Translated material
Team no problem
Ferrari regains lead in constructors' championship
Kimi Raikkonen's second victory of the season confirms the Finnish driver's championship status, and Ferrari's second double in a row takes the Italian team to the top of the Constructors' Championship. Lewis Hamilton took the third step of the podium.Since 2001, the holder of pole position at the Circuit de Catalunya Montmelo has invariably become the winner of the race. And when the name of Fernando Alonso appeared on the first line on the scoreboard showing the qualifying results, the stands of the circuit exploded with applause. The fans' joy, however, was short-lived. After just a couple of seconds, the Spaniard had to move and give up the coveted place to Kim Raikkonen. But the second starting place for Renault looked like a very worthy result, which both the driver himself and the entire team did not really count on. It is difficult to say what was the reason for such a sharp rise - the enthusiastic support of the stands, the new aerodynamic clothing of the rear of the car, already nicknamed the sail, or because there was less fuel in the tanks than the rivals. Most likely, all these factors combined brought Alonso this first small success of the French stable. In addition, for the first time this season, Renault’s co-driver Nelson Piquet also managed to make it to the final part of qualifying, so the chances of winning the home race for the two-time world champion did not look completely minuscule.
The King of Spain, Juan Carlos, personally arrived at the track to support his compatriot on race day. But neither the monarch nor 130 thousand of his followers, who filled the stands of the circuit and all the nearby hills to capacity, could add power to the Renault engine. Already at the start, Alonso lost the battle for second place to Massa, and maintaining third also seemed problematic - the McLaren of Lewis Hamilton, who had overtaken Robert Kubica, was already looming in the mirrors. But before the racers had even completed half a lap, a safety car appeared on the track - after a collision between two Germans, Sebastian Vettel from Toro Rosa and Adrian Sutil (Force India), work appeared for the tow trucks.
The restart did not bring any changes to the arrangement of cars. Several laps were spent in a kind of positional struggle, which did not concern the Ferrari pilots. Raikkonen gained a decent amount of speed and managed to break away even from his partner, who, in turn, calmly kept his distance from the main group of pursuers. Michael Schumacher sat proudly on the command bridge of the Scuderia, whose help the Red pilots generally did not need in this race. Ferrari did not experience any problems, unlike its rivals.
The first difficulties arose with Renault. It's not even that Alonso was driving a genuinely lighter car and therefore needed an earlier pit stop. It was interesting to see how big the difference in speed was between him and his teammate, who was tenth. But Nelson Piquet did not allow such valuable information to be collected. After a mistake in one of the turns, the Brazilian's car was thrown into the gravel, and he had to make up for lost time. Such exercises require a certain skill, which the debutant of the Big Prizes clearly lacks. As a result, trying to overtake Sebastien Bourdais, who was also making his debut in Formula 1, but had much more experience, Piquet chose the wrong moment for the maneuver, contact occurred, and the race ended for both drivers.
If at that moment the judges had again decided to release the safety car, which meant an automatic ban on refueling, Alonso could have been left with empty tanks. But fortunately for the Spaniard and his fans, the matter was limited only to yellow flags. However, if his car was lighter than that of other leaders, it was not by much. Because almost immediately after Fernando, almost all the main contenders for victory in this race made a pit stop. This means that Renault really managed to prepare a competitive car.
However, this time it was not possible to find out its real capabilities. On the 21st lap, McLaren driver Heiki Kovalainen had a serious accident. A blown tire made his car uncontrollable, and after flying for a considerable distance along a gravel trap, he stuck into a protective barrier of waste tires. It took a long time for the racer to be pulled out of the wrecked car, and was immediately sent by helicopter to the hospital. Perhaps the long period spent behind a slow safety car did not have the best effect on the Renault engine: barely passing the middle of the race, the engine in the two-time champion’s car could not stand it and caught fire, instantly turning the driver, the team and all the fans into the most unfortunate people in the world . Flavio Briatore, sitting at the command console, doomedly put his head in his hands, Fernando managed to find the strength to thank the spectators on the podium closest to the place of his fiasco, and they, in turn, having paid tribute to their idol, lost all interest in the race.
Yes, strictly speaking, there was nothing more interesting. Ferrari skillfully completed the winning double, and Hamilton also easily finished third. The only entertainment in the time remaining before the checkered flag was a small battle that unfolded on the very border of the scoring zone. “Red Bull” David Coulthard and Timo Glock in a Toyota had a good fight on this very border. As a result, both cars went for minor repairs, and the only point for eighth place went to another representative of the Japanese team, Jarno Trulli.
Results. Spanish Grand Prix. 1. Raikkonen (Ferrari) - 1 hour 38 minutes. 19 sec. 2. Mass (Ferrari) - lag 3.2 seconds. 3. Hamilton (McLaren) - 4.1. 4. Kubica (BMW-Sauber) - 5.7. 5. Webber (Red Bull) - 35.9. 6. Button (Honda) - 53.0. 7. Nakajima (Williams) - 58.2. 8. Trulli (Toyota) - 59.4. Pilots' Championship. Raikkonen - 29 points. Hamilton - 20, Kubica - 19. Mass - 18, Heidfeld (BMW-Sauber) - 16. Constructors' Championship. Ferrari - 47, BMW-Sauber - 35, McLaren - 34.