iSport's Gautam TP is an ardent Kimi Raikkonen fan - he shares with us visual references to Kimi's spectacular win in Spa.
Kimi Raikkonen has done it once again. On Sunday's Race Day, he won the Belgium Grand Prix at SPA Francorchamps for fourth time, even though he didn't posses the fastest car on the grid.
After claiming P6 in Saturday's qualifying, Kimi judged the race brilliantly right from the start by avoiding a Brawn GP car that suffered from clutch issues.
After claiming P6 in Saturday's qualifying, Kimi judged the race brilliantly right from the start by avoiding a Brawn GP car that suffered from clutch issues.
He had to run wide off the chicane and rejoined the track and made full use of the magic K.E.R.S that gave him around 80BHP extra to maintain the position.
He managed to overtake Barrichello, Heidfeld, Trulli and Kubica by the first lap and positioned himself right behind Fisichella to the exit of Eau Rouge. After the Satefy Car period Kimi executed perfect slip stream maneuvre to take over the lead from Fisichella, thanks to the extra boost of K.E.R.S. Fisichella & Kimi both chose the softer compound as Kimi endured a charging Force India car behind him.
Both drivers pitted on the same lap. There was a small delay in Kimi’s pit because they had to make sure he didn't block others entering the pits. The avoiding action also avoided a possible penalty for Kimi for an 'unsafe release' from pitlane. The situation was well judged and timed. However, Kimi managed to exit the pits ahead of Fisichella, both opting for different tyre compounds.
Force India was attacking the Ferrari for the race lead every second, the gap getting reduced to fractions. But a determined Kimi made sure he held onto his position with his sheer skill and understanding of the Spa circuit. After the second round of pitstops, Kimi switched to the softer compound while Fisichella had to use the harder compound, yet the Force India managed to tuck in close to the leading Ferrari every corner.
At the flag, it was a beautiful race from both drivers, who are considered to be veterans of this classic circuit in Belgium. Both teams got their aerodynamic measurements and pit strategies right. Apart from the driver’s skills, it was also a battle between a strong Mercedes FW108 engine in Force India VJM02 and a Magneti-Marelli K.E.R.S that extracted the extra power in Ferrari’s Type 056 engine that powers the F60 and helped Kimi to gain that fraction of a second to hold onto the extreme machine in VJM02. It was a well earned victory for the Finn not having won since his last victory in Spain sixteen months ago.
"It hasn't been easy year for us," Raikkonen said during the post race interview. The whole team worked hard in achieving this result, being their first win for 2009 Formula One Season. Apart from struggling with downforce in sector 2, Ferrari managed to get a good aerodynamic evaluations for Kimi’s car that would suit his driving style. Ferrari had a reliable engine and a well working K.E.R.S, the pitcrew members timed the pitstops correctly and Kimi drove a flat out race minus any errors.
Image Courtesy : Formula1.com
Image Courtesy : Formula1.com
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Comments (7)
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Kunal Shah
said:
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... Kimi's back! Whatta drive! I wish Massa was around too - he would've loved the challenge of Spa in his Ferrari too. Monza up next - the characteristics should suit Ferrari too! |
a guest
said:
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... ummm.... u got ur tyre explanations wrong... they were on different sets to every time u say... the green band is for softs nt hard ones my frend.. |
Srikanth
said:
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... i wonder, if kimi took a safe route by going round the outside in the hairpin on lap 1, trulli also had less space but stayed in, he invariably got hit and that compromised his race...however the ambiguity here is that kimi has a valid alibi although he conveniently didnt try to stay on track either :p either ways that was crucial to his victory..... if he were fighting for the championship this question would definitely have come up... |
Asif Khan
said:
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... Kimi no wonder is my fave, but I would have liked Fischi to win instead of number 2 :) |
Kunal Shah
said:
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... Honestly, Fisico could've won! His car was faster - but his pit strategy was very conservative. If you pit on the same lap as your competitor, then the only place you can over take him is on - track. I doubt if he could've ever overtaken Kimi's KERS powered Ferrari. |
Srikanth
said:
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... just read in mumbai mirror, fisi said tht they originally planned to pit at 28 while they thought ferrari wud pit at 30, they stretched it to 31 but so did ferrari.....i doubt they could have stretched it further... |
a guest
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... Take nothing away from Force India. Producing a highly competetive car on a fraction of Ferrari's budget. And they deserved 2nd (also to make up for the 'almost-in-the-points' races of 2008 and 2009). But it's unfair to keep referring to the 'magic' button. Ferrari have spent over 30 million on KERS and they got it all wrong in the beginning. They lost out massivley to the other teams (who didn't invest in KERS) in the first few races. All the teams on the grid are free to use the technology. Don't blame Ferrari and McLaren now. Plus, it adds some 20 (or is it 30) Kgs to the weight of the car, which means lesser ballast to play around with. So it's not like he 'pressed a button' and won the race. --- Sahil |
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