Spanish Grand Prix Round 4 27/04/08

[MikeLane]

Spanish Grand Prix

Lewis Hamilton back on the podium but Raikkonen dominates and takes the win.

Catalunya Circuit, Barcelona – Apr 27th, 2008 – Round 4.

By

Mike Lane

F1 Correspondent.

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With Fernando Alonso on the front row in front of his home crowd, anticipation mounted about his fuel strategy. Had he been grandstanding or was this a genuine speed gain by Renault?

By contrast the McLarens were both on the third row of the grid having been beaten by the BMW Sauber of Robert Kubica.

The grid order was:-

1. Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari)............................ 2. Fernando Alonso (Renault).
3. Felipe Massa (Ferrari).............................. 4. Robert Kubica (BMW Sauber).
5. Lewis Hamilton (McLaren)......................... 6. Heikki Kovalainen (McLaren).
7. Mark Webber (Red Bull)............................ 8. Jarno Trulli (Toyota).
9. Nick Heidfeld (BMW Sauber)...................... 10. Nelsinho Piquet (Renault).
11. Rubens Barrichello (Honda)........................ 12. Kazuki Nakajima (Williams).
13. Jenson Button (Honda)............................. 14. Timo Glock (Toyota).
15. Nico Rosberg (Williams)............................. 16. Sebastien Bourdais (Toro Rosso).
17. David Coultard (Red Bull)........................... 18. Sebastian Vettel (Toro Rosso).
19. Giancarlo Fisichella (Force India)................. 20. Adrian Sutil (Force India).
21. Anthony Davidson (Super Aguri).................. 22. Takuma Sato (Super Aguri).


When the lights went out and signalled the start of the 4th round of this year’s championship, Massa used the superior power of his Ferrari and out- dragged Alonso in the Renault to take 2nd place by the first turn.

Meanwhile, Hamilton got a great start and went from one side of the track to the other to go down the inside of Kubica to take the 4th spot. He kept his head this time and didn’t try to achieve too much too soon.

Further down the field, Sutil in the Force India car hit Coultard in the Red Bull. At turn 4 Sutil was then hit by Vettel and both cars were forced to retire.

The race then settled a little with the Ferraris comfortable at the front and Alonso, Hamilton, Kubica and Kovalainen chasing hard.

On lap 7 Piquet tried to overtake Bourdais but they collided and Piquet went into the gravel before retiring from the race. The damage caused to both cars was to force Bourdais to retire and a lap later Davidson, in the Super Aguri, also retired after his radiator was punctured by stones from Piquet’s incident.

On lap 16 Alonso made his first pit stop and had clearly been fuelled a little lighter but it remained to be seen by how much.

On lap 20 Massa was the first of the front runners to make a pit stop and he rejoined behind Trulli in 8th place.

The following lap Raikkonen made his pit stop and Hamilton was leading the race, albeit temporarily. Kubica was a further 2.5 seconds behind the Englishman and showing good pace from the BMW Sauber.

One lap later Hamilton and Kubica made their pit stops, confirming that the pace of the McLaren and BMW Sauber were back in touch with the Ferraris.
Hamilton rejoined the race in 6th place.

Then at turn 3, drama as Kovalainen went straight on across the gravel and straight into the tyre wall at close to 140 mph. Immediately the safety car was deployed whilst the McLaren was extracted from deep inside the tyre wall.
The comparison was all too apparent with Kovalainen’s horrific accident in 2007 at the Canadian GP and a timely reminder that this is a dangerous sport.

The accident was apparently caused by a wheel rim failure on the left front side, which resulted in instant tyre deflation.

At this point in the race there were a number of cars which had not stopped for fuel, some of which were fuelled heavy to go a longer distance in the race such as Button in the Honda. Equally there were cars, which were close to running out of fuel and the safety car situation results in the pit lane being closed for a period. One of the cars in that situation was Heidfeld in the BMW Sauber who was in 1st place but having not stopped.

On lap 25 Heidfeld went into the pits for fuel and consequently received a 10 second stop go penalty. This was unlucky and compromised his race but he is not the only driver to have been caught out by this rule. The rule was brought in for safety reasons to stop cars under a Safety Car situation driving at high speed past marshals who are on the track attending an incident. It is difficult to see how the rule could be changed and still protect marshals.

The pit lane reopened and cars took advantage to take on fuel and tyres.

One of those in the pits was Barrichello in the Honda but as he left his box he took his front wing off when he collided with Fisichella. The Honda team seemed to have released a fraction too soon.
He had to make a complete circuit of the track before he could get a new nose fitted and his race was compromised.

On lap 34 Heidfeld came into the pits for his stop-go penalty and rejoined the race in 16th place, his race ruined.

The next lap Alonso retired when his Renault engine gave out. It had been a brave attempt and his 2nd place after qualifying gave some comfort to the Spanish fans.

The various incidents during the race with safety car deployment had stopped the Ferraris running away and by lap 42 Hamilton was just under six seconds behind Raikkonen the leader. Indeed for two consequetive laps, Hamilton was faster than Raikkonen.

On the same lap, Rosberg in the Williams retired when his engine gave up and we were now down to 13 runners, with Sato in the Super Aguri at the rear.

The race order at this point was Raikkonen, Massa, Hamilton, Kubica. Webber, Trulli, Nakajima, Fisichella, Button, Coultard, Glock, Heidfeld,Sato.

On lap 47 Massa was again first to pit of the front runners and the following lap Raikkonen, Hamilton and Kubica all pitted together. This underlined the competitive position of the three types of car but one had the feeling that Ferrari were comfortable and maybe had a little in reserve.

The race at the front did not look like changing and we had to look further back for cars challenging for position. Heidfeld in the BMW Sauber was chasing Fisichella in the Force India whilst Glock in the Toyota challenged Coultard in the Red Bull. The challenge was too ambitious and Glock hit the back of Coultard’s car causing damage to both cars. They both made it back to the pits and were able to continue racing.

On lap 55 Heidfeld overtook Fisichella for 9th place and in the dying laps of the race Coultard overtook Sato for 12th spot.


The final race order was:-

1st Raikkonen in1hr 38:19.051 at an average speed of 187.415 km/h (115.35mph).
2nd Massa.....................................+3.228s
3rd Hamilton................................. +4.187s
4th Kubica .................................. +5.694s
5th Webber................................. +35.938s
6th Button ................................. +53.010s
7th Nakajima............................... +58.244s
8th Trulli.................................... +59.435s
9th Heidfeld................................ +63.073s
10th Fisichella............................. +1 lap
11th Glock................................... +1 lap
12th Coultard.............................. +1 lap
13th Sato................................... +1 lap
14th Rosberg............................... +25 laps
15th Alonso.................................. +32 laps
16th Barrichello............................ +32 laps
17th Kovalainen........................... +45 laps
18th Davidson............................. +58 laps
19th Bourdais.............................. +59 laps
20th Piquet................................. +60 laps
21th Vettel................................. +66 laps
22nd Sutil.................................... +66 laps

After two rounds the Driver’s championship looks like this:-


Raikkonen.................29 points
Hamilton...................20
Kubica......................19
Massa......................18
Heidfeld....................16
Kovalainen................14
Trulli........................ 9
Webber.................... 8
Rosberg....................7
Alonso......................6
Nakajima...................5
Button.....................3
Bourdais...................2
Coultard...................0
Piquet......................0
Fisichella..................0
Barrichello.................0

The Constructor’s championship looks like this:-

Ferrari....................47 points
BMW Sauber........... 35
McLaren.................34
Williams..................12
Toyota....................9
Red Bull...................8
Renault...................6
Honda....................3
Toro Rosso..............2
Force India..............0
Super Aguri..............0


Once again Ferrari dominated here, but perhaps not by such a margin. Raikkonen seems to have settled well and be supremely confident.

McLaren still isn’t quite showing the form promised in Australia but Hamilton drove a sensible race and showed great maturity. Kovalainen appears to be fine after his high speed crash and should be fit for Turkey.

BMW Sauber again showed they were on the pace with Kubica having a great race for 4th place. Heidfeld was unlucky with the safety car otherwise he should have also been in the points.

Toyota was once more in the points and Webber came good again for Red Bull with his 5th place.

Honda must be delighted with their 6th place and but for a bit of bad luck, Barrichello could have had a good result.

Renault showed improvement at this race and Alonso’s pace was good all weekend.

Finally, Force India again had a strong showing with Fisichella’s 10th place but must be wondering when Sutil’s bad luck will end.

We can now look forward to Turkey on the 10th and 11th May where we should get a better idea about whether Ferrari have really got the edge.

Mike Lane

F1 Correspondent – Home Base - England