No spa for the Ferrari men at Spa

I am a man with a broken heart.

After watching Kimi Raikkonen lead my and his favorite racetrack for 41 and half of the 44 laps only to let it all blow up in his face on lap 42, I am increasingly confident that the 2008 World Driver's Championship will be heading to the team who has the last pit garage in the pit lane. It wasn't a cranky con rod this time but rather the wrath of mother nature that took its course.

As one Fernando Alonso would agree, Lewis Hamilton has a knack of being lucky.

For those of us who missed the action packed final few laps of this year's Spa thriller, the rain began to fall sporadically and Lewis who had closed up well on Kimi's rear into the Bus Stop chicane. Kimi closed the door forcing Lewis to short cut the chicane and take the lead. Lewis had to back off slightly to allow Kimi to retake the lead.

But here's where I have an argument. As Lewis let Kimi by, he was already faster than he would have been had he taken the Bus Stop chicane the way he did on every other lap. Remember that the Bus Stop is one of the slowest corners on the track. Any momentum gained there would give you more speed into the hairpin at turn one.

And that's where Lewis wrong footed Kimi and took the lead. Kimi tried to fight back but could only tuck in so close as to nudge the rear end of Lewis' McLaren. Lewis leads with Kimi in close pursuit.

Enter lap 42 and all hell broke lose. Lewis lost it, Kimi took the lead. Then Kimi lost it and Lewis retook the lead. Kimi ended up in the wall. The heavens opened up and Lewis tip toed to the finish followed by and even tip toed last lap by Massa. There was no slow and steady lap from 3rd place Nick Heidfeld. He took several places right there on lap 44 to secure a spot on the podium.

In retrospect, the gap between the top two drivers would have been identical if they had finished in the order that they did on lap 40. Lewis still holds a reasonably comfortable 8 point lead over closest rival Massa. With McLaren's stellar reliability this year, Lewis is looking good to take the numero uno on his 2009 racer.

My first post talked about how you've got to be there to be lucky. At the end of today - just like Hekki did the last time a Ferrari feel short at the end - a McLaren was just there being lucky.

Update:

Looks like justice has been served. The chicane cutting, slip-streaming Lewis Hamilton is handed a 25 second penalty for that oh so clever move. Baring any successful appeals from McLaren, it looks like the lead at the top is down to just 2 points.

I can't wait for Monza!