Nightmare start for Schumacher

Michael Schumacher suffered a nightmare start to the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps today.

The world champion, who can take a seventh title today, started second but dropped to fourth at the start after Fernando Alonso and David Coulthard streamed past.

Pole position man Jarno Trulli made a perfect getaway to lead after one lap from Renault team-mate Alonso with Coulthard third.

Behind the battle for the lead, the first lap was chaotic. Takuma Sato and Mark Webber clashed and as they spun across the track, Giorgio Pantano and Gianmaria Bruni also crashed out.

That brought the safety car out and a stream of cars headed for the pits, including Rubens Barrichello, who needed a new rear wing.

That delay virtually ended his title hopes, with Schumacher needing just to score two points more than his Ferrari team-mate to seal the championship.

The race restarted on lap five and Jenson Button wasted no time making progress through the field.

After stopping for a check-up during the safety car period, the BAR driver beat Ricardo Zonta’s Toyota into turn one for 10th.

Further up the field, Schumacher dropped back to fifth when Kimi Raikkonen eased past and the German lost out further as Juan Pablo Montoya forced his Williams through at the second attempt.

Raikkonen was on a charge and dropped McLaren team-mate Coulthard to fourth on lap six while Trulli continued to hold off Alonso at the front.

Button moved up to ninth when Jaguar’s Christian Klien pitted early for fuel and new tyres.