PlanetF1

Spanish GP: Fired-up Massa ruins Alonso's homecoming

Sunday 13-May-2007 14:48

A literally fired-up Felipe Massa survived a brief pitlane fire to register another comfortable victory in the Spanish GP.

As in Bahrain, the Brazilian led from start to finish with only a first-corner squabble with Fernando Alonso causing him any bother on the track. The Spaniard's ill-advised move resulted in his demotion to fourth position, a setback from which he never properly recovered all afternoon.

With team-mate Lewis Hamilton achieving his fourth podium in four races, the only respite for the beleaguered World Champion was Kimi Raikkonen's retirement in the second Ferrari due to an engine-related malfunction.

While his second successive victory means that Massa is the highest-placed Ferrari driver in the standings, it is the young Englishman who now heads the Drivers' World Championship.

Race Report: The weather forecast had predicted 20C for the race on Sunday but it was 29C when the cars lined up on the grid at the Circuit de Catalunya.

Jarno Trulli stalled his Toyota after they lined up following the parade lap and so the drivers had to go round one more time. As the lights went out both McLarens got good jumps on their Ferrari rivals. Lewis Hamilton was swiftly past Raikkonen on the inside and Felipe Massa had to go defensive into Turn 1, taking the inside line very early to keep Alonso at bay.

The Spaniard was sufficiently far in front of the Ferrari to attempt a move round the outside, though it looked like there was going to be a big crash as the two cars fought for the same line to the apex. Eddie Irvine and Giancarlo Fisichella proved some time ago that it's impossible to run two F1 cars at speed through Turn 1.

So Alonso was forced onto the gravel run-off while Massa, Hamilton and Raikkonen slipped through. In fact with gravel all over the recovering Alonso's tyres he was lucky to keep both BMWs at bay and hold on to 4th.

Further back down the field Giancarlo Fisichella was duelling with Heiki Kovalainen and Nico Rosberg when he ran wide and off-track. As he recovered his place he got stuck into the midfield battlers and charged into Turn 10 to take a place back. Everyone braked early to avoid collisions and further back in the field Ralf Schumacher's braking caught out Alex Wurz who collided with the rear tyre of the Toyota.

Wurz struggled back to the pits with bodywork grinding sparks down the pitlane.

Starting from 9th place David Coulthard was already up to 7th place courtesy of Trulli and Fisi's disappearance.

So as they crossed the line on lap 1 it was Massa from Hamilton, Raikkonen, Alonso, Kubica, Heidfeld, Coulthard, Kovalainen, Rosberg and Barrichello in tenth place.

On Lap 2 Fernando Alonso showed that he didn't want to stay in P4 for much longer and tried a move down the outside of Kimi Raikkonen into the downhill Turn 10. It looked as likely to come off as his attempt to get past Massa and he settled back into P4 to await the first pit-stops.

Felipe had the hammer down at the front and by Lap 6 he had the Fastest Lap time down to 1:23.016. By the ninth lap there was a 9.3 gap from Massa to fourth placed Alonso, who was two seconds back from Raikkonen.

Mark Webber, whose qualifying had been marred by hydraulics problems, retired on Lap 8 with similar ailments and he was swiftly followed by Jarno Trulli still suffering with fuel-pump related issues.

The rosta of retirements was then joined by an unfamiliar figure, Kimi Raikkonen coasted his stuttering Ferrari back to the pits with what appeared to be an electrical problem. He only just got to his garage and went straight in.

Three cars in three laps, was then four cars in four laps when Scott Speed blew a tyre on his Toro Rosso at the end of the start/finish straight and headed wisely for the barriers to park up.

Whatever problem had claimed Raikkonen was clearly not affecting Massa who put in the Fastest Lap on Lap 14 of 1:22.680. This was to remain the fastest time for the rest of the race, and despite lower fuel loads nearing pit-stops, or new tyres after pit-stops, the times generally got slower through the race, despite the amount of rubber being laid down on the track.

Massa clearly had the bit between his teeth and by Lap 17 had a nine second gap to Hamilton in second place. He pitted at the end of the 19th lap and once the four Bridgestones were put on, began to creep forward slightly. The slight movement caused the refueling rig to be jerked away spilling a little excess fuel which ignited as he left the pit. The fire on the right bodywork was out in less than a second and did no damage, reminiscent of a Schumacher pit-stop several years ago where there was a brief fire onboard.

In that incident Michael calmly watched the fire get put out before driving off, the difference between the two being that Schumi knew he was on fire, whereas Felipe only found out at the end of the race.

Alonso came in for more fuel on the same lap and opted to go back out on hard tyres a decision which ended any realistic chance of second place, let alone a win. The McLaren team had been surprised at how fast they could run on hard tyres in Bahrain and planned on a middle stint on hards instead of the familiar final stint.

It was a mistake and it soon became apparent when Fernando made no progress on Massa's lap times. Once Hamilton had pitted on Lap 23 and started to go away from Alonso, it was clear there was no way back.

After the spate of retirements, we then got a flurry of comedy F1 moments. Jenson Button came out of the pits after hauling back Rubens Barrichello and both Hondas arrived at Turn 1 together. Rubens thought he'd left Jenson enough room, Jenson thought he didn't have enough and went onto the kerbs which slithered him into his team-mate's car. The result: Button's Honda front wing on the floor and a return to the pits.

Far far worse, though, was a farce in the BMW Sauber garage. Nick Heidfeld got released before the front wheel man had taken his jack off. As wheels normally take a much shorter time than fuel, it's surprising that there wasn't more focus on what was happening.

The BMW wheel locking nut went clattering down the pitlane and was thrown back by a Toyota mechanic, yet Heidfeld, who'd stopped halfway out of his box, was then allowed to go back on track, as though the wheel had been put on properly. Heidfeld had to crawl round for a lap and then come back in again, but his race was over.

On Lap 25 the order was Massa 8.8 seconds ahead of Hamilton, who was 10.7 seconds clear of Alonso. Alonso was just 2.1 seconds clear of Robert Kubica in 4th, Coulthard was 5th, Kovalainen 6th, Rosberg 7th, Davidson (not stopped) in 8th and Rubens Barrichello in 9th.

The story of the middle stint of the race was Felipe Massa enlarging his gap to Hamilton, Hamilton going away from Alonso and Coulthard closing on Robert Kubica's BMW. Heiki Kovalainen pitted very early for the second time on Lap 31 when it was discovered there was a fault with the Renault refuelling rig. Neither Giancarlo Fisichella or Heiki Kovalainen were given enough fuel and would end up making an inefficient three stops.

On Lap 42 Felipe Massa came in for a fire-free second stop and went on his way with no drama, though his mechanics took a good look at his car to make sure the same problem that had afflicted Raikkonen would not recur on the Brazilian's.

Hamilton gained time at the front of the race, so when he came out of the pits on Lap 47 following his stop, Massa was just ten seconds in front. Hamilton and Massa were on the hard Bridgestone for their final stints, but were hardly being caught by Alonso who had the softer tyre for his final stint.

Though Kubica had got close to Alonso, he was never in a position to challenge. After the second round of pit-stops had been completed by the frontrunners, the order was:

Massa 10.5 seconds ahead of Hamilton, who had 17.6 on Alonso, Robert Kubica was in P4 7.6 seconds ahead of 5th placed Coulthard, Rosberg was in 6th, Kovalainen 7th, Fisichella 8th (but needing more fuel) and Sato 9th.

The two dramas to unfold at the end of the race were Fisichella versus Sato for 8th place. Due to under-fuelling the Renault was expected in again but only had a fifteen second lead on Sato on Lap 53 (of 65), not enough to get in and out and stay in front.

David Coulthard was losing time hand over fist to Nico Rosberg after his new seamless shift gearbox became a gearless shift gearbox. He still had a few left but had to learn how to drive round the problem and still keep his lap times up. With two laps to go he had two seconds on the Williams-Toyota driver and that proved enough.

Takuma Sato withstood pressure to the line to claim Super Aguri's first ever World Championship point and finish ahead of both the Hondas of Barrichello and Button.

Kovalainen and Rosberg took 7th and 6th respectively, David Coulthard achieved the Red Bull goal of beating the official Renault team by taking 5th place, while Robert Kubica (not Nick Heidfeld) claimed BMW's regular 4th placed finish. Though Alonso made the podium he was in subdued mood.

Not so Lewis Hamilton who finished second and completed his fourth podium in a row to become the youngest driver to lead the World Championship following Bruce McLaren's long-standing record of the 1960's. However the biggest celebration of all came from Felipe Massa who had not only scored back-to-back wins, he'd scored 10 points more than his team-mate.

And all this in front of his favourite GP advisor, and in Fernando Alonso's backyard. It doesn't get much sweeter.

FH

Results
01 F. Massa Ferrari 1:31:36.230
02 L. Hamilton McLaren + 6.670
03 F. Alonso McLaren + 17.456
04 R. Kubica BMW + 31.615
05 D. Coulthard Red Bull + 58.331
06 N. Rosberg Williams + 59.538
07 H. Kovalainen Renault + 62.128
08 T. Sato Super Aguri + 1 laps
09 G. Fisichella Renault + 1 laps
10 R. Barrichello Honda + 1 laps
11 A. Davidson Super Aguri + 1 laps
12 J. Button Honda + 1 laps
13 A. Sutil Spyker F1 + 2 laps
14 C. Albers Spyker F1 + 2 laps
Did not finish
15 N. Heidfeld BMW + 18 laps
16 R. Schumacher Toyota + 20 laps
17 V. Liuzzi Scuderia Toro Rosso + 46 laps
18 S. Speed Scuderia Toro Rosso + 55 laps
19 K. Räikkönen Ferrari + 56 laps
20 J. Trulli Toyota + 57 laps
21 M. Webber Red Bull + 58 laps
22 A. Wurz Williams + 64 laps