Bridgestone looking into the problems

Ferrari’s Felipe Massa has won the Gran Premio de Espana Telefonica after a dominant display under glorious blue skies at the Circuit de Catalunya. Massa notched up his second consecutive win of the season and Ferrari’s third after a strong start from pole position. He defended his position from attack from Fernando Alonso (McLaren Mercedes) in the first corner and was unchallenged for the rest of the 65 lap race.

Lewis Hamilton (McLaren Mercedes) gained second place on the first lap and crossed the line in this position, 6.8 seconds adrift of Massa. It was his third consecutive second place finish in the Briton’s rookie season.

Alonso registered third spot and was followed across the line by Robert Kubica (BMW Sauber), David Coulthard (Red Bull), Nico Rosberg (Williams), Heikki Kovalainen (Renault) and Takuma Sato scored the final championship point. Sato’s point was Super Aguri’s first ever and the first point scored by a Japanese constructor with a Japanese driver and Japanese engine and tyres.

The drivers’ championship now sees Lewis Hamilton lead with 30 points from Alonso on 28 with Massa in third with 27. The constructors’ championship sees McLaren Mercedes on 58 points from Ferrari with 49 and BMW Sauber on 23.

After investigation with the Toro Rosso team it was determined that Scott Speed suffered a left rear puncture. Investigation of the tyre revealed a cut in the centre of the tread.

Kees van de Grint, Bridgestone Motorsport Head of Track Engineering Operations said: “Up front it was business as usual today. All but two cars opted for the conventional strategy of medium, medium, hard. The exceptions were Speed who used the hard for his first stint and Alonso who used it for his middle stint, both for understandable reasons. It was clear that the medium compound had an advantage on the track today. It was good to see David Coulthard, Nico Rosberg and Takuma Sato score points. Unfortunately Scott Speed’s Toro Rosso had a puncture, but we could see from the data that everything was perfect until Turn 5 where there was a drop in pressure to as low as 6 PSI and the tyre gave up as it is not to be run at these levels. Investigation of the tyre showed a cut in the middle of the tread which caused the puncture. ”