Raikkonen dominates for Ferrari at Spa

SPA, BELGIUM – On an unusually sunny weekend in the Ardennes Mountains, Polesitter Kimi Raikkonen won his third straight Belgian Grand Prix, at Spa Francorchamps, in dominant fashion giving Ferrari a 1-2 with his teammate Felipe Massa finishing second 4.6 seconds adrift.

Fernando Alonso in the McLaren-Mercedes finished third, some 14.3 seconds behind, but comfortably ahead of his slower McLaren teammate Lewis Hamilton.

Raikkonen's previous two victories at Spa came in a McLaren. Nick Heidfeld in the BMW Sauber was fifth, Nico Rosberg in the Williams-Toyota sixth, Mark Webber in his Red Bull-Renault in seventh, and Heikki Kovalainen in his Renault in eighth, the final points paying position.

To say he likes Spa would be an understatement. The Finn took off from his pole position and never looked back, only losing the lead during pit stops, both times for just a single lap.

The Ferraris led off the front row into the tight La Source hairpin where Massa slightly locked up, tempting Alonso to go wide around him which pushed teammate Hamilton even wider around him.

Alonso forced Hamilton wide and off into the paved run-off in turn 1 but Hamilton never let off the accelerator and rejoined side-by-side with Alonso as they approached the flat-out Eau Rouge. While everyone held their breath, including McLaren team owner Ron Dennis, the two cars were side-by-side through the first half of the tricky steeply undulating S-Curve before Alonso moved ahead at the exit.

At the end of lap one, Raikkonen already had a 1.3s gap to teammate Massa who was pushed by Alonso and Hamilton before a small gap to fifth placed Nico Rosberg, followed by Heikki Kovalainen, Mark Webber, Nick Heidfeld (who had lost two places) and Ralf Schumacher.

Raikkonen would gradually ease away from Massa during the opening stint, while the second Ferrari would do the same to the McLarens. But the silver cars remained just a couple of seconds apart. As expected, the four pulled away from the rest, where the one-stopping Kovalainen steadily dropped back as the BMW Saubers recovered, Kubica after a ten place hit on the grid due to an engine change.

The two-stoppers began to pit on lap 14. Raikkonen had pulled out a 5.4s gap over teammate Massa, with a similar gap back to Alonso, but Hamilton was only three seconds behind his teammate in fourth place. After their first stops, Raikkonen's lead had dropped to 4.8s, but Massa's margin to Alonso had risen to more than double that. Hamilton was still around 2.5s behind his teammate.

In the second stint, Raikkonen's lead would fluctuate by as much as two seconds, but it was still 5.9s when the Finn pitted on lap 31, while the Ferraris' margin back to the first McLaren was now 14 seconds. Hamilton, however, had dropped further behind his teammate.

Raikkonen was only two seconds ahead of Massa when they emerged from their second stops, now on softer tires, which they both were surprised to find quite favorable. That gap rose to nearly 4.7s over the final 12 laps, with the Ferraris ensuring their one-two with some careful laps which saw their margin over the McLarens come down from 14s to just under ten at the checkered flag. Hamilton also dropped back from behind his teammate, but as ever, the first four finished but this time with the Ferraris ahead of the McLarens.

Nick Heidfeld managed to overtake Rosberg for fifth place at the first stop, but the Williams driver sealed sixth place with Mark Webber scoring an excellent seventh. Kovalainen was pushed all the way to the checkered flag by Robert Kubica but hung on to score the final championship point. .

With the penalties handed out in Paris this week, Ferrari clinches the 2007 Constructors' Championship. In the Drivers Championship Lewis Hamilton now leads Alonso by just two points, with Raikkonen 13 points behind with three races remaining.

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