** This thread discusses the Content article:
Raikkonen leads Ferrari one-two in Spain **
<img src="images/stories/basic/kimi%20pole.jpg" border="0" alt="kimi pole" title="kimi pole" hspace="5" vspace="5" width="114" height="92" align="left" />Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen became the eighth consecutive man to win the
Spanish Grand Prix from pole position, when he dominated Sunday's race
at the Circuit de Catalunya.<br />
<br />
The Finn shrugged off two safety
car periods - the second when compatriot Heikki Kovalainen crashed his
McLaren heavily after a front-end failure pitched him off the road in
Turn Nine at an estimated 180 mph - and led home team mate Felipe
Massa, McLaren's Lewis Hamilton and BMW Sauber's Robert Kubica. They
finished 3.2s, 0.9s, and 1.5s apart respectively...<br />
<br />
It may not
have been a classic race, but it increased Raikkonen's championship
score to 29 points and his lead to nine over Hamilton (20), while Massa
jumps up to fourth on 18, one behind Kubica (19).<br />
<br />
The Kovalainen
incident occurred on the 22nd lap, possibly as a result of something
causing the front-left tyre and rim to separate. It took a while to
stabilise the Finn at the accident scene, but he gave a thumbs up as he
was taken by stretcher to the medical centre. Later he was flown to
hospital for precautionary checks, and his condition was described as
stable.<br />
<br />
The incident ruined Nick Heidfeld's race for BMW Sauber,
since he was on a longer refuelling strategy and had just taken the
lead after the first round of pit stops. He had to come in when the pit
lane was still closed, and thus had to serve a stop-go penalty later
on. That dropped him to a ninth-place finish.<br />
<br />
Mark Webber
brought his Red Bull home fifth ahead of Jenson Button's Honda, Kazuki
Nakajima's Williams and Jarno Trulli's Toyota. The Italian was hampered
by a long second stop and an unecessary third one after a
communications mix up.<br />
<br />
Giancarlo Fisichella was unable to resist
the charging Heidfeld, so brought his Force India home 10th, ahead of
Toyota's Timo Glock, who delayed himself running into the rear of David
Coulthard. The Scot's left-rear tyre was cut as a result, so he also
dropped back but managed to repass Super Aguri's Takuma Sato before the
finish to claim 12th.<br />
<br />
William's Nico Rosberg was headed for
seventh place until his Toyota engine broke; Renault's Fernando Alonso
was running fifth when his engine also blew up; Honda's Rubens
Barrichello had a collision in the pit lane with Fisichella, which led
to his subsequent retirement, and a clash on the opening lap also
accounted for Force India's Adrian Sutil and, yet again, Toro Rosso's
Sebastian Vettel. Team mate Sebastien Bourdais retired after being
clobbered by Renault's Nelson Piquet as the Brazilian attempted to
overtake. Piquet also failed to finish as a result. Finally, Super
Aguri's Anthony Davidson went out with mechanical problems.
