Force India prove a point

KIMI Raikkonen held off Force Indias Giancarlo Fisichella to win Formula Ones Belgian Grand Prix on Sunday,the Ferrari drivers fourth triumph at the high-speed track in the past five years.

The 2007 world champion,who started sixth,overtook pole sitter Fisichella immediately after the safety car came in following accidents on the opening lap including one involving overall F1 leader Jenson Button and held on for a 0.9-second victory.

Championship contender Sebastian Vettel of Red Bull,who had retired with engine failures in the last two races,finished third to gain on Button. Button failed to finish in the points for the first time,and Rubens Barrichello moved within 16 points of his Brawn GP team mate after finishing seventh despite an oil leak that had the car belching blue smoke with two laps to go. Barrichellos car caught fire as he drove into the pit lane.

Button leads the standings with 72 points,followed by Barrichello with 56 and Vettel with 53. Mark Webber of Red Bull,who finished ninth after a drive-through penalty,trails by 20.5 points.

Raikkonen picked up his first win since last years Spanish GP in a season made unpredictable by rule changes. The Finn is the sixth straight different winner of an F1 race.

Its a proper circuit,an old-style circuit, said Raikkonen,who clinched Ferraris fifth win in seven races at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit. Its just been good to me.

Bittersweet

A day after earning the Indian team their first pole,Fisichella managed to secure the former Spyker teams first-ever points after 30 races. But the result was slightly bittersweet for the 36-year-old. Im a little bit sad for that because I was keeping Kimis pace and had the exact same strategy, said Fisichella after an F1 race was won by less than one second for the 66th time. Its great for second. But actually we could have won the race.

Although rain didnt complicate the start,several accidents on the opening lap did including Buttons. Fisichella held pole into the high speed Eau Rouge corner as Raikkonen passed the slow starting Barrichello to the outside to sit behind Robert Kubica,who had cut inside,for third. Several cars touched in the opening corner,with Barrichello and Jarno Trulli having to pit for repairs,and Trulli eventually retired.

Romain Grosjean of Renault then ran into Button,who went spinning into the wall at Les Combes. McLaren driver Lewis Hamilton and Jaime Alguersuari of Toro Rosso also exited at the same turn after the young Spanish driver hit the defending F1 champion and sent them both into the wall.

Raikkonen used his KERS overtaking boost to pass Fisichella for the lead immediately after the safety car pitted as the two entered Kemmel Straight,and he held after the first round of pit stops when both pitted at same time.

Raikkonen and Fisichella both pitted with 13 laps to go,with the Ferrari nursing a one-second advantage,but Raikkonen managed to pull out quicker and held to join Ayrton Senna,Michael Schumacher and Jim Clark as the only drivers to triumph at Spa on at least four occasions.