Just before the summer break, Kimi Raikkonen finished second in Budapest and today, the Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro driver was on the podium again, this time in third place after a strong drive. On his debut for the Scuderia, Luca Badoer brought his F60 home in seventeenth spot. After Ferrari’s Felipe Massa won the inaugural race at Valencia last year, today, Rubens Barrichello ensured that the Brazilian National Anthem was played again, as he took his first win for Brawn, his first victory since his days as a Ferrari driver. Second place went to the McLaren-Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton. While this result keeps the Scuderia in third place in the Constructors’ championship, McLaren’s return to form in recent races means the Anglo-German team is now only five points behind in fourth.

The heat and humidity was as high as the rest of the weekend as the grid formed up with Kimi Raikkonen on row 3 and his Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro team-mate, Luca Badoer on the back row.

The KERS power boost at the start saw Kimi move immediately up two places to fourth. Grosjean, Glock and Buemi all had to come in at the end of the opening lap to repair collision damage, while Luca crossed the line in seventeenth, having spun. The order was Hamilton, Kovalainen, Barrichello, Raikkonen, Vettel, Rosberg, Alonso, Button after a bad start for the championship leader, Webber, Heidfeld, Kubica, Sutil, Fisichella, Nakajima, Trulli, Alguersuari, Badoer, Grosjean, Glock and Buemi.

After 3 laps, Kimi was 4.7 seconds behind the leading McLaren and 0.7 behind Barrichello’s third placed Brawn. Button had to let Webber through to eighth, as it was deemed the Englishman had got ahead of the Australian by cutting the chicane. By lap 10, Kimi had dropped to almost 10 seconds behind the leader and the gap to third placed Barrichello had also grown to 2.2.

Lap 15 and Hamilton pitted from the lead, followed by Vettel and Kubica, so that Kovalainen now led Barrichello and Kimi. The McLaren Finn came in on lap 17 and Vettel had to come in as the fuel had not gone in at the previous stop. Kimi refuelled on lap 19 and Button also came in from ninth. Barrichello came in from the lead on lap 20 as did Webber. After 21 laps, Hamilton still led, but the round of pit stops saw Barrichello get the jump on Kovalainen to go second, while Kimi was sixth, although Heidfeld and Sutil ahead of him had yet to stop for fuel. The Finn found himself back in fourth, 5.1 behind third placed fellow countryman, Kovalainen one lap later. A puff of smoke appeared from the back of Vettel’s Red Bull on lap 23 and his race was over. So after the first run of stops, on lap 25, the order was Hamilton, Barrichello, Kovalainen, Raikkonen, Rosberg, Alonso, Webber, with Fisichella, yet to pit, eighth. Luca was 15th and he too had not made any pit stops, the Italian Ferrari driver finally coming in on lap 28. As he left the pits, Grosjean in the Renault managed to squeeze past him while still in pit lane and then on the way out of the pit lane, Luca unfortunately got his outside wheels over the white line which carries an automatic drive-through penalty. Among the lead group, none of the gaps were small enough to signal the chance of any overtaking, so the final order would no doubt hinge on the timing and speed of the second run of pit stops. Badoer’s difficult debut for Ferrari was complicated by a spin on lap 36, but fortunately he avoided the walls and was able to continue.

Hamilton made his second stop on lap 37, allowing Barrichello to lead and the McLaren crew appeared to be late getting the Englishman’s tyres out, costing him precious seconds. Kovalainen refuelled on lap 38, so that Kimi was now lying second to the Brawn, 11.8 seconds down. Kimi and Barrichello pitted together on lap 39 and thanks to a series of fastest laps, the Brawn driver now got the jump on Hamilton to lead. Kimi was currently fifth, but he had got ahead of Kovalainen, while Rosberg in second and Alonso in fourth would have to stop again, which meant the Ferrari man was effectively looking at a third place spot on the podium. On lap 42, Alonso brought the Renault in so Kimi was now fourth and the move up to third came one lap later, when Rosberg refuelled the Williams. From this point on the order did not change, so the final result as far as the points scorers is concerned, was Barrichello, Hamilton, Kimi, Kovalainen, Rosberg, Alonso, Button and Kubica. Luca finished seventeenth.

Stefano Domenicali: “Today we did the maximum with Kimi, who drove an amazing race to make it to the podium once again. He was very competitive throughout the race, pushing at the decisive moments, at the start and then when the opportunity arose to get ahead of Kovalainen. Luca managed to finish the race, thus completing this learning weekend, which served as an introduction course prior to tackling the Belgian weekend in the best way possible, next weekend. Clearly, considering our choices and those of other teams in terms of developing this year’s car, our aim of maintaining third place in the Constructors’ classification is becoming harder. For our part, we will give it our best shot, knowing that in some races we can expect to be more competitive than in others and we will have to be ready to exploit every opportunity that arises.”

Kimi Raikkonen: “I am happy about this result. Already on Friday we saw that the car was pretty competitive over a distance and we therefore thought we could fight for a podium finish. We were also aware that, in qualifying, we might have struggled, especially on light fuel. Both these predictions proved correct and today we were once again able to get on the podium. I managed to make up a few places at the start and my first aim was to pull out a bit of a gap over Rosberg, who was going to stop after me. In the second part of the race, I realized that I could close on Kovalainen and try and make the most of the run of pit stops to get ahead of him and I managed it. Now we go to Spa, a track that I like a lot: we must wait for Friday to see how competitive we can be. At this point in the season, if we manage to get everything right, then we can aim for the podium and if anything was to happen to those ahead of us, we can try and do even better. We must do all we can to hang on to third place in the Constructors’ championship.”

Luca Badoer: “I said when I arrived in Valencia that this Grand Prix would be a time for me to dust the rust off my back and get confident in the role of race driver again. It was important for me to complete so many kilometres without making any serious mistakes and I managed that. From the physical point of view, I feel fine and that is another cause for satisfaction. I got a good start, making up a few places but then I was hit by Grosjean and that dropped me back down again. I tried to run my own race, but it was not easy to maintain a consistent pace, especially when I had to let the leaders by. At the first pit stop, I made a mistake which cost me one place and then I was just a whisker over the white line and so I picked up a drive-through penalty. Now I am looking forward to Spa with confidence: it’s a track I know and I will also be able to count on the experience gained this weekend. Thanks to the whole team, who did everything they could to make me feel comfortable, without putting me under any pressure and to Michael, who was a great support throughout the weekend.”

Chris Dyer: “We are pleased with Kimi’s third place, which represents the most we could aspire to today. Driver, team, car: all these elements came together in the best possible way and the result confirms it. As for Luca, it was another difficult day in an equally difficult weekend. However, it should be stressed how much he improved, continuously day by day, lap after lap. We are confident that he will find himself in much better shape next weekend in Belgium.”

Source  - Ferrari Media