2010 Belgian Grand Prix

(pictured in 2018), where the race was held The 2010 Belgian Grand Prix was the 13th of the 19 events in the 2010 Formula One World Championship, It was held at the 19-turn Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, After the 2009 event, the tarmac run-off area at Les Combes chicane was expanded with three bumps (similar to those on the chicanes at the Autodromo Nazionale di Monza, the Circuit de Catalunya and the Valencia Street Circuit) added to stop drivers sustaining damage to their cars if they ventured off the circuit. La Source turn had a larger area of artificial grass and a kerb installed at the corner to deter competitors from transgressing track limits. After winning the preceding , Red Bull's Mark Webber led the World Drivers' Championship with 161 championship points, ahead of Lewis Hamilton of McLaren with 157 championshippoints and Webber's teammate Sebastian Vettel with 151 championship points. Hamilton's teammate Jenson Button was fourth with 147 championship points and Ferrari's Fernando Alonso was fifth with 141 championship points. With 312 championship points, Red Bull led the World Constructors' Championship followed by McLaren in second with 304 championship points and the third-placed Ferrari with 238 championship points. Mercedes were fourth with 132 championship points and Renault were fifth with 106 championship points. Although he had reclaimed the World Drivers' Championship lead from Hamilton in Hungary, Webber said consistently finishing and reliability was an important factor in the final seven races, "You have to be mindful of the fact that you might not get anything out of it so you need to realise that four points is better than none and gambling." Hamilton said he was confident of better pace for the rest of the season and wanted to win at Spa-Francorchamps. His teammate Button believed the next two races would be consequential for the championship but said they would better suit his McLaren. was retained by the Hispania Racing team for the race. Some teams modified their cars for better efficiency on the track's straights. Ferrari introduced a new rear wing with less downforce on Felipe Massa's F10 car for qualifying and the race. The team also added a modified diffuser and floor to maximise the F10's performance within FIA compliance restricting the size of the car's lower surface to reduce the downforce generated. Williams introduced new front and rear wings for their FW32 cars and Force India added a new floor to their vehicles. whom the press anticipated would return to drive for the squad following the mid-season interval. Paul di Resta, Force India's reserve and test driver, did not enter the first practice session because the team wanted its race drivers Vitantonio Liuzzi and Adrian Sutil to become acclimatised with a revised aerodynamic bodywork. ==Practice==

There were three practice sessions held in accordance with the 2010 regulations, two 90-minute sessions on Friday morning and afternoon and one 60-minute session on Saturday morning. Heavy rain fell on the circuit at about midnight before the first session. Although the track was wet, a decent level of grip was reported as some drivers aquaplaned when the rain briefly increased in intensity and lightning came approximately 50 minutes in; the rain abated with 20 minutes left. Alonso lapped fastest at 2:01.223 at mid-point before improving to a 2:00.797 late on. Hamilton, Renault's Robert Kubica, Vettel, Sutil, Button, Webber, Kamui Kobayashi of Sauber, Williams' Rubens Barrichello, and Mercedes' Michael Schumacher made up positions two through ten. crashed during the second practice session The second session commenced on a damp circuit which gradually dried up bar a small rain shower early on. Drivers used wet-weather tyres before switching to the dry compounds. Alonso led with the day's fastest lap, a 1:49.032, ahead of Sutil, Hamilton, Kubica, Massa, Vettel, Button, Pedro de la Rosa for Sauber, Barrichello and De la Rosa's teammate Kamui Kobayashi in positions two to ten. The session was stopped for ten minutes by the stewards for a safety hazard limiting dry track running. Children were reportedly climbing the catch fence on track grounds, forcing FIA race director Charlie Whiting to drive the safety car and do an inspection. While the session restarted with four minutes left, a malfunctioning red light delayed on-track action, requiring marshals to wave a green flag to resume proceedings. Conditions remained dry enough for drivers to go faster until a downpour fell on the circuit with 15 minutes remaining and caught out some participants. With a 1:46.106 lap being almost three seconds quicker than Friday's best time, Webber led from Hamilton, Vettel, Button, Kubica, Alonso, Massa, Sutil, Williams' Nico Hülkenberg and Kobayashi. Vettel stopped his car at the pit lane entry with his car stuck in gear due to an air box fault prompting his team to instruct him to switch off the engine as a precaution. A group of marshals moved Vettel's car into the pit lane for retrieval by his team. ==Qualifying==

Saturday afternoon's qualifying session was split into three parts. The first session ran for 20 minutes, eliminating cars that finished 18th or lower. The second session was 15 minutes long, eliminating cars that finished 11th to 17th. The final ten-minute session determined pole position to tenth. Cars in the final session were not allowed to change tyres before the start of the race, using the set with which they set their quickest lap times. qualified on pole position for the Grand Prix Webber positioned himself for space and driving on the circuit at its driest, Webber was joined on the grid's front row by Hamilton whose first timed lap was on old soft tyres with his second on a new set of tyres before the rain fell. Button took fifth by saving a set of soft tyres despite losing time through an error at La Source turn and being circumspect at Fagnes corner. Massa, sixth, altered his rear wing for better straightline speed but had less grip in the turns halfway through the lap. A tyre strategy error and going wide into the gravel on the wet track left Kobayashi 19th. Hispania Racing driver Bruno Senna was 20th and his teammate Yamamoto 21st following a tyre strategy error and Yamamoto being impeded by a slower car. The session was stopped for six minutes so that marshals could move his car off the track. His teammate Rosberg lost five places for changing his car's gearbox to one that had not been used unused for four races. Buemi was demoted three positions because he was deemed by the race stewards to have transgressed the sporting regulations by blocking Rosberg in the second session. The stewards penalised Glock five positions for illegally blocking Yamamoto in the first session. De la Rosa incurred the loss of ten places for changing his car's engine between qualifying and the race for the ninth time in the season, exceeding the eight allowed maximum engine switches. At the pre-race drivers' briefing, Whiting and stewards' advisor Nigel Mansell told drivers if they gained positions on the first lap by using the run-off area at La Source corner as was the case with Kimi Räikkönen at the 2009 event, then they would risk receiving a penalty or they would be told off if deemed to have been forced onto it by another competitor. Qualifying classification The fastest lap in each of the three sessions is denoted in bold. Notes: • Michael Schumacher was penalised ten places on the starting grid for dangerous driving at the . • Nico Rosberg received a five-place grid penalty for a gearbox change before qualifying. • Sébastien Buemi was imposed a three-place grid penalty for blocking another driver during the second qualifying session. • Timo Glock earned a five-place grid penalty for illegally blocking another car in the first qualifying session. • Pedro de la Rosa was demoted ten places for his ninth engine switch of the season. • Vitaly Petrov set no qualifying lap time after crashing during the first session. ==Race==

The 44-lap race started before 60,000 spectators at 14:00 local time. and at the start, weather conditions were overcast, although some rain had fallen during the support races and there was a large build-up of rain showers to the west of Spa-Francorchamps. The air temperature was between and the track temperature from . The rain showers observed in the morning's support events altered the level of grip, Cars were allowed to be changed slightly following the FIA's declaration of a change in climatic conditions post-qualifying. At the start, Hamilton took the lead from a slow-starting Webber into the La Source hairpin with Kubica second and Button third. Webber allowed the engine revolutions to fall too low, causing his car's Renault engine to go into anti-stall mode and falling to sixth. Hamilton held off Kubica on the outside in the braking zone of Les Combes turn as Button failed to pass Kubica. Sutil clung onto Webber's slipstream and overtook him on the straight for sixth before losing the place by running wide into Les Combes corner. The rain shower made the back of the track damp through Blanchimont corner and the conditions caused several drivers to run wide at the Bus Stop chicane due to a loss of grip braking for the turn. Alonso was able to make a pit stop for intermediate tyres as well as other drivers but Barrichello retired with car damage. Button followed the chicane's contours and fell behind Vettel but held off Massa by braking very late for the La Source hairpin. He thus drew to the inside of Vettel and overtook him for third. at an average speed of . Webber followed 1.571 seconds later in second and Kubica finished in third place. Massa secured fourth, holding off Sutil in fifth. The Mercedes pair of Rosberg and Schumacher finished sixth and seventh following the team's decision to keep their drivers on track for longer and were just more than a second ahead of eighth-placed Kobayashi. Petrov was ninth and Algersuari provisionally tenth. Liuzzi came 11th with De la Rosa 12th after a late race error sent him into the gravel at Curve Paul Frere corner when closing up on Petrov. Buemi was provisionally 13th after sustaining diffuser damage and a tyre puncture when another driver struck the rear of his car. Hülkenberg, 14th, had faulty throttle control causing him to spin multiple times and requiring him to make an extra pit stop. Vettel was 15th, with Kovalainen after a poor start caused by his engine's anti-stall system activating and Di Grassi 16th and 17th. Di Grassi stated Kovalainen overtook him off the circuit at Les Combes corner but no punishments were issued by the stewards. Glock in 18th lost performance on a set of full-wet tyres before the second rain shower and ran a new front wing after demolishing a brake marker board on lap one. Trulli and Yamamoto were the final classified finishers. ==Post-race==

The top three drivers appeared on the podium to collect their trophies and spoke to the media in a later press conference. Webber said he was satisfied to finish second and agreed with the importance of scoring as many championship points as possible when race wins are not attainable: "These days it is very, very easy to come away with nothing with a small mistake from anybody, from the cockpit, pit wall or pit stops or whatever." Button described the crash as "a strange incident and so sad because I was fighting for second position", adding: "I defended my line about three inches on the inside and perhaps Sebastian got confused as to which direction to go... I'm guessing he [Vettel] thought I was going to pull from the left and he went on the inside. But he got a little rattled and didn't know which way to go." Martin Whitmarsh, the McLaren team principal, commented on the collision: "It was not what you would expect to see in F1 – more reminiscent of junior formulae. A drive-through seemed a pretty light punishment to me. It was a bit of a strange mistake I have to say. I realise it was not intentional but it was a pretty strange one really." Red Bull team principal Christian Horner argued Button braked early and that the accident was unintentional while motorsport advisor Helmut Marko said Vettel could not fellow Button for longer since the latter was slower. After reviewing video evidence and the change in the weather, the race stewards imposed no penalty or a caution for the first lap collision between Alonso and Barrichello, which they deemed "a racing incident". Barrichello said he was sorry to have hit Alonso and called it downheartening for the Williams team: "We've had such a positive weekend that a good result would have been a nice conclusion." Schumacher gained 14 positions from 21st to 7th, commenting: "Honestly I lost the overview of where I was at certain moments. Because I wasn't following the pit wall in terms of position, I was watching the weather all the time. And all the time I was quite busy with the steering wheel!" was penalised 20 seconds for cutting the Bus Stop chicane to pass another driver. The stewards added 20 seconds to Alguersuari's overall race time in lieu of a drive-through penalty after deeming him to have illegally cut the Bus Stop chicane to pass Liuzzi for tenth on lap 42. The penalty demoted Alguersuari to 13th and elevated Liuzzi to the final points-scoring place of 10th. The FIA opened an investigation into how Massa began just ahead of his grid slot without the error being detected in time. The result returned Hamilton atop World Drivers' Championship with 182 championship points. Webber fell to second with 179 championship points as his teammate Vettel remained third with 151 championship points. With a respective 147 and 141 championship points, Button and Alonso were fourth and fifth. McLaren with 329 championship points lowered Red Bull's (330) World Constructors' Championship lead to one point. With 250 championship points, Ferrari were third with Mercedes with 146 championship points and Renault with 123 championship points fourth and fifth with six races left in the season. Race classification Drivers who scored championship points are denoted in bold. Notes: • Jaime Alguersuari received a 20-second time penalty for being deemed to have illegally cut the Bus Stop chicane to pass another driver. ==Championship standings after the race==

;Drivers' Championship standings ;Constructors' Championship standings • Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings. ==See also==