• Belgian Grand Prix

Post-race driver rundown

August 28, 2010

Lewis Hamilton - 1st: A superb drive from the off when he capitalised on Webber's poor start to take an immediate lead. He made one error when he slid into gravel in the wet, but showed his skill to avoid colliding with a wall and by then had such a commanding lead he returned well ahead. Even two safety-car periods failed to undermine his authority

Mark Webber - 2nd: Aside from a dismal start when his anti-stall device kicked in, sending him from pole to seventh by the second corner, he drove very well, climbing back through the field with a combination of skill and luck. But he was never going to win unless Hamilton had made an error

Robert Kubica - 3rd: If proof were needed how much the Renaults are improving it came with this podium finish. It was not a textbook drive, however, as he surrendered third place to Vettel when he slid on lap four, and then blew a likely second place when he overshot his pit stop, allowing Webber past

Felipe Massa - 4th: Managed to stay aloof from the chaos around him, a solid and assured performance

Adrian Sutil - 5th One of the best drives of the day, his and Force India's burgeoning confidence was best underlined by the ease with which he overtook Schumacher to take fifth place on the 25th lap

Nico Rosberg - 6th: The Mercedes were never up with the leading pack, and Rosberg's own hopes were not helped when he was clipped by Schumacher on the 12th lap. But he maintained his cool and had the last laugh when he breezed past his team-mate in the wet three laps from the end

Michael Schumacher - 7th: In his pomp - and in a Ferrari - these were conditions where Schumacher would have been unassailable. As it was he used all his experience to maintain a top six slot for most of the race on what was one of his better performances of a largely forgettable season

Kamui Kobayashi - 8th: A good day after starting in 19th. Always willing to attack, he worked his way through the field and in difficult conditions did not make any significant mistakes

Vitaly Petrov - 9th: After starting from the back of the grid, this was an excellent return and he was aided by good management of tyres by his team. A better qualifying session at Monza and a top six finish is not out of the question

Tonio Liuzzi - 10th: A better day and but for his collision with Vettel which necessitated a wing change could have finished higher up the field. Alguersuari's demotion from 10th gave him the point he probably deserved

Pedro de la Rosa - 11th: Was in the points with two laps to go but on fast-shredding wet-weather tyres he made a mistake attacking Petrov, skidding into the gravel and losing two places

Sebastien Buemi - 12th: Was unlucky to sustain significant damage when hit on the first lap, and suffered handling problems throughout as a result. In the circumstances, he did well

Jaime Alguersuari - 13th: Another display which suggests he is learning fast and one he himself said was the best of his career, and had the better of Tonio Liuzzi in the closing laps. His demotion from tenth for cutting a corner was a bitter end to what had been a positive day

Nico Hulkenberg -14th: Early throttle problems and then resulting spins later on made this a race to put down to experience

Sebastian Vettel - 15th: A poor day. He wiped out Button, took a drive-through penalty, suffered a puncture when he clipped Liuzzi, almost collided with Alonso in the pits, and did not get his tyre changes right. Not all were his fault but it was not a performance of a world champion contender.

Heikki Kovalainen - 16th: Like Webber suffered with anti-stall problems at the start and then sustained damage in a minor first-lap collision. Further suffered from a tyre miscalculation and in the circumstances a decent finish

Lucas di Grassi - 17th: As someone commented, a bad day for the team in that few could remember seeing either Virgin throughout the race. They were there, in their usual positions ahead of the HRTs, and at least Trulli's late mistake allowed them to gain certain bragging rights

Timo Glock - 18th: As with di Grassi, anonymous at the back

Jarno Trulli - 19th: Was set to equal his best finish of the season - 15th - when he spun in the wet three laps from the end

Saka Yakamoto - 20th: As is the case most race weekends, cruised around at the back once the race settled down but at least managed to keep out of harm's way for his second finish of the season

Fernando Alonso - DNF: A real curate's egg of a day; the innocent party when Barrichello slammed into him, it was remarkable he was able to continue, but fought back from that and a tyre-change blunder from his team to get as high as ninth before spinning and stalling in the wet five laps from the end

Jenson Button - DNF: Damage to his front wing on the opening lap caused downforce issues but he battled through and was using all his skill to hold onto second when he was hit side-on by an out-of-control Vettel on lap 17

Bruno Senna - DNF: Sustained front-wing damage in the first-lap melee and was forced to retire soon after when he suffered suspension failure

Rubens Barrichello - DNF: A sorry and very early end to what should have been a weekend of celebration on the occasion of his 300th grand prix start when he lost control while braking and piled into Alonso at speed on the first lap

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