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It was an
action-packed race at the Circuit de Catalunya this
afternoon, but not for Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro, as
Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa put on a dominant show
to lead throughout the 66 laps, with the exception of a
few moments during the run of pit stops. For the Finn,
it was his second win of the season and it's the team's
second consecutive one-two finish this year. The result
now puts Kimi further ahead in the Drivers' standings,
with Felipe moving up to fourth, while the Scuderia
overtakes BMW-Sauber to lead the Constructors'
classification.
The excitement began even before the start as Alonso
went off on the grass on the formation lap but rejoined.
At the front, Raikkonen made the most of pole to slip
into the lead, and Felipe, for the second year in
succession, began his Spanish Grand Prix fighting
second-placed Alonso. But going into the first corner,
the Brazilian surged past the Renault to take up
position behind his Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro team-mate.
A collision in the pack, involving Vettel and Sutil
immediately saw the Safety Car on track and racing
resumed at the end of lap 3, with the order Raikkonen,
Massa, Alonso, Hamilton, Kubica, Kovalainen, Heidfeld,
Webber, Trulli, and Piquet completing the top ten until
the next lap when the Renault man went wide and dropped
down the order. He then spun again, ending his race and
that of Bourdais.
By lap 10, Raikkonen led Massa by three seconds, with
Alonso a further 1.8 behind, still with Hamilton, Kubica
and Kovalainen completing the top six. As expected after
yesterday's very fast qualifying lap, Fernando Alonso
was the first man to pit at the end of lap 16 (9.3s)
suggesting he might be on a three-stop strategy.
Hamilton in the McLaren was now third, 11.2 off the
leader. Massa was the first F2008 driver in pit lane,
stopping for 8.1s at the end of lap 19. Raikkonen was in
next time round, stationary for just one tenth of a
second longer than his team-mate. At the same time, Mark
Webber came in from sixth place, while Hamilton was the
new leader but only for one lap until his own stop,
which occurred at the same time as Robert Kubica's.
A high speed crash saw Kovalainen go straight on and
bury his car in the tyre barriers at Turn 9 which
immediately brought out the Safety Car. When the pit
lane opened Barrichello managed to leave the pitlsne
with the front of his Honda hanging off. To everyone's
relief, Kovalainen was shown giving a thumbs-up sign
from the stretcher as he was carried into the ambulance.
As the race resumed on lap 28, the order, with everyone
having stopped at least once, was Raikkonen, Massa,
Hamilton, Kubica, Heidfeld, Alonso, Webber, Trulli,
Rosberg and Nakajima completing the top ten. Fifth
placed Heidfeld was given a ten second stop-go penalty
for refuelling when the pit lane was closed.
On lap 35, the crowd started to leave, as Fernando
Alonso parked his Renault at Turn 4, having been fifth,
until his car stopped with flames coming from the back
of the car. On lap 41, Rosberg parked his Williams
alongside the pit wall, which left just 13 cars in the
race. Out in front, Kimi led Felipe by 2.9s, with
Hamilton a further 3.0 down in the remaining McLaren.
Kubica was fourth, followed by Webber, Trulli, Nakajima,
Fisichella, Button, Coulthard, Glock, Heidfeld and Sato
13th and last.
Laps 45 and 46 saw the two Ferrari men trade fastest lap
times, as Massa came in at the end of 46, for a 7.2
second stop. Webber came in from fifth at the same time.
Next time round, saw Raikkonen, Hamilton and Kubica all
pit at the same time. On lap 55, with all pit stops
completed, the order was Raikkonen, Massa, Hamilton,
Kubica, Webber, Button, Nakajima, Trulli, Heidfeld,
Fisichella, Glock, Sato and Coulthard, 13th and last, as
an earlier collision with Glock saw him pit with a
puncture. The only change to this order, as the
chequered flag came out after 66 laps was that Coulthard
passed Sato for 12th.
This was the third win and second consecutive one-two finish of the
season for Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro, with Kimi
Raikkonen on his second victory in first place and
Felipe Massa second. This was win number 204 from 762 Grands
Prix entered by Ferrari and the seventeenth from 126
races for Kimi.
Stefano Domenicali: "We are obviously delighted
with this result, the best one possible. It comes as a
result of the work done in preparing for the race
throughout the weekend and I want to thank the whole
team, both those who are here at the track and those
back in Maranello, for their efforts. We have to
continue in this way, paying great attention to every
little detail. We are up against very strong opponents
and it takes just the slightest thing for a good result
to slip through ones fingers. We are leading both
championships and we have to keep on down this path."
Kimi Raikkonen: "It would be hard to do better
than this! Yesterday pole, today the win, rounded off
with a second place for Felipe. We are leading both
championships which I'm happy about. The whole weekend
went well and we managed to get the result we came here
for. It was not an easy win, but what matters is the ten
points, not the lead you have when you cross the line. I
did not get a perfect start, but it was enough to keep
the lead and then we tried to control the situation. The
two Safety Car periods complicated things slightly,
wiping out the lead we had built up in the first part,
but we never lost the lead of the race. The car handled
very well and had a great balance. We are leading the
world championship, but we know we cannot let up at all:
it takes nothing to drop down the order. Heikki's
accident? I was very happy when the team told me he was
alright and that's the most important thing."
Felipe Massa: "These are eight very important
points. It is not always possible to win as I did manage
in Bahrain a fortnight ago. I made a great start and
managed to pass Alonso, getting very close to Kimi. I
knew I was stopping a lap before my team-mate and that
therefore it would have been very difficult to get ahead
of him. That's why I think that today, I did the most I
could have done in this situation, bringing home
valuable points for myself and for the team. Even this
year, despite the banning of electronic driver aids,
overtaking is pretty much impossible and the result of
qualifying, along with strategy, remains crucial for
deciding the finishing order."
Luca Baldisserri: "A very satisfying one-two, the
second of the season. Usually, the Spanish Grand Prix is
the litmus test for the pecking order down the grid
after the first run of races outside Europe: from what
we saw, it seems we are maintaining a slight advantage,
which means we can be reasonably confident about the
rest of the season, as long we don't make any mistakes
and continue to develop the car. All the same, this race
was very closely contested. All key elements worked well
- the team, the drivers, the car - and when that
happens, the results follow. We have to continue like
this."
Race details:
K. Raikkonen: 1st 1:38.19.051 66 laps chassis 270; F. Massa:
2nd 1:38.22.279 + 3.228 66 laps chassis 267; Weather: air
temperature 26/24 °C, track temperature 41/37 °C, sunny then
partially cloudy.
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