In a race that saw both title contenders see their share of misfortune, Heikki Kovalainen wins his first Grand Prix for McLaren.It what looked like sure victory from a surprisingly quick Felipe Massa but with 3 laps remaining, his Ferrari stopped on the front straight leaving him bereft of a points haul and title leading performance. Lewis Hamilton seemed stymied by the quick Ferrari at the beginning and found his own trouble when he ran afoul of a flat front tire leaving him off the podium but still in the drivers championship lead due to Massa’s retirement.
As fate would ahve it, even when Lewis has had trouble he seems to be relatively unharmed and able to absorb the set back as Ferrari has failed to maximize on the opportunities.
Heikki drove a great race but more importantly was there in the end. He did exactly what McLaren needed him to do as a number two driver when your number one guys fails to take the win.
The honorable mentions has to be to Toyota and Timo Glock for a fantastic second place finish. The beleagured team needed this result and will hopefully take this to Valencia which is a complete unkown track for all the teams. Perhaps Toyota can repeat the magic.
Kimi? Hmmm. I’ll get back to you on that. Not sure what is happening there.
Pos Driver Team Time 1. Kovalainen McLaren-Mercedes (B) 1h37:27.067 2. Glock Toyota (B) + 11.061 3. Raikkonen Ferrari (B) + 16.856 4. Alonso Renault (B) + 21.614 5. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes (B) + 23.048 6. Piquet Renault (B) + 32.298 7. Trulli Toyota (B) + 36.449 8. Kubica BMW Sauber (B) + 48.321 9. Webber Red Bull-Renault (B) + 58.834 10. Heidfeld BMW Sauber (B) + 1:07.709 11. Coulthard Red Bull-Renault (B) + 1:10.407 12. Button Honda (B) + 1 lap 13. Nakajima Williams-Toyota (B) + 1 lap 14. Rosberg Williams-Toyota (B) + 1 lap 15. Fisichella Force India-Ferrari (B) + 1 lap 16. Barrichello Honda (B) + 2 laps 17. Bourdais Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B) + 3 laps 18. Massa Ferrari (B) + 3 laps Fastest lap: Raikkonen, 1:21.195 Not classified/retirements: Driver Team On lap Sutil Force India-Ferrari (B) 63 Vettel Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B) 23 World Championship standings, round 11: Drivers: Constructors: 1. Hamilton 62 1. Ferrari 111 2. Raikkonen 57 2. McLaren-Mercedes 100 3. Massa 54 3. BMW Sauber 90 4. Kubica 49 4. Toyota 35 5. Heidfeld 41 5. Renault 31 6. Kovalainen 38 6. Red Bull-Renault 24 7. Trulli 22 7. Williams-Toyota 16 8. Alonso 18 8. Honda 14 9. Webber 18 9. Toro Rosso-Ferrari 8 10. Glock 13 11. Piquet 13 12. Barrichello 11 13. Rosberg 8 14. Nakajima 8 15. Vettel 6 16. Coulthard 6 17. Button 3 18. Bourdais 2
