2007 Belgian GP, Sunday
The ING Renault F1 Team endured a disappointing afternoon
at Spa-Francorchamps during the 2007 ING Belgian Grand Prix.
Although Heikki Kovalainen drove a strong race and made up
one position relative to his starting slot, the team was left
with the feeling of a missed opportunity. The Finn's one-stop
strategy meant he was running heavier fuel loads than his
rivals for much of the race, and he was unable to take the
fight to the cars ahead of him, instead spending much of the
race aggressively defending his position, notably against
Kubica in the final ten laps. Nevertheless, the Finn maintained
his points-scoring streak with his eighth-place finish, extending
it to six consecutive races. Following an enforced engine
change after qualifying, owing to an oil leak from a component
within the sealed perimeter, Giancarlo Fisichella actually
started the race from the pit-lane in the T-car. However,
he ran off track at turn five on lap one, and was forced to
retire with a broken front-left pushrod.
Heikki Kovalainen, 8th position
It felt like I drove half of the race with my mirrors today
– and when I had a clear track, the car was too heavy
to be able to do the lap-times we needed to make our strategy
work. To be honest, with a different strategy, I think we
could have achieved a better result today because the car
was definitely more competitive than it looked. After doing
the long runs on Friday, we thought our pace was enough to
make the one-stop strategy work, but it just didn't work out
today. But that's life – sometimes, you calculate that
the risk is worth taking, and it doesn't pay off. I had a
fantastic start, but after that, I was just defending all
the way through. There was a lot of wheel-to-wheel action
but personally, I think that kind of thing is more fun when
you are attacking! The positive thing to take from the weekend
is that the basic speed of the car was actually closer to
the top cars than we showed today. That is a good reason to
be optimistic for the last three races of the season.
Giancarlo Fisichella, retired
There is not much to say after such a short race. We started
from the pit-lane, so we could use the car with a lower downforce
set-up to try and make up positions. But when I came to turn
five, I braked and the car just didn't slow down. It went
straight on, I touched the barrier and broke the front-left
suspension. I managed to get back to the pits, but there was
nothing we could do to continue.
Flavio Briatore, Managing Director
This was a disappointing afternoon for the team, but we can
still take some good things from the weekend. Heikki showed
again that he can race with the top drivers, and continued
his points-scoring streak. And the performance of the car
in qualifying showed we can be optimistic for the end of the
season. Now, we need to make sure we get everything possible
from those last races, and don't let any opportunities slip.
Pat Symonds, Executive Director of Engineering
We decided to start Giancarlo from the pit-lane in the T-car,
following the engine problem after qualifying. We did so because,
as always, the spare car was better optimised for racing from
the back of the field, with a lower-downforce set-up. Unfortunately,
the brakes were cold after sitting at the end of the pit-lane,
and as he tried to slow for turn 5, he ran off track and broke
the suspension. As for Heikki, I think we gave him a hard
job to do today. We took the deliberate decision to go for
a different strategy to our rivals, running one stop instead
of two, and at first sight it appears we didn't take the right
option. Nevertheless, he drove a determined, tenacious race,
and his defence against Kubica in the faster BMW was exemplary.
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