Raikkonen firmly in control
The race result may not show it, but Kimi Raikkonen dominated the Spanish Grand Prix from the pole position to take his second win of the season and to further extend his championship lead. Raikkonen’s win, the 17th of his career, continued the now eight year run at Circuit de Catalunya that has seen the pole-sitter claim the race victory.
There was plenty of drama, if not much passing during the 66-lap event, as Raikkonen launched his Ferrari from the pole ahead of Felipe Massa in the sister F2008 who got the jump on front-row starter Fernando Alonso. From that point onwards the gap between the two Ferraris fluctuated between two and four seconds, but the championship leader never really came under any threat from his team-mate.
Raikkonen took the chequered flag 3.2s ahead of Massa while Lewis Hamilton had a solid error-free run to third position. The result moves the Australian Grand Prix winner back into second in the championship on a weekend McLaren could not fight for the win. There was however great drama for Heikki Kovalainen who briefly took over the lead ahead of the first round of pit stops. On lap 23 the MP4-23 suffered a front left wheel failure that sent the Finn across the gravel trap at turn nine at almost unabated speed, burying most of the car in the tyre barrier.
The safety car was deployed as the medical team attended to Kovalainen, but thankfully it seems that the Finn does not have any serious injuries.
Back on track and Robert Kubica had a solid run in his BMW Sauber from fourth position on the grid to fourth position in the race. The Pole lost out to Hamilton off the line while team-mate Nick Heidfeld meanwhile was the latest victim of the badly thought out rules that govern this sport. With Kovalainen receiving treatment track-side and the safety car circulating on track, the German racer was unfortunate enough to require a pit stop for fuel. With the pits closed, Heidfeld was forced to pit from fifth position and as a result incurred a ten second stop and go penalty that effectively ended his race there and then.
Mark Webber ran well to take fifth position and another points-paying result for Red Bull Renault while team-mate David Coulthard had an eventful Grand Prix. Starting 17th, the Red Bull veteran was rammed on lap one by an out-of-control Adrian Sutil, battled on and then was later hit from behind by Timo Glock. With an extra unscheduled stop for a slashed left rear tyre, Coulthard did well to finish 12th.
Jenson Button finished in sixth position to take some well-earned points for the improving Honda team while Rubens Barrichello ran well early on before losing his wing in his first pit stop and then retiring the RA108 with a mechanical issue.
Kazuki Nakajima made a poor start to the race, but largely thanks to the high attrition rate, took the chequered flag in seventh position and claimed his first championship points since joining Williams Toyota at Interlagos last year. Jarno Trulli finished eighth in what was a disappointing showing from Toyota - not helped by a third pitstop - while Heidfeld battled back to ninth in the second BMW Sauber.
Giancarlo Fisichella kept out of trouble and put in another good race in his Force India Ferrari to finish in tenth position, battling hard in the latter stages to try and keep Heidfeld at bay but ultimately losing out to finish tenth ahead of Glock - way off the pace in his Toyota - Coulthard and Takuma Sato.
There were many retirements from this 66-lap event with Nico Rosberg running seventh in his Williams Toyota after a fast start only to retire with an engine failure. Perhaps the biggest cheer of the day came not for race winner Kimi Raikkonen as he took the race win, but for Fernando Alonso on home soil.
Alonso started second, but was immediately jumped by Massa at the start. Running a short first stint the Renault star pitted on lap 15 of the race. Exiting the pits Alonso found himself behind Barrichello who at the time was on a long first stint and lapping two seconds slower than Alonso was capable. Following the end of the first round of stops, Alonso had lost position to Hamilton, Kubica and Heidfeld. It would matter little as on lap 35 whilst running fifth, the Renault V8 failed.
While Alonso had a strong race Nelson Piquet did not. A trip through the gravel early on was followed by a rash move down the inside of Sebastien Bourdais putting himself and the unfortunate Toro Rosso driver out of the race. The second Toro Rosso was eliminated on lap one as Sutil barged his way into Coulthard and spun. Sebastian Vettel rounded the turn and had no option but to crash into his countryman.
There was plenty of bad luck around today, but the good luck seems to have fallen on Kovalainen who has escaped serious injury after a heavy crash.
Earl ALEXANDER
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