Ferrari's Felipe Massa scored a resounding second consecutive win in the Spanish Grand Prix at the Circuit de Catalunya on Sunday to put himself firmly in contention for the World Championship. He led home McLaren's Lewis Hamilton by 6.7s although the margin had been nearly twenty seconds earlier in the race. The young Briton becomes the youngest driver ever to lead the World Championship, two points ahead of teammate Fernando Alonso, while Massa is a just a point further back, but Ferrari's joy at victory was offset against the disappointment of the retirement of former joint championship leader Kimi Raikkonen with a suspected electrical fault.

In front of 140,700 spectators and in sunny weather, the race was virtually decided at the first corner, according to Alonso. Massa got away first, but Alonso was able to slot in behind and go around the outside of the Brazilian going into the first righthander. Alonso tried to stay on the outside but was squeezed onto the gravel and promptly lost two places to Hamilton and Raikkonen, rejoining with a damaged bargeboard. At the end of lap one, Massa already led by 1.6s from Hamilton, then came Raikkonen and Alonso, followed by Robert Kubica and Nick Heidfeld in the BMWs, David Coulthard, then Nico Rosberg, Rubens Barrichello and Jenson Button in eleventh. Both Toyota drivers suffered badly; Trulli stalled on the grid and had to start from the pit lane, and Ralf Schumacher was hit from behind by Alex Wurz, both requiring pit stops.

At the front, Massa continued to pull away, having a 6.6s lead over Hamilton after ten laps. The gap from Hamilton to Raikkonen also opened up, although not so quickly. However, Raikkonen pitted to retire with a minor electrical problem after only nine laps, which elevated Alonso to third place. The BMWs remained in touch, with Kubica ahead and Heidfeld not far behind him, up to the first pit stops which began on lap 19. Massa and Alonso pitted together on lap 19, with Massa making a fiery exit of which he was not aware and which had no consequence. Kubica came in on lap 21 and then Hamilton a lap later, followed by Heidfeld on lap 24.

At the end of the pit stops, Massa had an almost identical lead over Hamilton at 8.8s but this would more than double in the next 27 laps. However Hamilton emerged with a 10s margin to teammate Alonso which had virtually trebled. Conversely, Alonso's margin to Kubica had virtually halved. Heidfeld, however, lost a wheel nut which causing a single slow lap to return to pits which put paid to his chances.

At the front, Massa's lead grew to 19s before he made his second stop on lap 42. Hamilton would stay out until lap 47 and Alonso stayed out a lap longer, but Massa's lead had halved to ten seconds by the time Hamilton rejoined, although his margin to Alonso had grown by seven seconds. In the final stint, Massa gradually saw his lead dwindle, but not dramatically, so that he took a seemingly troublefree victory. Hamilton came in second, but now leading the championship, finishing his fourth successive Grand Prix on the podium, while a disappointed Alonso completed the top three.

Kubica annexed fourth place for BMW for the fourth time this season, while David Coulthard confirmed Red Bull Racing's testing form with fifth place after Heikki Kovalainen needed an extra mid-race pit stop which pushed him back to seventh behind Nico Rosberg. Takuma Sato was the final points-scorer delighting the Super Aguri team and resulting in their first World Championship points.

This was the third victory of the season for Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro, the second courtesy of Felipe Massa. This is win number ten in the Spanish Grand Prix for Ferrari and number 195 from 745 races entered. It was Felipe's fourth career win from 75 Grand Prix starts.
 

Jean Todt: "Pole position, victory and fastest race lap: for the second consecutive race weekend, Felipe Massa put in a flawless performance. He was really great today in a great Ferrari car. It was an exciting race, especially in the opening stages: the duel at the start between Felipe and Alonso, disappointment for Kimi's retirement due to a problem in the wiring to the alternator, flames at the first pit stop. In the second part of the race, Felipe drove impeccably, controlling the situation and bring home a wonderful win. We know that one of the indispensable ingredients for winning the championship is reliability and twice now it has been missing this season, today with Kimi's car. Therefore, despite three wins and four pole positions, we are back to a following role in both classifications, because of the great competitiveness of our main rivals. This season is very hard to predict, there is still a long way to go and much work to do to reach the objectives we have set ourselves. We know what is required and how important will be the support of all our technical partners."

Felipe Massa: "Fantastic! I cannot find the words to describe the emotions I feel after such a closely fought race. The duel at the start was very tight: I took some risks but I absolutely did not want to lose position and that meant we touched when he came up the inside of me. Luckily, the car was undamaged, and so I was immediately able to pull away from my pursuers. I wanted to get a good lead straight away so that I could manage the situation in the second stint of the race and that's how it went. The F2007 is a great car, but we need to improve further in order to get both cars across the finish line, as our closest rivals have done. Reliability is the key. Now we come to the Monaco race: it can be something of a lottery there and you need a bit of luck on your side. Once again, I would like to thank Michael for the help he has given me over all these years. His lessons have been useful to me!"

Kimi Raikkonen: "Honestly, there's little to say, except that I'm very disappointed. I lost a place to Hamilton at the start, but made the most of the fight between Felipe and Fernando to get back to third place. I was running at a good pace and could have had a good result, but suddenly the car had an electrical problem and all I could was come back to the garage. I have lost precious points but there are still thirteen races to recover."

Luca Baldisserri: A great performance from Felipe, who completed what was a perfect weekend for him. We had struggled in free practice to do a quick time over a single lap with new tyres but we had seen that our race pace was very good and today that was confirmed. A shame that Kimi had a problem in the wiring to the alternator: there was no warning and now we have to see what caused it, robbing him of a probable podium finish. Then we had a slight fuel leak at Felipe's first pit stop, which caused a small fire that did not do any damage either on the car or the refuelling rig. Once more, reliability is crucial and we must leave nothing to chance to ensure that a technical problem does not rob us of a good result again."

Race Details: Felipe Massa: 1st 1:31.36.230 65 laps chassis 260; Kimi Raikkonen: R lap 9 9 laps chassis 262; Weather: air temperature 30/28 °C, track temperature 41/38 °C, clear skies.