Jenson Button proved his doubters wrong and racked up his second win of 2012 with a flawless drive from pole position at Spa-Francorchamps. Putting months of struggle behind him, Jenson clinched the win and catapulted himself into the drivers championship frame.
What a difference a week makes; on Monday last week, Jenson was answering questions on how he was going to help his team-mate Lewis Hamilton win the world championship. Today, he's in the picture himself. It was a feel good win for the likeable Briton; Jenson has struggled with the set-up of his sensitive McLaren all year and has failed to match Lewis for the most part.
In Belgium, it was a total surprise to see Button do as well as he did. After dominating qualifying, JB was equally quick in the race. He held Raikkonen, Schumacher and Vettel all at arms distance (and then some) to cruise home to his 14th career win.
However, probably the biggest talking point of the afternoon was the sickening crash at La Source on Lap 1. The perpetrator of the carnage was one Romain Grosjean, yet again grossly misjudging the width of his Lotus and the location of his rivals' cars. Straight off the line, Grosjean swerved across the circuit to cover McLaren's Lewis Hamilton and left the Briton with less than a car's width between himself and the wall. The result: the two touched and Lewis was sent spiralling into the side of Grosjean's Lotus. The two then barrelled down towards La Source with no control over their cars and fate.
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| Chaos ensues at La Source after Grosjean squeezes Hamilton into the wall |
For Alonso and Hamilton, the consequences are grave. A loss of vital championship points that will cost them in the long run. For Perez, it was the loss of an opportunity to capitalise on his strong quali form. For Grosjean, it meant another in a string on large incidents; he has been involved with seven first race incidents this year.
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| Kimi Raikkonen finished 3rd - his fourth podium in five races |
One of the biggest benefactors of the chaos was Sebastian Vettel. Seb may have been 12th when the safety car came out but he set about rectifying this after the restart. In my mind, Vettel put in one of his best drives ever to come home 2nd. There is no doubting that he can pull off some ballsy overtakes, his moves on Schumacher, Webber, Massa and Senna into the final chicane evidence of this. His podium finish meant he is now less than 25 points behind Alonso, effectively turning the entire season on its head.
Likewise, both Webber and Raikkonen have closed the gap on Fernando, blowing the championship wide open. Raikkonen will be disappointed however to not leave Spa with the win. For what seems like the umpteenth time this year, Lotus have failed to deliver a car with the pace to win when it matters.
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| Nico Hulkenberg finished a career-best fourth |
Toro Rosso secured more points with both Vergne and Ricciardo finishing in the points whilst Massa came home a solid, if unspectacular, fifth.
The biggest losers were both of the Sauber drivers. Starting 2nd and 4th respectively, Kobayashi and Perez scored nil points after being caught up in the first corner calamities. Their quest to reel in 5th placed Mercedes has been dealt a significant blow.
Pastor Maldonado got tongue's wagging for all the wrong reasons again; he jumped the start of the race by a clear second, suffered a puncture and then retired after colliding with Timo Glock. He'll receive a two separate five place grid penalties at Monza.
All the talk over the summer break therefore of Alonso's lead being insurmountable was dispelled at Spa in a matter of seconds. Vettel's second place flips the season on it's head and with eight races to go, there are plenty of twists, turns and surprises in store. Bring on Monza, home of Ferrari and the tifosi.
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