Dominant Massa wins Spanish GP

F1 Grand Prix, GP Spain, Circuit de Catalunya

Felipe Massa has won the Spanish GP in a dominant way. He has never really been under threat apart from a close call in the first corner of the race. Neither of the Mclarens could really match the pace of the Brazilian. Both are however on the podium. Kimi Raikkonen dropped out of the race early after a technical failure. The race was filled with incidents and surprises all way through.

The first GP in Europe of 2007 immediately came to an exciting start. Unfortunately it was a bit less exciting for Trulli as he stalled after the warmup lap and therefore started the actual race from the pitlane. His Toyota suffered a lack of fuel pressure and he was consequently ordered to keep his revs up during the upcoming pitstops.

The actual start after another warmup lap was one of the most exciting so far. Both Renaults and Coulthard charged ahead while at the front Hamilton easily passed Raikkonen. Alonso on the other hand came on the outside of Massa and was actually ahead until Massa hooked hit the right of the world champion's McLaren. Alonso went through the gravel trap and just managed to stay ahead of Kubica and Heidfeld.

In the midst of the pack there were a lot of close battles in which Wurz hit Ralf Schumacher and Fisichella also visited the gravel to end up behind both Hondas. The front wing appeared to have damaged to much to Wurz' car. The Austrian saw yet another disappointing weekend come to an end. His teammate Rosberg on the contrary made an incredible start to come into 8th position after one lap.

Few laps in the race Trulli stepped out of his car too after his fuel problem became too much trouble to keep on going. 9 laps in the race is also the end for Raikkonen with an apparent suspension problem. Scott speed is also out further in that same lap after a tyre blowup.

Unsurprisingly, the first stops come quickly in the race. The medium tyres have only a short lifetime on the abrasive Barcelona track. Massa is the first to come in after 18 laps. Although with no visible damage, the crew spoilt some fuel on the Ferrari and Massa consequently left with a giant flame over the right hand sidepod.

Liuzzi then also left the race with more technical problems, effectively ending the race weekend for Toro Rosso. Just one lap later, Button rejoins the track just aside of his teammate at Honda. Neither of the two were willing to give in which led to Button losing his front wing. If the two drivers would now start to damage each other, the troubled Honda team is far from a revival.

From the front drivers, Heidfeld is the last to come in for his first stop and looked set to overtake Kubica after a string of strong laps. However, after Massa's flame, now the BMW crew failed to do a perfect stop. The chief mechanic moved up the lollipop far too quickly, before the right front tyre was rigidly bolted onto the car. Heidfeld managed to complete the lap with the wheel attached but returned to the pitlane once more to fix the problem.

Meanwhile both Renaults are keeping up a solid pace. Kovalainen is 6th and fighting out a battle with David Coulthard ahead of him. Fisichella is also charging as he closely follows Barrichello.

Halfway through the race it is apparent that Alonso will not be able to win his home Grand Prix once again. Massa is far too quickly for the McLarens while Alonso is constantly 0.4 seconds slower than his teammate in second place.

Contrary to the first string of stops, the second series went smoothly for everyone with only Kovalainen making his third regular stop already. Another bunch of laps later, Schumacher slowly enter the pitlane to abandon the race. Heidfeld follows as another 2 laps later he's done with racing too.

Unfortunately for Fisichella there had been a fuelling problem with Renault so that he needed to enter the pitlane again for a short stop. Tyres were not changed and his stop was done in 4.7s but it was not quick enough to stay ahead of Takuma Sato.

Massa ends his race on top, ahead of Hamilton and Alonso. Kubica is fourth as Coulthard finishes fifth even with gearbox problems.