2009 Belgian Grand Prix was a great race with very tight qualifying, a surprising man on the pole and a surprising winner which secured first hybrid F1 victory for Ferrari and their first and only in 2009 F1 season.
Force India VJM02, with Mercedes’ 2.4-liter V8 engine and McLaren gearbox, was great on fast circuits like Spa and Monza despite not having KERS system that delivers 80 HP for 6.67 seconds per lap.
Giancarlo Fisichella took his fourth and final pole position of his career. The first was won at Benetton in 1998 in Austria in the rainy conditions, the second in Australia in 2005. Renault (when more than half of drivers set their laps in the rain), and the third in Malaysia in 2006, also at Renault. It was the first and only pole position for Force India F1 team.
Fisichela took the pole position with a time of 1:46.308, 0.087 faster than with Jarno Trulli in the Toyota. Times were very close as the first nine drivers were within half a second.
After the withdrawal of the safety car, Kimi Raikkonen, who started sixth, attacked Fisichella who haven’t had KERS system and took the lead.
By the end of the race Fisichella was at least as fast as Raikkonen and clocked the fastest lap, but he failed to overtake the Finn who celebrated the fourth victory on this legendary track after the his triumphs in 2004, 2005 (McLaren) and 2007 (Ferrari)
At the same time it was the only victory for the Ferrari in 2009 and Ferrari’s first win with hybrid F1 car (the first victory ever for hybrid F1 car is Hamilton’s victory in Hungary in 2009 in McLaren Mercedes MP4-24).
