The2009 Belgian Grand Prix (officially the2009 Formula 1 ING Belgian Grand Prix)^[3] was aFormula One motor race held on 30 August 2009 at theCircuit de Spa-Francorchamps, near the village ofFrancorchamps,Wallonia, Belgium. It was the 12th race of the2009 Formula One season. The race was contested over 44 laps, with an overall race distance of 308.052 km (191.415 mi). The race was won byKimi Räikkönen ofFerrari after starting from sixth on the grid.^[4]Giancarlo Fisichella ofForce India came second after starting from the team's first and only pole position.Sebastian Vettel came third after starting from eighth on the grid.

2009 Belgian Grand Prix
Race 12 of 17 in the2009 Formula One World Championship ← Previous race Next race →
Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps
Race details[1]
Date	30 August 2009
Official name	2009 Formula 1 ING Belgian Grand Prix
Location	Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps,Francorchamps,Wallonia, Belgium[2]
Course	Permanent racing facility
Course length	7.004 km (4.352 miles)
Distance	44 laps, 308.052 km (191.415 miles)
Weather	Clear but Mild
Pole position
Driver	Giancarlo Fisichella	Force India-Mercedes
Time	1:46.308
Fastest lap
Driver	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull-Renault
Time	1:47.263 on lap 38
Podium
First	Kimi Räikkönen	Ferrari
Second	Giancarlo Fisichella	Force India-Mercedes
Third	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull-Renault
Lap leaders

It was Räikkönen's first Grand Prix victory since the2008 Spanish Grand Prix and Ferrari's only victory of the season. Fisichella's second position gave Force India their first ever championship points and their first podium. This race also marks Fisichella's final podium and last points inFormula One, before he became aFerrari test driver in2010, as well as Räikkönen's 18th and last Grand Prix victory until the2012 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix and his last for Ferrari until the2018 United States Grand Prix. This was the last race forLuca Badoer.

Jenson Button led the World Championship entering the Belgian race weekend despite not scoring a podium sinceearly June. He had an 18-point lead overBrawn GP teammateRubens Barrichello.Mark Webber was 2½ points behind Barrichello in third and was 4½ points ahead ofRed Bull Racing teammateSebastian Vettel. The respective recoveries ofFerrari andMcLaren ensured that the last two World Champions,Kimi Räikkönen andLewis Hamilton, had scored podiums in the two races leading up to Belgium. Brawn GP led Red Bull Racing by 27½ points in the Constructors' Championship. The next team, Ferrari, were 52½ points behind Red Bull and 80 points behind Brawn. Ferrari's Kimi Räikkönen, who had previously won the event three times, was the only former winner entered in the race.

Rain affected the first practice session of the weekend. Only 10 cars got dry lap times in while the rest of the field posting lap times in the wet.Jarno Trulli posted the fastest lap followed by Button.Fernando Alonso was third followed by the twoToro Rossos.Force India'sGiancarlo Fisichella posted the fastest time off the wet runners followed byNico Rosberg. Neither Vettel nor Hamilton posted lap times.^[5] The second session stayed dry throughout with Hamilton topping the session.Timo Glock was second and Räikkönen third, the top three cars were separated by less than 0.7s. Fisichella kept his pace for Force India as he came sixth. This was one of the closest sessions in the history of Formula One with 18 of the 20 cars coming within less than a second from the leader. Only Rosberg andLuca Badoer were more than a second away from Hamilton's time. Both Brawns struggled coming only 17th and 18th.^[6] This session may have seen another indication thatBMW Sauber have greatly improved their car afterNick Heidfeld topped the session. AnotherToyota came second with Trulli and Force India'sAdrian Sutil came third. Hamilton took 9th place with Button rounding off the top ten. Red Bull's problems with theRenault engine continued as Webber's engine had a major problem. This gave Red Bull-Renault their third engine failure in a week.^[7]

The first session would see five cars drop out and decide the final five grid positions. Badoer qualified 20th for the second race in a row, after crashing at the end of the session and bringing out the yellow flag, causing many drivers to slow down.^[8] Fisichella topped the session with Trulli finishing just behind him. The other four drivers to be knocked out at the end of the session were Renault'sRomain Grosjean (P19),Williams'sKazuki Nakajima (P18) and the two Toro Rossos ofJaime Alguersuari (P17) andSébastien Buemi (P16).^[9] The second session would again see another five cars drop out to decide grid positions 11–15. The session was topped by the Toyota of Jarno Trulli, while BMW Sauber'sRobert Kubica was second with Red Bull's Vettel coming third. Also significant in the second part of qualifying was the elimination of Brawn's Jenson Button who could only manage P14. The two McLarens ofHeikki Kovalainen (P15) and Hamilton (P12) were also knocked out along with the second Renault of Alonso (P13) and Force India's Adrian Sutil (P11).^[9]

The final session would see the remaining 10 grid positions be decided. Williams's new aero package was not working as they would like as Rosberg qualified P10. The two Red Bulls of Webber (P9) and Vettel (P8) seemed to struggle in conditions favouring their cars. Glock took P7 with Räikkönen, driving the onlyKERS car in the top 10, coming in sixth. The two BMW Saubers' new updates seemed to be lifting the whole team as Kubica (P5) and Heidfeld (P3) achieved their best qualifying positions of the season. The only Brawn in the final session, that of Rubens Barrichello, took P4. One of the biggest surprises on an already unpredictable track, Force India took their very first pole position. It was Fisichella's first pole position since the2006 Malaysian Grand Prix. Trulli took second place.^[9]

As the race started everyone seemed to make a good start apart from Hamilton and Rubens Barrichello, the latter almost stalled his car, causing him to drop to the back of the field. At Les Combes, at the top of the hill, a crash caused the safety car to come out.^[10] Romain Grosjean ran into the back of Jenson Button who in turn spun 180° and collided with Grosjean for a second time, causing them to both retire. Lewis Hamilton backed off after seeing the incidents ahead of him, which caused Jaime Alguersuari to run into him; both crashed into the barrier and retired.^[10] The safety car came in on lap 5 with Fisichella still leading and Räikkönen right behind him. Räikkönen closed up to the Force India driver through the Eau Rouge corner and passed him on the way into Les Combes. The main bulk of the first round of stops came in around lap 14. Mark Webber was released in front of Nick Heidfeld and was handed a drive through penalty, severely affecting his race.^[10]

After the first stop Fisichella closed to within one second of Räikkönen. Jarno Trulli retired from the race on lap 22; after starting on the front row he had dropped to the back of the field, having pitted after a first lap collision. Fernando Alonso retired on lap 27 with a suspected wheel problem after a first corner collision with Adrian Sutil. Räikkönen and Fisichella pitted for the second time on the same lap and it was the Finn who emerged in front and kept his lead.^[10] Vettel recorded the fastest lap of the race with a late push to try to catch the leaders but it was to no avail as Räikkönen took the chequered flag for the first time this season with Fisichella scoring Force India's first-ever points with a second-place finish. Vettel finished third, followed by the two BMW Saubers and Heikki Kovalainen finishing sixth. After dropping to the back of the field at the start, Rubens Barrichello came in seventh with Nico Rosberg picking up the final point in eighth, finishing his seven race points streak. Barrichello's car was smoking from the back for the last few laps and the car caught fire in parc fermé. Webber finished ninth for the second race in a row and scored no points.

With Button failing to score, his championship lead became smaller for the second race in a row as his teammate Barrichello closed the gap by two points. Vettel's third place moved him ahead of his teammate Webber.^[11] Raikkonen's win further extended Ferrari's lead in the constructors' championship over McLaren, but his teammate Luca Badoer was again under scrutiny after finishing last for the second time: reports came out of the paddock that second place man Fisichella would replace him at Ferrari for theItalian Grand Prix.^[12] On 31 August Force India team principalVijay Mallya reported that Fisichella would not be driving forFerrari atMonza.^[13] However, on 3 September Fisichella was released from his contract at Force India and joined Ferrari until the end of the season.^[14] Force India announced on 7 September thatVitantonio Liuzzi, the team's test driver, would replace Fisichella for the remaining five races of the season.^[15]

On 4 September,Renault were summoned to a meeting by Formula One's governing body, theFIA with the allegations of race fixing during the2008 Singapore Grand Prix.^[16] Renault faced the possibility of expulsion from the championship^[16] asMcLaren were in the2007 Formula One season. During theFIA World Motor Sport Council meeting later that month, Renault admitted thatNelson Piquet Jr. had deliberately crashed under the instructions of Renault team principalFlavio Briatore and chief engineerPat Symonds, in the hope of helping Alonso win. The Renault team were handed a disqualification from F1, which was suspended for two years pending any further rule infringements. Briatore was banned from all FIA-sanctioned events for life, while Symonds was banned for five years.^[17]

Cars that usedKERS are marked with "‡"

Cars that usedKERS are marked with "‡"

• Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.

• 2009 Spa-Francorchamps GP2 Series round

50°26′14″N5°58′17″E / 50.43722°N 5.97139°E /50.43722; 5.97139