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Raikkonen maintains Spa grip


Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen maintained his winning run at the Spa-Francorchamps track at the Belgian F1 Grand Prix to close the gap between him and current championship leader Lewis Hamilton to thirteen points.

This was Raikkonen's third straight win at the track and this win has helped his faint hopes of claiming the title from from one of the McLaren's drivers. His team-mate Felipe Massa finished a comfortable second but with 20 points behind Hamilton and three races to go his chances are very slim.

Fernando Alonso managed to make sure that Hamilton did not overtake him at the first corner got third place and in doing so closed the gap to just two points and he knows that if he continues to finish ahead of Hamilton in a points position he will win retain the championship.

It seems no race will be finished without some bickering between the McLaren drivers and this time it seems Hamilton wasn't happy with the way Alonso blocked him in the first lap. I think the talking will go all the way to the last race but I think Alonso has got a big advantage now as the race leaves Europe to at least two tracks that Alonso is accustomed with and Hamilton is not.

Only one BMW Sauber finished in the points this time and it was Nick Heidfeld who finished fifth just ahead of William's Nick Rosberg. I am actually impressed with Williams revival this season and I think they are on the right path now after their troubles of last season. Rosberg now has accumulated 15 points and the other Williams driver Alexander Wurz has 13 points to make them lie ninth and tenth respectively in the championship race.

Mark Webber managed to get some points after three races without scoring a point as he finished seventh in front of Renault's Heikki Kovalainen. The other Renault driver, Giancarlo Fisichella did not finish the race. It doesn't look like a good year for Fisichella who I thought had a chance to challenge for the title after the departure of Alonso at the start of the season.

The next stop is going to be at the Fuji and I think Alonso would have been happy with Suzuka where he won last year. But the Fuji circuit makes a return to F1 after 20 years and it will be new to all drivers thus making it even.

derek
Wes, I don't whether its only me but I now seem to be enjoying the Alonso and Hamilton dummy spits more than anything the racing itself. I just think that Alonso was right to defend his position and this happens again and again in F1 and Hamilton had nothing to really complain about. I think the young man is now feeling the pressure but he must keep a cool head and try and increase the gap in the next three races. The best bet is for him to qualify ahead of Alonso and then maintained that position for the rest of the race - if it was as easy as that!
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Wes
Derek, I would be interested to see Hamilton's reaction should Alonso go in front after one of the remaining three races. I agree the two drivers have introduced a new dimension that has made this season very interesting so far. Cheers.
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mbareboy
....if the McLaren team orders are to go out and race, then Lewis shouldn't complain, but I think he is still thinking about the Monaco instructions supposedly made by the team chief about not racing one another, the last races are going to be a dog eat dog affair, looks like Ferrari's orders to win all the remaining races is coming right, McLaren have to put their house in order what with BMW making good progress....
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Wes
Once BMW can challenge the top two from race to race, I think it will become very interesting. Now talking about Hamilton and Alonso, Alonso had the right to defend his position because he was marginally in front but I think Hamilton didn't want him to reduce the gap any further.
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mbareboy
...interesting that Denis has said he is not on speaking terms with Alonso. Apparently Alonso had not told Denis about the existence of emails which complicate McLaren's defence that the drivers hadn't been involved in the use of stolen information, and adding a further blow Denis Alonso is a remarkable recluse for a driver. I still maintain that Alonso has an attitude problem, and I don't see him succeeding Schumacher. Alonso is out of the big money contract, ...no wonder Lewis said he cares more about the team.
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Wes
I also found it interesting but I now think that Alonso will not be there next season. Hamilton attended the hearing but according to Dennis Alonso did not want to be there which is worrying. Anyway its only three races to go and we will see what happens after that.
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