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Kimi Raikkonen went into this weekend’s Belgian Grand Prix 27 points behind front-runner Fernando Alonso in the battle for 2005 Formula One World Champion. With four races to go, Kimi really needed some kind of miracle to happen — Alonso’s engine blowing up every race, Renault suspension magically failing every race, something. Given Alonso’s history over this season, that all looked doubtful. All Kimi could really do is race a good race and just hope everything sorted itself out.

At Spa-Francorchamps he did just that, winning a damp race by a considerable margin. Unfortunately for him, Alonso came second. Kimi now needs to make up 25 points in three races. Not impossible, but when the sportswriters pull out the phrase “mathematically possible” you know it’s darn near impossible.

The race itself was moderately entertaining. Spa is one of my favourite courses in the Formula One calendar. It’s a track where it seems like the drivers are actually going somewhere. It’s not boringly faceless like some (Indianapolis and Magny-Cours spring to mind). It’s got ups, it’s got downs, it’s got quick corners, it’s got slow ones. Eau Rouge is one of the best corners in all of automobile racing (rivals the Corkscrew at Laguna Seca). And it’s in a mountainous region, so the weather’s always unpredictable.

It was unpredictable for the 2005 Belgian Grand Prix, with a dry qualifying session (with spots of rain that didn’t affect anything) and rainshowers overnight, leading to a damp track for Sunday. The drivers started the race on intermediate tires, with some teams stupidly deciding to try out dry tires during the race. Ralf Schumacher lost a podium because of his two-stops-in-two-laps mess up.

The race was going along as planned with Juan Pablo Montoya cruising along in first until lap 10, when Giancarlo Fisichella hit the curb at Eau Rouge and spun up the hill, colliding with the tire barrier and strewing debris in unsafe locations. The safety car came out to bundle up the field, and McLaren pulled a fine bit of finesse by having Montoya speed ahead to the pits while Raikkonen dawdled along, making sure that the McLaren pit crew had enough time to service Montoya before Raikkonen arrived so they wouldn’t be bunched up.

After the safety car went back in 1997 World Champion Jacques Villeneuve proved that he can still race by slotting into second. He then proved that the racing he does now doesn’t really do very well in Formula One by being passed by Raikkonen and Ralf Schumacher.

Oh, and Takuma Sato ran into the back of Michael Schumacher. Sato received a swat on the helmet from Schumacher and a 10-spot grid penalty for the Brazilian GP for that stunt. Something tells me Taku-san isn’t going to be racing for BAR next year…

Nothing really happened much until the second set of pitstops, when Raikkonen passed Montoya to take the lead. This was exactly what McLaren was hoping would happen, Kimi in first and Montoya in second. Maximum points for both Kimi and the team.

Until… And there’s always an until where Juan Pablo Montoya is involved… Until Montoya had a coming-together with Antonio Pizzonia on lap 41 of 44. Pizzonia was apparently trying to unlap himself when he ran into the back of Montoya. Poor JPM, it seems like Renault has paid off every other team to get them to take JPM out in the late stages of recent races.

So the finishing order was Kimi Raikkonen, Fernando Alonso, Jenson Button (in a rather-dull-from-Speed-TV-coverage-standards-but-apparently-rather-exciting race), Mark Webber (who actually managed to avoid any kind of accident for once), Rubens Barrichello, Jacques Villeneuve, Ralf Schumacher, and Tiego Monteiro.

Alonso holds first in the Driver’s Championship with 111 points. Raikkonen is 25 points behind with 86. Renault holds first in the Constructor’s championship with 144 points, and McLaren-Mercedes is second with 136.

It looks like the Driver’s Championship is all but over, but the Constructors Championship is still in the running. With Fisichella and Montoya crashing out all over the place it looks like Raikkonen and Alonso will continue battling for the final three races.

Next up: the 2005 Brazilian Grand Prix at Interlagos, another of my favourite tracks.