Raikkonen and Fisichella are F1’s best starters (Belgian Grand Prix analysis)

Posted by Mikel on August 31st, 2009 at 05:36pm

The Belgian Grand Prix was fought out between the two drivers who’ve made the best starts in F1 this year: Kimi Raikkonen and Giancarlo Fisichella.

Plus, where would Timo Glock have finished without his fuel rig problem? And just how bad was it for Luca Badoer? Read on to find out.

Lap 1

Kimi Raikkonen got off to his usual KERS-assisted flier. He picked up four places on the opening lap, and has gained a total of 23 places on the first lap of races this year – more than any driver bar Giancarlo Fisichella, who has also gained 23.

Further back the destruction at Les Combes cut a swathe through the field and helped several other drivers make big improvements. Rubens Barrichello, however, had his worst start of the season, losing ten places. He also gave away nine at Istanbul and five at Melbourne, and is statistically the worst driver at getting away from the start line this year.

Raikkonen vs Fisichella

The fight for the lead was close but you couldn’t really call it a battle. With KERS at his fingertips, Raikkonen was easily able to keep Fisichella at bay.

Still Fisichella kept up the pressure in the hope of a mistake from Ferrari or Raikkonen.

P14 BAD

Duncan Stephen asks on his blog whether Luca Badoer achieved a record by being the first driver to finish last yet still be on the lead lap. At Singapore last year Fisichella matched his feat of finishing 14th and last of the runners while still being on the lead lap. However Raikkonen was officially classified 15th in that race after crashing out four laps from the end. Has any other driver finished last, lower in the standings, while also being on the lead lap?

What impresses me is that, putting Badoer’s lamentable performance to one side, the rest of the classified runners finished within 55 seconds of each other. Unfortunately Badoer was almost as far behind 13th-placed Kazuki Nakajima as the Williams driver was behind Raikkonen. The yawning gaps between Raikkonen and Badoer’s lap times above tell the story.

Race charts

It’s worth looking up Timo Glock on the race chart above and noting that, if he hadn’t lost five seconds with a refuelling rig problem at his first pit stop, he would have been in the points. Certainly he would not have ended up behind Nico Rosberg. At the end of the race he would have been somewhere near the front of the Heikki Kovalainen, Rubens Barrichello, Rosberg and Mark Webber battle.

Read more

• Kimi Raikkonen edges Giancarlo Fisichella for win (Belgian Grand Prix review)
• Giancarlo Fisichella scores first points for Force India in Spa (pictures)
• Belgian Grand Prix facts and stats
• Belgian Grand Prix: Rate the race
• F1 championship points after Belgium
• Belgian Grand Prix race result
• Belgian Grand Prix start crash (Video)
• Belgian Grand Prix: Rate the race

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