2010 BELGIAN GRAND PRIX

Background

The 2010 Belgian Grand Prix was the 13th of the 19 events in the 2010 Formula One World Championship , and the 55th World Championship edition of the race. It was held at the 19-turn 7.004 km (4.352 mi) Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps , located in Francorchamps , Wallonia , Belgium, on 29 August. Formula One tyre supplier Bridgestone brought the soft and medium dry compounds and the intermediate and full wet-weather tyres to the race. After the 2009 event , the tarmac ... After winning the preceding Hungarian Grand Prix , Red Bull 's Mark Webber led the World Drivers' Championship with 161 points , ahead of Lewis Hamilton of McLaren with 157 points and Webber's teammate Sebastian Vettel with 151 points. Hamilton's teammate Jenson Button was fourth with 147 points and Ferrari 's Fernando Alonso was fifth with 141 points. With 312 points, Red Bull led the World Constructors' Championship followed by McLaren in second with 304 points and the third-placed...

Race

Some teams modified their cars for better efficiency on the track's straights . Ferrari introduced a new rear wing with less downforce on Felipe Massa 's F10 car for qualifying and the race. The team also added a modified diffuser and floor to maximise the F10's performance within FIA compliance restricting the size of the car's lower surface to reduce the downforce generated. Red Bull altered the RB6 's brake discs for extra ballast around the car and improved performance an... At the start, Hamilton took the lead from a slow-starting Webber into the La Source hairpin with Kubica second and Button third. Webber allowed the engine revolutions to fall too low, causing his car's Renault engine to go into anti-stall mode and falling to sixth. Hamilton held off Kubica on the outside in the braking zone of Les Combes turn as Button failed to pass Kubica. Sutil clung onto Webber's slipstream and overtook him on the straight for sixth before losing t... Barrichello was unable to stop his car in time in the greasy conditions despite his braking early and struck the side of Alonso's eighth-placed car. Alonso was able to make a pit stop for intermediate tyres as well as other drivers but Barrichello retired with car damage. Button followed the chicane's contours and fell behind Vettel but held off Massa by braking very late for the La Source hairpin. He thus drew to the inside of Vettel and overtook him for third. In the... The safety car was withdrawn at the conclusion of lap three and racing resumed with Hamilton leading his teammate Button. Hamilton ran wide at the La Source hairpin and blocked his teammate Button from passing him for the lead, while Vettel used the restart to pass Kubica for third at the same hairpin. Sutil's higher straightline speed moved him past Hülkenberg for seventh to nullify an earlier illegal pass by the latter on the former at the Bus Stop chic... Light rain began to fall on lap 16. That same lap, Vettel got a run on the conservatively braking Button on the inside into the Bus Stop chicane. Vettel suddenly switched to the outside line and lost control of his car by hitting a bump on the damp circuit as he was unable to correct an opposite lock at high speed. He struck the left-hand sidepod on Button's car, exposing its radiator and causing Button's retirement. Vettel entered the pit lane for ... On lap 25, Hamilton made his first pit stop and retained the lead. Sutil overtook Schumacher uphill into Les Combes turn for fifth on the lap. On lap 26, Vettel overtook Liuzzi at the Bus Stop chicane but Liuzzi's right-front wing endplate punctured Vettel's left-rear tyre. Vettel was unable to enter the pit lane and had to do a full lap before stopping for the soft compound tyres and fell to 20th; Liuzzi immediately made a pit stop for a front wing replacement. [ 48 ... The top three drivers appeared on the podium to collect their trophies and spoke to the media in a later press conference. Hamilton described it as "a very, very tough race" for himself and said the victory "absolutely" made up for two years prior, adding: "At the end it was just about nursing the car home and bringing it back in one piece. Just trying to keep a small gap between myself and Mark and try to bag those points." Webber said he was satisfied to finish second and a... Drivers who scored championship points are denoted in bold . Notes:

Practice

The second session commenced on a damp circuit which gradually dried up bar a small rain shower early on. Drivers used wet-weather tyres before switching to the dry compounds. Alonso led with the day's fastest lap, a 1-minute, 49.032 seconds, ahead of Sutil, Hamilton, Kubica, Massa, Vettel, Button, Pedro de la Rosa for Sauber, Barrichello and de la Rosa's teammate Kamui Kobayashi in positions two to ten. Due to the damp conditions, some drivers ventured off the track during ... More overnight rain showers made the track damp by the start of the final session but slick tyres were used after 20 minutes. Conditions remained dry enough for drivers to go faster until a downpour fell on the circuit with 15 minutes remaining and caught out some participants. With a 1-minute, 46.106 seconds lap being almost three seconds quicker than Friday's best time, Webber led from Hamilton, Vettel, Button, Kubica, Alonso, Massa, Sutil, Williams' Nico Hülkenberg...

Qualifying

Webber positioned himself for space and driving on the circuit at its driest, for his first pole position since the Turkish Grand Prix , his fifth of the season and the sixth of his career with a 1-minute, 45.778 seconds lap set late in the third session. It was the 12th time in 13 races Red Bull had pole position. Webber was joined on the grid 's front row by Hamilton whose first timed lap was on old soft tyres with his second on a new set of tyres before the rain fell. [ 2 ... Alonso, 10th, lost a plethora of time running wide on the damp La Source corner; he used less front wing angle and an old rear wing. Schumacher was the fastest driver not to progress to the final session in 11th. His teammate Rosberg in 12th lacked grip on a wet-weather set-up and had to slow when he came across the Toro Rosso car of Sébastien Buemi . Toro Rosso's Jaime Alguersuari slowed on the slippery turns 13 and 14 on his final timed lap and was 13th ahead o... The fastest lap in each of the three sessions is denoted in bold . Notes: