Raikkonen edges Fisichella in Belgium Email Share Associated Press
SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS, Belgium -- Kimi Raikkonen held off Force India driver Giancarlo Fisichella to win Formula One's Belgian Grand Prix on Sunday, the Ferrari driver's fourth triumph at the high-speed track in the past five years.
[+] Enlarge Vladimir Rys/Getty Images Kimi Raikkonen celebrates after winning the Belgian GP for the fourth time in the last five years.
The former world champion, who started sixth, immediately overtook pole sitter Fisichella after the safety car came in following accidents on the opening lap -- including one involving overall F1 leader Jenson Button -- and held for a 0.9-second victory.
"It's a proper circuit, an old-style circuit," said Raikkonen, who clinched Ferrari's fifth win in seven races at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit. "It's just been good to me."
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 this season, and Rubens Barrichello moved within 16 points of his Brawn GP teammate after finishing seventh despite an oil leak with two laps to go. Barrichello's car caught fire as he rolled into pit lane.
Button leads the drivers' 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.
"This championship is a little crazy to be honest," Vettel said. "It's up and down. [But] we're still in reach."
Raikkonen, the 2007 world champion, picked up his first win since last year's Spanish GP in a season made unpredictable by rule changes. The Finn is the sixth straight different winner of an F1 race.
A day after earning the Indian team its first pole, Fisichella managed to secure the former Spyker team's first points after 30 races.
"I'm a little bit sad for that because I was keeping [Kimi's] pace and exactly same strategy race," Fisichella said. "It's great for second. But actually we could have won the race."
Although rain didn't complicate the start, several accidents on the opening lap did -- including Button's.
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, but Trulli eventually retired after starting second.
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.
"I didn't know what happened, but I got hit from behind," Button said. "It didn't matter anyway because we weren't competitive here."
FIA said that both accidents would be investigated.
Raikkonen passed 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.
Fernando Alonso, who was running third on a one-pit strategy, pitted after 24 laps in good shape but a problem removing his front left wheel -- which had touched against Adrian Sutil in the opening corner -- eventually forced him to retire.
Raikkonen and Fisichella both pitted with 13 laps to go, with the Ferrari nursing a 1-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. Ferrari has won five of the last seven races in Belgium.
Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press
File photo of Kimi Räikkönen 
Kimi Räikkönen at Spa (2007), his third consecutive win at this circuit
Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps
Ferrari driver Kimi Räikkönen won the FIA Formula One 2009 ING Belgian Grand Prix at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, Spa, Belgium.

Kimi qualified 6th, but jumped to second after a multiple crash in the first corner involving Jenson Button (Brawn) and Lewis Hamilton (McLaren) collided with the rookies Romain Grosjean and Jaime Alguersuari and all four drivers were out of the race. When the pace car turned off the lights and the race restarted Kimi overtook the pole-sitter Giancarlo Fisichella in Eau Rouge, who drove his Force India to the second place.

Sebastian Vettel finished third for Red Bull, while his teammate Mark Webber was ninth after a drive-through penalty for unsafe release from pit-stop. BMW Sauber Robert Kubica and Nick Heidfeld placed 4th and 5th respectively.

Rubens Barrichello finished after Hamilton's teammate Heikki Kovalainen. Nico Rosberg closed the top eight for Williams.

Jenson Button did not score any points but still leads the championships with 72. Rubens Barrichello earned 2 points and is within 16 of Button. Sebastian Vettel is now only 3 points behind Barrichello and Mark Webber still has 51.5 points. Brawn GP tops Constructors' standings with 128 points. Red Bull Racing is 23.5 points behind with other far behind.