Full Throttle

Kimi Raikkonen claimed his fourth Belgian Grand Prix victory in five years to end an astonishing run of 26 races without a win for the 2007 world champion.

It was a chaos-filled event, though, with British duo Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton crashing out on the opening lap in an accident that also accounted for the Toro Rosso of Jaime Alguersuari and Renault’s Romain Grosjean.

Despite Button failing to score points for the first time this season, the 29-year-old still has a 16-point cushion over Brawn GP team-mate Rubens Barrichello who was seventh, with Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel 19 points down after he came home third.

Raikkonen was hounded all the way in his Ferrari for the majority of the race by pole-sitter Giancarlo Fisichella, who gave Force India their first points in F1 after 30 races with a second-place finish.

Raikkonen, after his 18th career win, said: “We haven’t brought new parts for the last few races as we are looking at next year.”

“But my aim was always still to win a race because we are aiming for third in the (constructors’) championship.”

“Hopefully we can now win more.”

Fisichella was delighted and disappointed in equal measure as he said: “It’s a great result for us.” “It’s a great day but I was quicker than Kimi and I’m a little bit sad because maybe I could have won the race as I was keeping pace with his car.”

In their 30th race, Force India was on the podium two years ahead of Mallya’s stated ambition as he had previously set such a target by the time of the Indian Grand Prix in 2011.

“As you well know this is our first real year in Formula One as Force India,” remarked Mallya. “Last year all we did was race the Spyker car because we bought the team at the end of 2007, and in 2008 it was the same Spyker package, the same management team, the same engineering.”

“Then we revamped everything and designed and built this car, and I think since Australia it’s fair to say we haven’t been the laggards at the back.”

“We’ve been a good midfield team and improving all the time, and we went into this race again hoping for points.” “Then when pole showed up we were ecstatic, and clearly we are ecstatic today with the podium finish.”

Mallya also shot down the “Fisi to Ferrari” rumors after another disappointing effort by Luca Badoer.

“Ferrari hasn’t come to me, Fisi hasn’t come to me, his manager hasn’t come to me,” insisted Mallya.

“This is all speculation, something I should not be commenting on at all because as far as I am concerned the proposal doesn’t exist.”

“Fisi is a very valuable member of my team and I’m sure he’s very proud and pleased with his own performance today and the car that we have given him to drive.”

As for Domenicali, he said: “Giancarlo is a driver that seems to be very fast, and he had a great race.”

“But I cannot say whether the speculation is true or not.”

Vettel concedes anything is possible now over the remaining five races as he, Mark Webber and Barrichello continue to reel in Button.

“If you look at the championship it’s a good result,” remarked Vettel.

“We lost too much ground in the first stint because of the guys ahead, but in the second and third the car was fantastic. It was a pleasure to drive.”

“We’ve managed to take points out of the Brawns, so overall a big thank you to the team and to Renault (engine providers) after all the trouble we’ve gone through recently.”

“It shows we are back.”

Given Saturday’s remarkable qualifying session that culminated in Fisichella claiming his team’s maiden pole, a chaotic race was expected, and so it was.

Reigning world champion Hamilton, though, and current championship leader Button would not have expected to have been involved in such chaos, with their grand prix over after less than half a lap.

From 12th and 14th on the grid, and after avoiding the stalled Brawn GP of Rubens Barrichello and a shunt at the first corner La Source hairpin involving Toyota’s Timo Glock and the Force India of Adrian Sutil, Hamilton and Button both crashed out three kilometres later at Les Combes.

Approaching the right-left hander at the top of the hill and at the end of the long, fast Kemmel Straight, Hamilton initially appeared to be caught by Alguersuari, sending both into the wall.

In close attendance behind, and braking given the mayhem ahead of him, Button was hit from behind by the Renault of another rookie in Romain Grosjean, sending both spinning out.

The stewards announced they would investigate both incidents after the race, with the likelihood being that Alguersuari and Grosjean - should blame be apportioned - will be deemed the more guilty parties.

It naturally resulted in the deployment of the safety car come the end of the first lap, with Raikkonen directly behind Fisichella.

The Finn had used the power boost provided by KERS to strike going up the hill, running wide and onto the grass at Les Combes at one stage prior to the accident unfolding behind him.

It was then KERS apparently that allowed Raikkonen to pass Fisichella down the straight on lap five after the safety car had departed after three laps.

It also may have been KERS that ensured the 29-year-old kept his nose in front for the remainder of the 44-lap race as Fisichella never once managed to get close enough to attempt a pass.

That was despite the fact the Italian, almost certain to replace Luca Badoer at Ferrari for the Italian Grand Prix in a fortnight, was never more than two seconds adrift, and often less than a second.

Behind the leading trio, the BMW Sauber duo of Robert Kubica and Nick Heidfeld finished fourth and fifth for the team’s best result of the year.

Heikki Kovalainen was sixth from 15th on the grid after McLaren adopted a one-stop strategy for the Finn to at least collect three points.

Barrichello’s race was compromised by a stalled start that saw him relegated to the back of the field from fourth on the grid by the end of the first corner.

Despite that, and an oil leak that saw smoke billow from his car for the final three laps and resulted in it going up in flames in the pit lane at the conclusion, the Brazilian still managed to claim two points.

The 37-year-old had Williams’ Nico Rosberg and Red Bull’s Webber directly behind him, the latter suffering after taking a drive-through penalty.

That followed an unsafe release from the pits after his first stop as he almost collided into Heidfeld on exit, leaving the Australian 20.5 points adrift of Button.