UpdateF1 >> Formula 1 News > Raikkonen heads Ferrari 1-2

Hamilton nets third

If you like your Formula One action packed with lots of overtaking the Spanish Grand Prix was not for you; if you like it with prancing horses to the fore, it most certainly was.

That Kimi Raikkonen won the race from pole was almost a foregone conclusion, and Felipe Massa following him home in second not much of a surprise either, but those who expected the Ferrari pair to run and hide may have been surprised.

At the start the two red cars – starting first and third – got away perfectly, Massa calmly jumping the Renault of local hero Fernando Alonso and even having a cursory look at Raikkonen around the outside, while Robert Kubica found himself swamped by Mclarens on both sides and had to concede a place to Lewis Hamilton as the pack sorted out.

Further back Adrian Sutil lost the Force India and collected the unfortunate Sebastian Vettel. The Toro Rosso driver simply had nowhere to go, and promptly added to his dismal tally this season as he joined his countryman in retirement. The safety car took control as the debris was cleared.

It wasn’t long before racing resumed, and the order continued as before, with young Nelson Piquet providing the only real entertainment as he first spun, then took out the second Toro Rosso of Sebastien Bourdais in an ambitious – to say the least – move that had disaster written all over it.

As expected Alonso was first in the pits, and was followed a few laps later by the rest of the front-runners. By this time we had lost Anthony Davidson, too, and one hopes this was not his final appearance along with the Super Aguri team.

Yet to make a stop, however, was Heikki Kovalainen, the Finn motoring along very nicely indeed in sixth when something clearly broke under braking and propelled the McLaren headlong into, and under, the tyre barriers at some speed. Cue the safety car again, as the medical car followed it around to where the stricken MP4-23 sat.

It took some time to get the car out, although the driver was quickly extricated. Kovalainen gave the familiar thumbs up from his stretcher, and the word as I write is that he has been flown to hospital in Barcelona, has no broken bones, and is conscious and talking ably.

As we have already seen this year, the safety car rules see the pit lane out of bounds until a given time, and this can catch out those who were about to make a necessary stop.

Nick Heidfeld – running seventh in the BMW – was the unlucky man today for he had no option but to pit and take a drive-through, or run out of fuel. This ruined the man’s race through no fault of his own, and surely a necessary revision to the rule is needed before it ruins many others this season.

When the pit lane did finally open the majority of runners took advantage and made their first stops. The order remained the same.

Rubens Barrichello endured a peculiar incident in which he broke the nose of his Honda on – apparently – something in his pit, but the groan around the circuit as a smoky Renault pulled on to the grass to retire signalled the loss of the man over one hundred thousand people had come to see. Alonso was out, a victim of a mechanical malady that led to the destruction of the engine.

Nico Rosberg – by now in a points paying position with the Williams – retired in a similar manner soon after, and from then on in the race assumed a processional feel.

Hamilton made attempts to gain on the Ferrari pair during his last stint but found his efforts easily rebutted, and would finish a happy third, only four seconds down on Raikkonen, while Kubica drove another excellent race keeping Hamilton within shouting distance to take fourth for BMW.

Thirty seconds back came Mark Webber, the Australian having a quiet but fine run to fifth in the Red Bull, with Jenson Button behind him in sixth.

Button’s was one of the drives of the race, the Honda clearly a better proposition in race trim than in qualifying, and Jenson rising to the occasion as he so often does when a hard job needs doing.

Kazuki Nakajima brought the remaining Williams home in seventh with Jarno Trulli adding another point to his tally in eighth for Toyota, while Heidfeld drove superbly following his stop go to come within a few seconds of a point, heading home Giancarlo Fisichella in the remaining Force India. Tenth is a great result for the little team.

Timo Glock, David Coulthard and Takuma Sato made up the numbers, although it must be said that Coulthard may well have been further up had Glock not run into him in the latter stages of the race.

Not the greatest of races, but one that gives promise to the chasing pack. As Raikkonens engineer told him over the radio on his slowing down lap, things may have been much harder had he not secured pole position yesterday.

Written: Sun, 27 Apr 2008 14:12:19