2009 Belgian Grand Prix

Championship standings

Button leads by 18 points from teammate Barrichello despite not reaching the podium since early June. Webber is 2.5 points behind Barrichello, with Vettel 4.5 further back. Brawn lead the Constructors’ Championship by 27.5 points from Red Bull.

Previous race

Barrichello won in Valencia — his first Grand Prix victory since the 2004 Chinese Grand Prix, 85 races earlier — after Hamilton lost the lead with a slow tyre stop, rejoining behind the Brazilian. Hamilton came second, Räikkönen third. Both Red Bulls failed to score: Vettel retired with engine failure, Webber was caught in traffic after a mid-race dispute over a cut chicane. Grosjean and Badoer both retired on the first lap. Button finished seventh for the second consecutive race.

Between-race developments

BMW Sauber announced during the summer break that they are withdrawing from Formula One at the end of the season, citing poor results and lack of financial sustainability. The team will continue to race through Abu Dhabi while BMW attempts to sell the organisation.

Practice

Rain disrupted the first practice session; only ten cars set dry lap times, with Trulli fastest. The second session stayed dry and was exceptionally tight, with 18 of 20 cars within one second of Hamilton’s benchmark. Neither Vettel nor Hamilton set a time in the wet opening session. Webber’s Red Bull suffered a major engine failure in FP2, their third engine problem in a week. Badoer crashed at the end of Q1, bringing out yellow flags that disrupted other drivers, and qualified 20th for the second time.

Force India’s Fisichella took the team’s first-ever pole position in qualifying — his first pole since the 2006 Malaysian Grand Prix. Trulli qualified second; Button was eliminated in Q2 and starts 14th.