Another race of attrition today along with a serious looking crash by Heiki Kovalainen. In turn 9 what looked like a left front wheel rim broke sending Kovalainen straight and hard into the tire barriers. Thankfully he will be ok with what looks like no serious injuries.Kimi Raikkonen led the race from start to finish with perfect pit stops, smooth driving, and a fast (not fast enough according to him) car winning the Spanish Grand Prix in fine style.
As I said, this was a race of attrition with only 13 cars finishing the race and that’s got to be disappointing to many of those teams. This track has seen kilometers and kilometers of testing by all of the teams including just last week. Brand new aero packages as well as other improvements yet crashes and failures littering the track.
The race started with Massa getting the best start moving quickly past Fernando Alonso and right up behind Raikkonen, but predictably backed off of a pass attempt on Raikkonen.
Heart break kid Sebastien Vettel was again knocked out of the race in a first lap crash. David Coulthard and Adrian Sutil bumped, Sutil spun and Vettel had no where to go but into the side of Sutil. Three first lap dnfs for Vettel is hard to take. Sutil, who had been squeezed onto the grass, but had plenty of room to get back to the track bumped Coulthard, was sent spinning, taking out Vettel. Too bad for Sutil with a dnf as a result, but to me, the crash was his fault and bad luck continues for Vettel.
Early on things were looking very good for Alonso . He was able to hang on to both Raikkonen and Massa ahead of him lap after lap. It was thought that he was running much lighter on fuel than the Ferraris and as expected Alonso
pitted first on lap 16, but only 3 laps later it was Massa into the pits for his first stop. Throw the lighter fuel load out and the Renault has improved quite a bit especially with Alonso at the wheel.This was redemption day for Lewis Hamilton and he really looked good. His car was on par with the Ferraris and after Alonso pitted first Hamilton gained 3rd. From then on, the gap between him, Raikkonen, and Massa never changed much the whole race. Lewis pushed probably the hardest he has so far this season and at one point his apex speed in turn 9 was a full 10km faster than anyone. I give Hamilton a 10 out of 10 for his drive today.
Nelson Piquet and Sebastien Bourdais tangled when Piquet seemed to surprise Bourdais in a pass attempt up the inside and Bourdais closed the gap hard on him. Bourdais said after that he simply didn’t see him in his mirrors. The question of mirrors comes up again. They don’t seem to offer as much visibility as they should as we have heard from drivers in the past few races.
It was a predictable start for BMW-Sauber with Kubica hanging tight with both Ferraris and Lewis Hamilton never gaining any ground, but never losing ground.
when Kovalainen smashed hard into the tire barrier, the long safety car and the safety car rules caught Nick Heidfeld and he had to pull into the pits during pit red or else run out of fuel. This of course got him a 10 second stop and go penalty which ended up sending him to the back of the field. I do hope these rules get changes sooner than later. This rule really ensured that BMW-Sauber would not have any chance at holding on to their Constructors championship lead.
It was the end of the road for Alonso in his Renault on lap 34 when the engine gave up and he parked it onto the grass. 130,000 fans at the track fell silent. This ends a promising weekend for Renault with both cars now out of the grand prix. They had a good weekend with an improved car. One issue Renault may have to address is that this is the second engine failure this year after the Renault engine in a Red Bull blew earlier.
Another good drive for Giancarlo Fisichella who managed to hold off Nick Heidfeld who was trying to move up the field after his stop and go. Fisichella held him off for a number of laps before Heidfeld finally passed him for 10th. I give Fisichella a 10 out of 10 for his drive.
This year Coulthard is a magnet for bumps and crashes. Not one, but 2 in this race, but lucky for him, this race he finished despite a bang with Sutil on lap one and Timo Glock trying too hard on an impossible pass hit Coulthard’s rear left puncturing the tire. A long drive back to the pits sent Coulthard to the back once again, but at least he finished and in 12th.
Take away the attrition and you have 2 Ferraris at the front, Lewis Hamilton 3rd, and Robert Kubica 4th with not much difference between them. The gaps from 1st to 4th were steady and pretty consistent through the whole race. If McLaren have rebounded there could now be a 4 team race for the front every race now. If that’s the case, I love it!
1. Raikkonen Ferrari 1h38:19.051
2. Massa Ferrari + 3.228
3. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes + 4.187
4. Kubica BMW Sauber + 5.694
5. Webber Red Bull-Renault + 35.938
6. Button Honda + 53.010
7. Nakajima Williams-Toyota + 58.244
8. Trulli Toyota + 59.435
9. Heidfeld BMW Sauber + 1:03.073
10. Fisichella Force India-Ferrari + 1 lap
11. Glock Toyota + 1 lap
12. Coulthard Red Bull-Renault + 1 lap
13. Sato Super Aguri-Honda + 1 lap
Not classified/retirements:
Rosberg Williams-Toyota 42
Alonso Renault 35
Barrichello Honda 35
Kovalainen McLaren-Mercedes 22
Davidson Super Aguri-Honda 9
Bourdais Toro Rosso-Ferrari 8
Piquet Renault 7
Vettel Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1
Sutil Force India-Ferrari 1
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