Formula One Round 14 - The Belgian Grand Prix

The Belgian Grand Prix is perhaps the most amazing circuit on the Formula One calendar. No doubt it is the most beautiful circuit of all with the greenery and the hills on which the circuit is placed, but also has the distinction of being the longest circuit of the season. The length of the circuit is almost 7 kms, much more than any other. It takes almost 2 minutes to complete a lap on this circuit, which is a lot of time in comparision with any other race track in the world.

The venue is called as Spa Francorchamps, as it is placed at Spa, near the Belgian-German border. It easily qualifies as the drivers' favourite race track. Mika Hakkinen, Michael Schumacher both were quoted as saying that they enjoy racing at this venue more than any other. And why not? Michael Schumacher made his debut for Formula One at this very circuit 10 years back, driving for Jordan while Mika Hakkinen pulled off a fantastic manouver last year to win here ahead of Michael, which, eventually, was voted as the Moment of the year 2000.

The Beligian Grand Prix is always a great attraction for Formula One fans. The picturesque surrounding, the stands, the straights, the curves, all are unique and much more than just exciting. Being surrounded all over by trees and hills, there is hardly any Formula One weekend here without rain, and this time was not different. The Friday practice was held in the rains. The saturday free practice session was delayed due to the heavy downpour. Even the saturday qualifying was on a wet track.

The saturday qualifying saw some very unpredictable results. It was perhaps the best qualifying session for years. Till the very last minute, cars were running on a wet setup of tyres and Schumacher and Hakkinen had the front row positions. But on the last run, Williams running on a dry setup cliched pole with Montoya putting a blinder, which was almost, 5 seconds faster than the provisional pole position. Ralf came good too, getting second place, with Michael third. Heinz-Herald Frentzen, having recently joined Prost, posted his best qualifying position with a surprise 4th. Rubens Barrichello came 5th and Jacques Villeneuve from BAR Honda qualified 6th fastest. This put Mclaren on the backfoot as Mika Hakkinen was 7th and Coulthard on 9th.

Sunday's race started with a 50% prediction of rain. Everyone was on a dry setup and luckily, the heavens obliged and there was no rain. There was drama even before the race started. Just before the warm-up lap could begin, Heinz-Herald Frentzen was seen waving frantically out of his Prost to indicate a power failure. His car was started and moved to the back of the grid. Bad luck continued for Montoya as he couldnt start his Williams on the warm up lap after Frentzen's incident. He too, was moved to the back of the grid and the race was started. Michael was thus second behind Ralf. On the very first lap, he overtook Ralf and moved into the lead. Rubens Barichello was third, Villeneuve was 4th. The two Mclarens of Hakkinen and Coulthard were placed on 5th and 6th positions respectively.

Go To Page: 1 2

Articles in this Topic    Discussions in this Topic