No Health Cure at Spa

The Belgian circuit might be located in an area noted for its healthy spa waters, but this weekend was no health cure for Scuderia Toro Rosso, even if Jaime Alguersuari took an early bath after colliding with Hamilton at the second corner on the opening lap.

At least Sébastien Buemi saw the chequered flag, albeit in 12th place. The lack of points, combined with a very impressive performance from Giancarlo Fisichella, means we have now slipped to the bottom of the Constructors’ classification, three points behind Force India.

The STR4 showed some promise in the early stages of the Belgian weekend, but not enough was made of this in Qualifying. With Formula One being so competitive at the moment, and the majority of cars running reliably enough to finish races, our two drivers must get higher up on the grid on Saturday afternoon if they want to see their efforts rewarded on Sunday.

Looking outside the Toro Rosso garage, the Belgian Grand Prix was actually a fascinating race, with victory going to Kimi Raikkonen.

The unusual grid even gave rise to a ludicrous, but amusing conspiracy theory that a few teams whose future is in doubt had been given some softer tyres to help them get a good result! Before the race, there was much talk of the Ferrari getting the upper hand, but given that this is the Finn’s fourth win at Spa, we can assume driver talent might also have had something to do with it.

He did not have it all his own way, after scything through the field from sixth to second on the opening lap, then dispensing with Fisichella, once the Safety Car came in after it was needed to clear up the mess which put out four cars including Jaime’s.

If the pundits expected the Ferrari to comfortably pull away from the Force India, they were wrong and the race looked pretty open until after the second run of pit stops. With Button knocked out on lap one, Red Bull Racing was hoping to capitalise on this to close the gap in both championships. In the end, Sebastian Vettel made it to the podium in third spot, although he was behind Mark Webber in the early stages. However, the Australian was given a drive-through for an 'unsafe release' after a pit stop, ending up just outside the points in ninth.

Behind the top three, it was a good day for BMW, with Robert Kubica and Nick Heidfeld coming home fourth and fifth ahead of Kovalainen’s McLaren. The last two points positions were filled by the Brawn of Rubens Barrichello and the Williams of Nico Rosberg.

We now head back to Faenza after the back-to-back Valencia and Spa races, to prepare to make the short trip down the road to Monza for the Italian Grand Prix.

We don’t need reminding what happened there last year, but let’s be realistic, a point or two would be much appreciated.