RACE - Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium

Sebastian Vettel is the winner of 2011 FORMULA 1 SHELL BELGIAN GRAND PRIX.

Another thrilling race of the season on one of the hardest and most adored track in the world. Unlike yesterday's qualifying session we had nothing but dry conditions with pleasant 16°C air temperature and 26°C track temperature (very close to perfect conditions for Pirelli tires).

Another race, another terrible start for Mark Webber in Red Bull. He dropped to 8th after bogging down at the lights. On the other side, great start for Nico Rosberg, after turn one he took 2nd place, and just few moments after, he takes 1st place from Sebastian Vettel. Hamilton dropped 3 places, but quickly he overtakes Massa for 3rd place (this moment can be seen in photo above). Alonso climbs to 5th place.

Turn one at Spa is well know for causing many accidents through the years. Newcomer Bruno Senna enters turn one too aggressively, he slams Alguersuari, sending him off the track and earns himself a drive-thru penalty. Same thing happened to other drivers like Glock, Buemi or Kobayashi. Glock earned a drive-thru aswell. 

lap 10 - Nico Rosberg lost places from Vettel and Massa and pits from 3rd. Other drivers pits too. McLaren's driver Lewis Hamilton pits too, and he returns on track just behind Kobayashi and Petrov. After passing Petrov, he overtakes Kobayashi, but on the braking Kobayashi fights back. Lewis obviously didn't saw him in the mirrors, which made him hit the Kobayashi's car. Hamilton goes of the track and into wall, shortly after he climbs from the car, apparently unharmed. Safety car deployed.

The rest of the race we saw Webber's climbing to 2nd place, Massa's tire puncture which resulted in 8th place, and amazing, amazing driving by the seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher. He started from the very last place, and ended finishing 5th. Very calm, clean, precise driving, definitely something to admire. 

In the end, Seb Vettel crossed the finish line first, right behind him goes his teammate Mark Webber and the last place of the podium takes Jenson Button. Next race is Monza, Italy in 2 weeks.

Times:

1.  Sebastian Vettel          Red Bull-Renault           1h26.44.893
 2.  Mark Webber              Red Bull-Renault           +     3.741
 3.  Jenson Button            McLaren-Mercedes           +     9.669
 4.  Fernando Alonso          Ferrari                    +    13.022
 5.  Michael Schumacher       Mercedes                   +    47.464
 6.  Nico Rosberg             Mercedes                   +    48.674
 7.  Adrian Sutil             Force India-Mercedes       +    59.713
 8.  Felipe Massa             Ferrari                    +  1:06.076
 9.  Vitaly Petrov            Renault                    +  1:11.917
10.  Pastor Maldonado         Williams-Cosworth          +  1:17.615
11.  Paul Di Resta            Force India-Mercedes       +  1:23.994
12.  Kamui Kobayashi          Sauber-Ferrari             +  1:31.976
13.  Bruno Senna              Renault                    +  1:32.985
14.  Jarno Trulli             Lotus-Renault              +    1 lap
15.  Heikki Kovalainen        Lotus-Renault              +    1 lap
16.  Rubens Barrichello       Williams-Cosworth          +    1 lap
17.  Jerome D'Ambrosio        Virgin-Cosworth            +    1 lap
18.  Timo Glock               Virgin-Cosworth            +    1 lap
19.  Vitantonio Liuzzi        HRT-Cosworth               +    1 lap

DNF

Sergio Perez          Sauber-Ferrari               lap 27
Daniel Ricciardo      HRT-Cosworth                 lap 13
Lewis Hamilton        McLaren-Mercedes             lap 12
Sebastien Buemi       Toro Rosso-Ferrari           lap 6
Jaime Alguersuari     Toro Rosso-Ferrari           lap 1

official timing: gp1.hr

  Ivan Martinović, Seljakboy

Photos: