone" the whole week end, his team mate Sutil was nowhere so it was not simply the case of the team bolting on a trick new aero bit.

Raikkonen used KERS to perfection and made no errors, enough to just stay ahead to the end. You will inevitably read about how "he did not deserve the win because he cheated on the first lap....yada yada". Rational people will agree with David Coulthard's view that going out wide at the La Source hairpin is not really much of an advantage at all as you pick up all sorts of crap on your tires. Going out wide does get you out of traffic but this has been done by drivers on the start of the Belgian GP for as long as I can remember ( In fact Jenson Button did precisely the same thing yet not a word was said) and it surely is something discussed with the stewards before the race.

As most of the race was decided on the first lap, let's look at some on board shots of the start. Note the absolutely demon start Barrichello had after he finally got going, that is an amazing piece of driving!

Hamilton also had a bad start. He was completely without fault in the accident that took him out and from the video it seems quite clear that it was not Jenson Button's fault either, Grojean had his wheel locked and was going straight when he collided with the BrawnGP. The first lap also took out Trulli and, as it turned out, Alonso who came out of the first corner with a front left damaged enough for the team not to be able to properly change the tire later on.

A final word about Webber, not sure where he was at but one could argue he made some dodgy blocking moves during the race, on Vettel during the first lap and later on Nakajima. Maybe he's channeling Black Jack Brabham!

PROVISIONAL RACE RESULTS

The Belgian Grand Prix
Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium;
44 laps; 308.052km;
Weather: Sunny.

Classified:

Pos  Driver        Team                      Time
 1.  Raikkonen     Ferrari               (B)  1h23:50.995
 2.  Fisichella    Force India-Mercedes  (B)  +     0.939
 3.  Vettel        Red Bull-Renault      (B)  +     3.875
 4.  Kubica        BMW Sauber            (B)  +     9.966
 5.  Heidfeld      BMW Sauber            (B)  +    11.276
 6.  Kovalainen    McLaren-Mercedes      (B)  +    32.763
 7.  Barrichello   Brawn-Mercedes        (B)  +    35.461
 8.  Rosberg       Williams-Toyota       (B)  +    36.208
 9.  Webber        Red Bull-Renault      (B)  +    36.959
10.  Glock         Toyota                (B)  +    41.490
11.  Sutil         Force India-Mercedes  (B)  +    42.636
12.  Buemi         Toro Rosso-Ferrari    (B)  +    46.106
13.  Nakajima      Williams-Toyota       (B)  +    54.241
14.  Badoer        Ferrari               (B)  +  1:38.177

Fastest lap: Vettel, 1:47.263

Not classified/retirements:

Driver        Team                      On lap
Alonso        Renault               (B)    27
Trulli        Toyota                (B)    22
Button        Brawn-Mercedes        (B)    1
Grosjean      Renault               (B)    1
Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes      (B)    1
Alguersuari   Toro Rosso-Ferrari    (B)    1


World Championship standings, round 12:                

Drivers:                    Constructors:             
 1.  Button        72        1.  Brawn-Mercedes        128
 2.  Barrichello   56        2.  Red Bull-Renault      104.5
 3.  Vettel        53        3.  Ferrari                56
 4.  Webber        51.5      4.  McLaren-Mercedes       44
 5.  Raikkonen     34        5.  Toyota                 38.5
 6.  Rosberg       30.5      6.  Williams-Toyota        30.5
 7.  Hamilton      27        7.  BMW Sauber             18
 8.  Trulli        22.5      8.  Renault                16
 9.  Massa         22        9.  Force India-Mercedes    8
10.  Kovalainen    17       10.  Toro Rosso-Ferrari      5
11.  Glock         16       
12.  Alonso        16       
13.  Heidfeld      10       
14.  Kubica         8       
15.  Fisichella     8       
16.  Buemi          3       
17.  Bourdais       2       
       
All timing unofficial

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Horse Meat Vindaloo!

...that must be what Fisichella had for breakfast this morning. Dangle the possibility of even a temporary Ferrari drive in front of someone and look what happens!

I'm sure it escaped no one that the top three places on the grid went to three drivers fighting for their place in Formula 1 next season, Trulli and Heidfeld and three teams with uncertain futures.

Someone correct me if I'm wrong but I believe the last time two Italians qualified on the front row of a Grand Prix was at the 1953 French Grand Prix when Alberto Ascari was on pole in a Ferrari 500 next to Felice Bonetto in a Maserati. Seems incredible, any historians out there?

Meanwhile, Button seems to have totally crumbled under pressure, despite his protestations to the contrary. Getting shellacked by Barrichello in the same car does not look too good for a potential champion.

The Mclarens are in trouble on a track with long fast corners but the real surprise is Red Bull who must be concerned about engines blowing up.

Raikkonen looks pretty racy, it will be interesting to see the qualifying weights later.

Check out Fisichella and Force India's historic lap.

Pos  Driver       Team                       Q1        Q2        Q3      
1.  Fisichella   Force India-Mercedes  (B)  1:45.102  1:44.667  1:46.308
2.  Trulli       Toyota                (B)  1:45.140  1:44.503  1:46.395
3.  Heidfeld     BMW-Sauber            (B)  1:45.566  1:44.709  1:46.500
4.  Barrichello  Brawn-Mercedes        (B)  1:45.237  1:44.834  1:46.513
5.  Kubica       BMW-Sauber            (B)  1:45.655  1:44.557  1:46.586
6.  Raikkonen    Ferrari               (B)  1:45.579  1:44.953  1:46.633
7.  Glock        Toyota                (B)  1:45.450  1:44.877  1:46.677
8.  Vettel       Red Bull-Renault      (B)  1:45.372  1:44.592  1:46.761
9.  Webber       Red Bull-Renault      (B)  1:45.350  1:44.924  1:46.788
10.  Rosberg      Williams-Toyota       (B)  1:45.486  1:45.047  1:47.362
11.  Sutil        Force India-Mercedes  (B)  1:45.486  1:45.119
12.  Hamilton     McLaren-Mercedes      (B)  1:45.239  1:45.122
13.  Alonso       Renault               (B)  1:45.767  1:45.136
14.  Button       Brawn-Mercedes        (B)  1:45.707  1:45.251
15.  Kovalainen   McLaren-Mercedes      (B)  1:45.761  1:45.259
16.  Buemi        Toro Rosso-Ferrari    (B)  1:45.705
17.  Alguersuari  Toro Rosso-Ferrari    (B)  1:45.951
18.  Nakajima     Williams-Toyota       (B)  1:46.032
19.  Grosjean     Renault               (B)  1:46.307
20.  Badoer       Ferrari               (B)  1:46.359

All Timing Unofficial

Here are the weights, Force India is running light but so are Glock and Kubica, Barrichello is even lighter. Trulli, Raikkonen, Heidfeld and Webber are on the same strategy while Rosberg and Vettel are running heavy.

Pos  Driver                             Weight (kg)
 1.  Fisichella   Force India-Mercedes  648.0           
 2.  Trulli       Toyota                656.5           
 3.  Heidfeld     BMW-Sauber            655.0           
 4.  Barrichello  Brawn-Mercedes        644.5           
 5.  Kubica       BMW-Sauber            649.0           
 6.  Raikkonen    Ferrari               655.0           
 7.  Glock        Toyota                648.5           
 8.  Vettel       Red Bull-Renault      662.5           
 9.  Webber       Red Bull-Renault      658.0           
10.  Rosberg      Williams-Toyota       670.0           
11.  Sutil        Force India-Mercedes  678.5*          
12.  Hamilton     McLaren-Mercedes      693.5*          
13.  Alonso       Renault               684.4*          
14.  Button       Brawn-Mercedes        694.2*          
15.  Kovalainen   McLaren-Mercedes      697.0*          
16.  Buemi        Toro Rosso-Ferrari    685.0*          
17.  Alguersuari  Toro Rosso-Ferrari    704.5*          
18.  Nakajima     Williams-Toyota       706.1*          
19.  Grosjean     Renault               704.7*          
20.  Badoer       Ferrari               691.5*          
                                                        
* declared weight

And here is the rest of it.

Flexi-Wings and Start Strategy

The Belgian GP was not not especially spectacular to watch on TV. The drag down to and up Eau Rouge between Alonso and Hamilton was great to watch but after the first 3 corners it was essentially all over.

So, let's look at these two videos, rarely seen on TV and showing some more esoteric (or geekier...you pick) aspects of F1: Flexi-wings and Launch Control...(yeah, I know it's not supposed to exist).

By now we are familiar with the concept of flexible wings as used in F1, a brilliant way to get around the limitation on movable aero-devices. This video of Fisichella's Renault very clearly illustrates the principle. You see the angle of attack of the lower rear element on the front wing change with speed very clearly. You can also see that there is some instability in the element, no way to know if something is broken or just not working right but that same element bounces up an down when the car rides curbs, that cannot be good for aero grip and I wonder if it's what causes Giancarlo to lift a touch the fist time going through Eau Rouge.

As an aside...why not allow use of movable front wings in passing situations to counter the washout effect of following other cars closely? Any aerodynamicists out there?




In the second video, practice starts, first Jarno Trulli in the Toyota then Felipe Massa in the Ferrari. Aside from the fact that the Toyota has it's clutch lever on the left side and the Ferrari on the right, it sounds like they use quite a different traction control strategy, listen