Raikkonen put in a peerless drive to extend his points lead while Kovaleinen proved the strength of modern F1 cars.
Kimi Raikkonen cemented his place at the top of the Drivers World Championship with a flawless drive to victory in Spain. Despite two safety car periods the Finn retained his composure to score a dominant win.
Raikkonen led from the start, with his team-mate Felipe Massa getting the jump on local hero Fernando Alonso into the first corner. Alonso had been fortunate even to make it to the grid. During the warm-up lap he lost control of his Renault while warming the tyres and narrowly avoided hitting a barrier.
Sebastian Vettel continued his frustrating start to the season, retiring on the first lap following a collision with the Force India of Adrian Sutil. The safety car was deployed while the wreckage was removed.
Throughout the race Raikkonen continued to demonstrate the advantage that he had held over team-mate Massa all weekend. Alonso, meanwhile, was forced to retire with engine failure, much to the disappointment of his many fans.
McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton made amends for his poor qualifying performance with a fine drive to sixth. His team mate Heikki Kovaleinen was not so lucky, suffering a violent accident at the fast Campsa corner, the result of a failure on the front left wheel. Despite being buried under a tyre wall the Finn emerged relatively unscathed with some bruising and concussion.
A long safety car period followed while the aftermath of Kovalainen’s crash was dealt with. For Nick Heidfeld it was a disaster. With the pit-lane closed the German knew he would incur a penalty by coming into refuel but he had no choice. Despite charging hard following his stop/go penalty he could only manage ninth at the finish, just outside the points.
Heidfeld’s team-mate, Robert Kubica, had a far happier day, eventually bringing his BMW Sauber home in fourth position. Mark Webber also had a good day, finishing fifth in his Red Bull. Despite their ugly ‘dumbo’ wings Honda did appear to have made some progress, with Jenson Button crossing the line sixth. The final two points positions were taken by Kazuki Nakajima in seventh and Jarno Trulli in eighth.
The race was notable for the numerous retirements with no less than nine cars failing to finish. Raikkonen will be happy to have extended his lead at the top of the championship while the other teams will be wondering just what they have to do to beat the red cars.
Result
- Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari)
- Felipe Massa (Ferrari)
- Lewis Hamilton (McLaren)
- Robert Kubica (BMW Sauber)
- Mark Webber (Red Bull)
- Jenson Button (Honda)
- Kazuki Nakajima (Williams)
- Jarno Trulli (Toyota)
- Nick Heidfeld (BMW Sauber)
- Giancarlo Fisichella (Force India)
- Timo Glock (Toyota)
- David Coulthard (Red Bull)
- Takuma Sato (Super Aguri)
Not Classified
- Nico Rosberg (Williams)
- Fernando Alonso (Renault)
- Rubens Barrichello (Honda)
- Heikki Kovalainen (McLaren)
- Anthony Davidson (Super Aguri)
- Sebastien Bourdais (Toro Rosso)
- Nelson Piquet (Renault)
- Adrian Sutil (Force India)
- Sebastian Vettel (Toro Rosso)
Driver's Championship
- Raikkonen (29)
- Hamilton (20)
- Kubica (19)
- Massa (18)
- Heidfeld (16)
- Kovalainen (14)
- Trulli (9)
- Webber (8)
- Rosberg (7)
- Alonso (6)
- Nakajima (5)
- Button (3)
- Bourdais (2)
Constructor's Championship
- Ferrari (47)
- BMW Sauber (35)
- McLaren (34)
- Williams (12)
- Toyota (9)
- Red Bull (8)
- Renault (6)
- Honda (3)
- Toro Rosso (2)
