Ferrari came back strong again in Spain today to claim their second consecutive 1-2 finish. Kimi Raikkonen cruised to victory; the appearance of the safety car twice throughout the race was no cause for concern for the World Champion. The team mates were only separated by 3.2s.  After a disastrous Bahrain Grand Prix and very poor qualifying result yesterday Lewis Hamilton did really well to claim the third podium spot.  

Unfortunately his team mate did not fare so well. A high speed crash in to the tyre barrier saw him being airlifted to hospital for precautionary checks after sustaining a probable minor concussion and bruising his elbow.  

132,600 spectators arrived to see their home-grown hero race today and were very nearly rewarded with seeing Alonso spin off on the warm up lap. It might have been the reason why Massa out-dragged Fernando to claim second place. 

 Kubica had a mirror full of McLaren’s at his start. Hamilton came out the better and had taken the BMW’s fourth from him.  

Sebastian Vettel was once again the unfortunate victim of a first lap incident as the Force India of Adrian Sutil spun, taking the luckless German’s Toro Rosso with him. The first safety car of the race had to be deployed while debris from the incident was cleared away.  

Raikkonen swiftly pulled away when the race resumed while Alonso, Hamilton and Kubica kept each other honest.  Kovalainen’s huge crash followed from there. His 140mph run in to the tyre barrier caused heavy damage to the McLaren’s monocoque. The safety car was out for a lengthy period as a result.  

The timing was unfortunate for Heidfeld. The pit lane closed just as he needed to re-fuel. The decision had to be made to bring him in before he ran out of fuel on the circuit and was handed an automatic stop-go penalty as a result. To make matters worse he had to wait until the race resumed before serving his penalty so he ended up right at the back of the field. 

 Not long after the re-start Alonso’s hopes of a dream home race podium finish were shattered when his engine failed in a plume of smoke. The home crowd gave him well deserved acknowledgment as he made his way back to the Renault garage. 

 The engine of Rosberg’s Williams was the next casualty of a Grand Prix that saw only 13 of the 22 runners over the finish line. 

 Hamilton seemed to take off for the final stint of the race. Massa could see the McLaren gaining on him lap by lap as the race came to a close. Kubica was trying to make the same move on Hamilton though as second and third place was fought for to the very end.  

Webber looked strong in his Red Bull as he claimed a fantastic fifth for the team. A long middle stint and late final pit stop helped Jenson Button take Honda’s first points of the season.  

Trulli though, made a third pit stop, demoting him to finish eighth after chasing Webber for most of the day. Nakajima took the advantage in his Toyota-powered Williams and claimed seventh. Heidfeld put the chase on Trulli but ended up coming away empty handed.   

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