 It was an action-packed race at the
Circuit de Catalunya, 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.
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."
Source - Ferrari Media |
