Kimi leads Ferrari 1-2

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.

Click here for the Official Kimi Raikkonen web site - designed and built by Racecar


Related Motorsport Articles

84,552 articles