|
 Kimi Raikkonen secured his second consecutive Grand Prix victory by overcoming the McLarens at Silverstone.
Fernando Alonso led the middle stint of the race but ultimately had to settle for second behind the Ferrari.
However he still trimmed his teammate Lewis Hamilton's championship
lead by two points, as the home crowd favourite could only manage third
place, despite leading the early laps from pole position.
{mos_sb_discuss:1}
Raikkonen had shadowed Hamilton throughout the opening laps - the
Briton having resisted the Ferrari driver's attempt to grab the lead
off the startline. Alonso remained firmly in contention too, staying
within two seconds of the leaders and matching their laptimes.
Towards the end of Hamilton's first stint the pressure from
Raikkonen increased, with the Ferrari slipstreaming the McLaren down
the Hangar Straight, and getting right alongside at Brooklands on lap
14. Hamilton calmly turned in and claimed the corner, but it was clear
that Raikkonen had the faster package.
Hamilton was the lightest of the lead cars and pitted on lap 16. The
stop nearly went wrong as Hamilton lurched forward prematurely, but
there was no repeat of Christijan Albers' dramatic Magny-Cours
incident, and the McLaren crew completed refuelling with minimal drama
or delay.
Once Hamilton was out of the way, Raikkonen unleashed a series of
new fastest laps, emerging comfortably ahead of Hamilton after he
stopped two laps longer.
But Alonso went two laps further still, and although there were no
astounding times on his in-laps, he was still circulating a second
quicker than the now-heavy Ferrari. Coupled with McLaren's decision to
short-fuel and go for a mid-race sprint, it was enough for Alonso to
emerge from the pits two seconds clear of Raikkonen.
Now on the softer tyres, Alonso began a charge and rapidly extended
his lead to five seconds. But Raikkonen was soon matching the McLaren's
times and preventing the champion from escaping further.
Alonso made his final stop on lap 37, while Raikkonen had enough fuel to go six laps further.
Once again, his in-laps were extremely rapid, and the Ferrari was 28
seconds clear of the McLaren before it pitted, allowing Raikkonen to
rejoin a secure four seconds ahead. He proceeded to extend that lead
throughout the stint and confirm his third victory for Ferrari.
Hamilton was significantly slower than the lead duo during his
middle stint, losing as much as two seconds per lap and falling half a
minute behind. But despite the disappointment, the rookie driver still
took his ninth consecutive podium and continues to lead the standings
by 12 points over Alonso.
Felipe Massa lost his opportunity to join the lead battle when he
stalled on the grid. He took the start from the pitlane and made
extremely rapid progress through the midfield in the opening laps,
before jumping several more cars by running longer before his first
stop.
He rejoined seventh and spent the middle stint trapped behind
Renault's Giancarlo Fisichella. But Massa successfully passed both the
Renault and BMW's Nick Heidfeld during the final stops, putting him
behind Robert Kubica in fifth.
The Ferrari tried a variety of moves on Kubica in the remaining laps
but had to be content with fifth place, as Kubica earned his second
consecutive fourth position.
Heidfeld used long stints to come from ninth on the grid to sixth,
with Heikki Kovalainen passing Renault teammate Fisichella for seventh
in the final stops.
The Hondas made a one-stop strategy work well, allowing Rubens
Barrichello and Jenson Button to come from the midfield to ninth and
tenth, Button fending off countryman David Coulthard at the end of the
race.
Williams had a difficult race. Nico Rosberg made assertive progress
on a short opening stint, then fell back in the traffic and ended up
12th. Alex Wurz survived a collision with Toro Rosso's Scott Speed at
Club - which left the American out of the race with broken suspension -
to take 13th.
Toyota's promising practice and qualifying form evaporated in the
race. Ralf Schumacher lost ground at the start and retired early with a
suspension problem, while Jarno Trulli eventually pulled out after
struggling with extreme tyre wear and poor handling all afternoon.
Other notable retirements included Red Bull's Mark Webber with an
early hydraulic failure, and Briton Anthony Davidson, whose extreme
handling problems could not be solved.
Classified:
Pos Driver Team Time
1. Raikkonen Ferrari (B) 1h21:43.074
2. Alonso McLaren-Mercedes (B) + 2.459
3. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes (B) + 39.373
4. Kubica BMW Sauber (B) + 53.319
5. Massa Ferrari (B) + 54.063
6. Heidfeld BMW Sauber (B) + 56.336
7. Kovalainen Renault (B) + 1 lap
8. Fisichella Renault (B) + 1 lap
9. Barrichello Honda (B) + 1 lap
10. Button Honda (B) + 1 lap
11. Coulthard Red Bull-Renault (B) + 1 lap
12. Rosberg Williams-Toyota (B) + 1 lap
13. Wurz Williams-Toyota (B) + 1 lap
14. Sato Super Aguri-Honda (B) + 2 laps
15. Albers Spyker-Ferrari (B) + 2 laps
16. Liuzzi Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B) + 4 laps
Fastest lap: Raikkonen, 1:20.638
Not classified/retirements:
Driver Team On lap
Trulli Toyota (B) 45
Davidson Super Aguri-Honda (B) 37
Speed Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B) 31
R.Schumacher Toyota (B) 24
Sutil Spyker-Ferrari (B) 19
Webber Red Bull-Renault (B) 10
source: autosport.com
|
