Gamble pays off as Webber finishes fourth in Spa.
Spa-Francorchamps (BEL). Mark Webber emerged from a rough and tumble Belgian Grand Prix on a slowly drying track with a five-point haul for the BMW WilliamsF1 Team. The Australian driver finished fourth in Sunday's race as the curtain came down on the European season in Formula One amid testing conditions in Spa. Webber's Brazilian team-mate Antonio Pizzonia, standing in once again for Germany's Nick Heidfeld, was forced to retire on lap 40 of the 306.972-km race following a collision.

Finnish driver Kimi Raikkonen took victory in his McLaren-Mercedes after 44 laps of the 6.974-km undulating circuit, keeping his title hopes alive in the process. Second was Renault's championship leader Fernando Alonso (Spain), ahead of Jenson Button in a BAR-Honda. World Champion Michael Schumacher's race ended prematurely after an incident involving Japan's Takuma Sato (BAR-Honda).

Alonso continues to head the drivers' standings after round 16 of the 19-race season. The Spaniard increased his total to 111 points in Spa to keep him 25 points ahead of Raikkonen (86). Michael Schumacher remains third on 55. BMW WilliamsF1 Team drivers Webber and Heidfeld are tenth and eleventh in the table, on 29 and 28 points respectively. Pizzonia, who celebrated his 25th birthday on Sunday, has two points after his seventh place the previous weekend in Monza.

In the Constructors' Championship, Renault goes into the remaining races of 2005 in Sao Paulo (25th September), Suzuka (9th October) and Shanghai (16th October) with 152 points, ahead of McLaren-Mercedes on 146 and Ferrari (90). The BMW WilliamsF1 Team is fifth on 59 points, behind Toyota (80).

"This was a really eventful race. As the entire weekend, it was influenced by the weather. Difficult conditions resulted in several accidents," said BMW Motorsport Director Mario Theissen, and added: "Today the right strategy was crucial, especially to find the right moment for the change from intermediates to slicks. Many drivers tried this too early. Dry tyres were only the best choice for the last laps. This decision enabled Mark to improve to fourth position. Having started ninth, this is a very good result."

Sam Michael, Technical Director at WilliamsF1, was also happy: "It was good to go on dry tyres for the last laps. We tried earlier in the race to put both cars on dry tyres, as did a lot of other teams. But it didn't work and both needed to pick up intermediates again."

As Webber summed up: "We obviously took a gamble, as everyone did today. It was a shame that we lost a lot of time when the Safety Car came out at the start of the race and we switched to dry tyres and then back to intermediates. We could have scored an even better result, but it was also very easy to be in the wall today." Webber praised the team on a good performance: "It's been a tough season so far and they have put in a great effort. It was also a good job by BMW, to get through two tough races with the same engine."

Birthday boy Pizzonia, on the other hand, cut a dejected figure after his collision with Montoya: "I was on dry tyres and lapping quicker than him. He was quite slow, maybe because his tyres were not good anymore or maybe he was just cruising to the end of the race. I thought he saw me and when he braked really early I thought he was trying to let me by. I put my car next to him, but obviously he hadn't seen me because he turned into his normal line and I couldn't avoid the crash. I am sorry for him because I am not here to destroy anyone's race. I destroyed my race too."

Practice and qualifying.
Glorious sunshine and temperatures of 30 degrees in the shade greeted the teams as the Formula One circus arrived in Belgium on Thursday. However, gathering clouds as evening approached brought the promise that normal service would be resumed in a corner of the Ardennes renowned as a haven for adverse weather conditions.

The inevitable downpour on Friday morning soon dispelled the late-summer heat, bringing the air temperature down to 19 degrees and leaving plenty of moisture on the track for the first practice session. The BMW WilliamsF1 Team completed four installation laps in the latter stages of the session, which left Webber fifth fastest on the timing sheets. Pizzonia slid off the track on turn 13 after losing grip over a wet kerb and hitting the barriers. The team duly replaced two suspension elements and gave the FW27 new front and rear wings in time for the second practice session. For the first time since the start of the season, new did not mean different, with development work for the 2005 season having come to an end and all eyes now focussed on 2006. The same applies to the engines. As in previous years, BMW's final update of this season's powerplant was unveiled in Monza.

As it turned out, the mechanics could have taken their time repairing Pizzonia's car, with the second free practice session left to literally tread water. Vitantonio Liuzzi was one of the few drivers to venture out onto the circuit in the torrential rain and the Red Bull test pilot duly spun off on the treacherous surface. The resultant red flag brought the session to an end after just four minutes. The circuit was cleared for action again at 2.13 that afternoon, but there were to be no further timed laps. The rain was simply too heavy, the water flowing in streams up and down the track. And as none of the Friday practice sessions had been dry, tyre compound selection was officially moved back to midday on Saturday.

Before the race at Spa, the 2005 Formula One season had been largely untroubled by rain. Indeed, the last time the cars had lapped in the wet had been in the early stages of the Brazilian Grand Prix in 2004, the final race of last season.
The only previous experience of rain in 2005 had been in qualifying for the opening race of this year's championship in Australia, where wet-weather tyres were on the menu.

The track was still damp ahead of the third practice session in the Ardennes on Saturday morning and, with humidity standing at 95 percent and the temperature not getting above 16 degrees, there was little chance of it drying out in a hurry. The race director once again declared the track wet, giving the drivers a free choice between wet-weather tyres, intermediates and slicks. However, only by the fourth practice session had the moisture evaporated sufficiently for the teams to make a reasonably confident decision on tyre compounds.

By qualifying at 1.00 p.m., it was clear that the racing line was dry. Webber went out seventh, with grip visibly improving as the session progressed. Nine of the 13 drivers who followed Webber bettered his lap time of 1:48.071, leaving the Australian in tenth on the grid ahead of his team-mate in 15th. Pizzonia set a time of 1:48.898 for his flying lap from 14th in the running order. With five drivers still to post a qualifying time, it looked like further rain was on the way. However, this time there were no more than a few drops around the start-finish area to inconvenience the late runners.

The two McLaren-Mercedes of Montoya and Raikkonen eventually qualified alongside each other on the front row of the grid, with Renault's Giancarlo Fisichella and Toyota driver Jarno Trulli setting the third and fourth-quickest times. Alonso's Renault was fifth in the timings, ahead of Ralf Schumacher in the second Toyota. Row 4 was filled by Spa enthusiast Michael Schumacher and his Ferrari team-mate for next year Felipe Massa in a Sauber.

Settling on the right set-up for race day became something of a risky business. What was clear was that driving a car with a wet-weather set up on a dry track would be harder than vice-versa. The 2005 Formula One rule-book prohibits mid-race tyre changes, but different rules apply in the event of changing weather conditions. As soon as it starts to rain, the drivers can switch to wet-weather tyres at any time. If it then stops raining and the track dries out, the tread of a grooved wet-weather tyre experiences rapid wear. For safety reasons, the teams may therefore change over from wet-weather to dry tyres. In both cases, refuelling is permitted at the same time as the tyres are changed. This is not permitted if a tyre has to be changed in constant weather conditions due to tyre damage.

Sunday morning saw a stream of accidents as the circuit was engulfed by prolonged heavy rain, with the MINI Challenge and GP2 series races suffering multiple interruptions as a result.

Start and finish.
The track was still damp as the cars lined up for the Belgian GP and there was the threat of further showers. In this type of situation, the regulations give scope for late modifications to car set-up, with ground clearance and wing settings first on the list. In order to keep all their options open, the teams waited as long as possible on the grid before putting on the tyres. Eight minutes before the warm-up lap, intermediates were fitted on the FW27 racers, a decision repeated by the team's rivals.

Webber started from ninth on the grid, with Fisichella's Renault dropping back to 13th after the Italian driver incurred a ten-place penalty for an illegal engine change. Webber lost a place to Sato off the start line, slipping to tenth, and two laps later he was down to twelfth after Fisichella and David Coulthard (Red Bull Racing) found their way past. Pizzonia, meanwhile, was determined to recover from a bad start of his own. Having fallen back a place from the off, the Brazilian eased past Jacques Villeneuve (Sauber) and Rubens Barrichello (Ferrari) on lap 2 to move into 14th position.

Fisichella's progress was brought to an unceremonious end on lap 11 after the Renault pilot crashed heavily on the exit from Eau Rouge. As the Safety Car made its way out onto the track, Sam Michael called the two FW27 cars into the pits. Webber was first in, with Pizzonia waiting temporarily in the wings. The team decided to change both cars onto slicks. BAR Honda followed suit with Button and Sato, while Michel Schumacher was another to gamble on dry-weather rubber. However, as they all quickly discovered, the track was still too damp to reward their boldness. While the five were preparing to come back in to swap back onto intermediates, Trulli and Christian Klien (Red Bull) were changing onto dry tyres. And they too were soon back in the pits to correct their mistake.

After this additional tyre stop, Webber and Pizzonia lay in twelfth and 15th positions when the race restarted. Both made up two positions on lap 14, when Michael Schumacher and Sato collided in La Source. Webber and Pizzonia continued to move up through the field on their intermediates, Ralf Schumacher offering proof on lap 25 that this was still the right decision. Having plumped for a set of slicks, it wasn't long before Schumacher junior had spun on the greasy surface. Another five laps later Massa also took on dry tyres - and also paid the penalty in lost pace.

This made it an easy decision for the team to send both Webber and Pizzonia back out with intermediates after their stops on lap 32/33. Webber rejoined in sixth position, Pizzonia eighth. Up front, meanwhile, Raikkonen was using his pit stop to take over the race lead from team-mate Montoya.

As the race entered its latter stages, discussions between the drivers and engineers over the BMW WilliamsF1 Team pit radio centred on the possible gains of switching to dry tyres for the final few laps. Webber duly chanced his arm after 38 laps, and was soon the fastest man on the circuit. The new rubber allowed him to moved up to fourth place in the final race standings. Pizzonia came in for slicks a lap later, but he was only able to enjoy the extra grip until lap 40, when he collided with Montoya.

History and background:
Spa-Francorchamps has been host to 39 out of 51 Belgian Grands Prix. Formula One was held in Zolder ten times and in Nivelles twice.

The idea of building a race track at the famous health resort of Spa goes back to the year 1920. The aim was to use the triangle formed by the roads connecting Malmedy, Stavelot and Francorchamps. By August 1921 preparations had been completed, but the first car race fell through because a solitary entrant had signed up. In the end, the race track was inaugurated by motorcycles before it went on to hold its first car event in 1922.

1924 saw the first 24-hour race held here. That was followed by the first significant single-seater event in 1925, namely the European Grand Prix. Of the seven cars that took part, Antonio Ascari won on Alfa Romeo.

The Second World War brought an end to racing events for seven years up until 1947. 1970 witnessed the last race on the old course, which up to then had been 14 kilometres long. Cars had become too fast for the track and drivers refused to accept the risks involved. The current circuit opened in 1979.

In 2003, Formula One bypassed Spa. In the interim, modifications were carried out around the Bus Stop chicane and the track was extended by ten metres.

Other well-known features of the circuit apart from Eau Rouge are the fast Blanchimont section and La Source, the hairpin soon after the start which saw the biggest pile-up in Formula One history in 1998 - fortunately without any injury to the drivers involved.

Results and points.

1. Kimi Raikkonen (Team McLaren Mercedes), 44 laps in 1 hr 30:01.295 min
2. Fernando Alonso (Mild Seven Renault F1 Team), + 28.394 sec
3. Jenson Button (Lucky Strike BAR Honda), + 32.077 sec
4. Mark Webber (BMW WilliamsF1 Team), + 69.167 sec
5. Rubens Barrichello (Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro), + 78.136 sec
6. Jacques Villeneuve (Sauber Petronas), + 87.435 sec
7. Ralf Schumacher (Panasonic Toyota Racing), + 87.574 sec
8. Tiago Monteiro (Jordan Grand Prix), 1 lap behind

Drivers' points.

1. Alonso (111)
2. Raikkonen (86)
3. M. Schumacher (55)
4. Montoya (50)
5. Trulli (43)
6. Fisichella (41)
7. R. Schumacher (37)
8. Barrichello (35)
9. Button (30)
10. Webber (29)
11. Heidfeld (28)
12. Coulthard (21)
13. Villeneuve (9)
14. Massa (8)
15. Monteiro (7)
16. Wurz (6)
17. Karthikeyan (5)
Klien (5)
19. Albers (4)
de la Rosa (4)
21. Friesacher (3)
22. Pizzonia (2)
23. Liuzzi (1)
Sato (1)

Team points:

1. Mild Seven Renault F1 Team (152)
2. Team McLaren Mercedes (146)
3. Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro (90)
4. Panasonic Toyota Racing (80)
5. BMW WilliamsF1 Team (59)
6. Lucky Strike BAR Honda (31)
7. Red Bull Racing (27)
8. Sauber Petronas (17)
9. Jordan Grand Prix (12)
10. Minardi F1 Team (7)