Just 0.9 seconds separating the winner from Force India! Giancarlo Fisichella rues an opportunity lost at the Belgian GP.

By Shreyas Sharma

Consider this: the team with the smallest budget in Formula 1 hounded the team with the biggest throughout the race, and the difference between 60 years of F1 pedigree and two years turned out to be a little Kinetic Energy Recovery System power-boost button.

That was the story of the 2009 Belgian Grand Prix at the legendary Spa-Francorchamps circuit on Sunday. Kimi Raikkonen might have won his 18th career race, but all the attention was grabbed by Force India, who scored their maiden points in their 29th Grand Prix. Veteran Italian Giancarlo Fisichella chased the Finn throughout the race, having lost the lead to him on lap five, after the Safety Car period.

Without a doubt Fisi was overjoyed with the result, but he believes the car was strong enough to have won the race.

"Obviously it is a great result for us. The important target was to score even half-a-point, and we finished second with eight points, so it is a great day! But actually, I was quicker than Kimi. He overtook me just because of the KERS at the restart after the Safety Car. I'm a little bit sad for that, because I was keeping pace even behind his car. We had exactly the same strategy too," said the 36-year-old.

Race winner Raikkonen seemed to agree, saying the move immediately after the Safety Car period was essential, since the Force India was the faster car.

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"I knew that we needed to get past him (Fisi), because we were both going to come in (for pit stops) on about the same lap, and if I hadn't done it just after the safety car, they had too much speed to us to get it back afterwards. I just made sure I was close enough after the first corner and then went behind him as close as I could into Eau Rouge. Then, once I used the KERS, I was able to get next to him, and then just in front. I knew that if we didn't make any silly mistakes, we should be okay," said the former world champion.

And the statistics from the race seem to back up that theory, since the gap between the cars rarely went beyond the two second-mark. Kudos, then, to technical director James Key and his team, for making the early-season struggler, the VJM02, work on a circuit where aerodynamic grip is of the essence.

But to say that the car was the best package on track would be an overstatement, considering the fact that Adrian Sutil could only manage 11th position out of 14 finishers. Credit must, therefore, be given to Fisichella for using the race craft he has learnt over 13 seasons and 226 Formula 1 races to bring his team glory. Not only was this the watershed moment of Force India's existence, it also helped them leapfrog Toro Rosso and into 9th place in the constructors' championship.

And the fans must be praying that the Force stays with India.

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