Podium finish!

Two things made my weekend. First, UP won its latest UAAP game yesterday, its fourth consecutive win. YAY! That is amazing. Amazing. I've never been so excited. I never really paid attention to the UAAP, except for the cheerdance competition. But the UP Maroons have finally caught my attention. I hope their winning streak continues. I'll be there in the finals. UP Fight!

Second, Kimi Raikkonen won the Belgian Grand Prix. It's his first time to get the top spot this season. Finally! I have to say it's been a crappy year for McLaren, considering they did so well last year. Kimi has been to the podium only twice this year--the first time in Malaysia, and only in second place. Lots of difficulties. But they got it together this time. Kimi was smashing. He really deserved that win. Aww, my baby looked so cute during the post-race interview, heehee. Okay, before anyone dismisses my fondness for F1 racing as a superficial cute-guy-obsession, I have to make it clear that I do love F1, with or without the hotties. Kimi just makes it sweeter. Okay, Fernando Alonso (Renault), too, sometimes. But I'm forever loyal to the Ice Man.

There are four more GPs to go before the season ends. Michael Schumacher (and Ferrari) will obviously end up champion, but it'll still be exciting. I haven't seen as much F1 as I wanted this year, so I hope I get to watch the remaining races. My biggest wish is to be able to watch it live. There'll be one in Shanghai near the end of Septmeber and in Japan in October. Gosh, I wish someone would send me there. That would be the great birthday gift. That and a laptop.:)

From www.formula1.com:

The Ice Man returneth
Raikkonen halts the Ferrari train with superb win

Michael Schumacher clinches the 2004 title at Spa, but can't beat Kimi Raikkonen to the chequered flag after a highly eventful race.

Belgium has missed Formula One racing for the last two years – and Formula One racing has missed Belgium, too. An action packed Grand Prix showed just how thrilling racing at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit circuit can be.

Raikkonen emerged as victor after a classic Spa race, packed with action from start to finish. As is often the case in Belgium, the race featured a very high rate of attrition, with just 10 runners succeeding in making it to the chequered flag. A first-lap accident, initiated by Mark Webber’s Jaguar, took out no fewer than four runners: Webber himself, Sato, Bruni and Pantano.

Jarno Trulli, who had qualified in P1, dominated the early part of the race – with Michael Schumacher dropping back down the order after a hesitant start. Eventual winner Raikkonen was also involved in a first corner collision with Felipe Massa’s Sauber.

“The car felt really funny and I almost came in because I thought that something had broken at the rear,” he explained at the post-race press conference.

And Rubens Barrichello, who finished the race in third place, also had a coming-together with Webber, resulting in his being called back to the pits to have his rear wing replaced – rejoining in last place, and the safety car being deployed.

The race was packed with further incident, Alonso spinning out of the lead with what appeared to be a mechanical failure dropping oil onto his rear tyres on lap 11. Raikkonen, Montoya, Schumacher and then Pizzonia then took the lead in succession during the first series of pit stops – with Raikkonen emerging in P1 after Pizzonia made his first stop. On Lap 29 Jenson Button crashed out in spectacular style with an apparent rear tyre blow out at over 300 kph, which caused him to crash heavily with the luckless Zsolt Baumgartner – who he was lapping at the time. Fortunately both drivers were unhurt, while the safety car was deployed again for debris to be removed from the track.

Trulli was involved in a collision with Montoya after the Colombian made an overtaking attempt at the Bus Stop chicane, the Renault driver being dropped right down the order as a result. Pizzonia managed to overtake the pair of them as a result, only to later retire from P3 with suspected transmission failure.

And then David Coulthard, who had been battling his way back from last place after an early pitstop, ran into the back of Christian Klien and was forced to limp his way back to the pits minus his front wing and with bits of bodywork stuck to his rear wing - the safety car being deployed yet again - Klien survived to an eventual sixth place finish.

And special mention should be made of Ricardo Zonta, who in his second race drive for the Toyota team fought his way from final place at the start all the way up to fourth – from where he retired with mechanical failure after the final restart of the afternoon.

During all this Raikkonen kept up his dominance at the sharp end, although he lost his 10 second margin over Michael Schumacher after the final safety car period. He drove a calm, controlled race to a well-deserved victory. Schumacher came in second which, with Rubens Barrichello third, gave the German ace the points he needed to take his record-extending seventh Drivers’ Championship.

Barrichello’s third place strengthens his second-place in the Championship. Massa and Fisichella came in fourth and fifth, just reward for Sauber for strong performances all weekend. Coulthard recovered for seventh and Olivier Panis took the final championship point for Toyota.