Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa finish first and second in Spanish Formula 1 race
The Spanish Grand Prix was a betting man’s dream race. It was virtually a forgone conclusion with little doubt that Kimi Räikkönen would secure his second win of the season.
Barcelona like Monaco is one of those Formula 1 circuits where overtaking is notoriously difficult, so securing pole position on the Saturday is crucial.
In betting terms, form is everything and history proves that only once in the last eleven years has a driver secured pole position and not won the race and even then, it was only because the pole sitter – Damon Hill – spun off on lap 16 allowing Michael Schumacher to go and win from third.
Having said that, unlike previous races, this does not mean the race was uneventful, far from it. There were a number of spills and thrills including Finland’s Heikki Kovalainen’s terrifying high-speed crash.
The McLaren driver ploughed into the tyre barriers at over 150 mph with the force of 26G – 26 times his own body weight - was extremely fortunate to escape relatively unharmed and may even compete in the Turkish Grand Prix in a fortnight’s time.
McLaren’s CEO Martin Whitmarsh believes the cause of the accident was a broken wheel rim. "We think he suffered a wheel rim failure that caused his front-left tyre to deflate almost instantaneously. It’s possible that some debris worked its way inside the rim, but we still have to analyse that,” he revealed.
“It was a new wheel and we don’t think it was a structural failure. There were some score marks, but we don’t know whether they were caused by debris or by his trip across the gravel trap. We’ve got to answer that later."
Whitmarsh was quick to point out however, that Kovalainen had suffered no injuries and was lucid despite suffering concussion.
“He has had a full head scan and there is no significant bruising or damage - that’s extremely good news,” he said. “Heikki was briefly unconscious but he was lucid soon after the accident and I’m told he was actually quite jolly, which is fairly typical."
On a more positive note, team-mate Lewis Hamilton managed to secure his first podium finish since winning in Australia over a month ago.
It was also another impressive display from BMW-Sauber’s Robert Kubica, his last three races have seen him tally up 19 world championship points – the best points scoring record so far this season with the exception of Räikkönen.
Honda also had reason to celebrate after Jenson Button secured his best finish in sixth, since China last season.
Red Bull’s Mark Webber, Williams’ Kazuki Nakajima and Toyota’s Jarno Trulli were also in the points.
