Oh dear; a fast, reliable Ferrari. Oh yes; and it’s got Kimi Raikkonen at the wheel. Let’s face it; today’s Grand Prix in Spain was a walk in the park for The Iceman. A couple of safety cars thrown in for good measure were about all The Finn had to worry his little head about and even those weren’t exactly cause for concern. The first was right at the beginning of the race and the second was after he had been in to the pits so neither of them in any way hindered his progress.   

 McLaren have got something to remain positive about. Kimi might have been off like a rocket but certainly, throughout the final stint of the race Lewis was always gaining on the Ferrari of Felippe Massa, indicating that although they might not have had quicker race pace than The Scuderia, McLaren aren’t all that very far behind their rivals.

Watching qualifying yesterday I thought that it was all over for this season. But today’s podium finish went well towards thinking that Mclaren are still in with a good chance this season.    

 We all knew that this week’s race was going to give us some idea of how all the teams were looking for the rest of the season. Testing the week before last didn’t throw out anything conclusive what with teams spending a lot of their time concentrating on next year’s set ups. Low fuel runs from the likes of Force India also mixed the field up a bit so we really didn’t get anything conclusive from there.   

 It was hugely encouraging to see Lewis get such a good start today. I’m sure we call all remember watching in mild disbelief as Hamilton went precisely nowhere when all the lights showed green back in Bahrain. But all buttons were obviously pressed at the correct time this afternoon at the Catalunya circuit. Hamilton’s start was both text book and gutsy. Lewis was back to his old self.  

 The BMW’s were looking pacy too though. It was a shame that Heidfeld fell foul to the safety car regulations. I really think something should be done about the ruling that you can’t pit while the safety car is out. It was hardly Heidfeld’s fault that Kovalainen had a crash, yet he was unable to pit legally and had to head in anyway or run the risk of running out of fuel on the circuit.

Then he had to wait to serve his penalty until the race resumed and ended up at the back of the field. His stop-go penalty finished his race for him. Many times over the years a car that is running well has fallen foul to this ruling and paid a high price for it and I really feel something should be done about it.   

Hideous crash for poor Heikki though. It was an awful sight to see. When you see a thing like that you get a stark reminder of just how dangerous this sport is. It was horrible to not see him get out of the car straight away too.

Mind you, with a 140mph impact it would have been pretty incredible if he had of leapt out of the car completely unscathed. Obviously it was a tense time for the team from that point on because they had to quickly establish what the problem had been and whether they needed to get Lewis in.

Ron Dennis said afterwards that the team’s initial prognosis for the cause of the accident was that a stone or debris may have got between the wheel rim and the tyre to cause the blow out. Good news there then. The last thing the team would need would be to have a major safety reliability issue with either car at this stage of the season. All indications show that Heikki suffered no more than a bump on the head and a banged elbow, thank God.  

 You had to feel for Fernando Alonso today. Well, I did anyway. Regardless of light fuel loads he did a superb job of qualifying yesterday to get second on the grid. Mind you, I bet his heart hit his feet when he had that little off on the warm up lap.

That wall was coming at him hard and fast. Imagine the stick he would have got if he had of stacked his car at that stage of the game? But he didn’t and went on to have a really great start. He might have lost his second place to Massa but he still hung on in there with the big boys, a position he had not been used to being in of late.

I bet he was like a dog with two tails being able to get stuck in with the front of the pack again. So I was genuinely sorry to see his R28 go up in a puff of smoke half way through the race. Still, he was hugely magnanimous when he got out of the car, taking the time out to go up to see his adoring fans that were all ecstatic to see him.

It’s worth mentioning here to all you die hard Hamilton fans (which of course I am too, but without any petty acrimony held against his former team mate!) that apparently Fernando and Lewis made a point of standing side by side throughout the parade lap before the race, chatting away to each other.

If they can get on is it possible now that Hamilton fans and the British press might leave them be now? I doubt it but it had to worth a try! Even I felt slightly nervous when the McLaren tucked in behind the Renault after the first turn of the first lap, just for a little while!  

Martin Brundle gave his driver of the day to Lewis Hamilton (big surprise and why shouldn’t he?) but if it had of been down to me I would have been tied between Jenson Button and Giancarlo Fisichella. Jenson, yet again, kept his head while all around him were losing theirs.

He kept out of trouble, had the correct strategy (although, with Ross Brawn at the helm, why wouldn’t he?) and picked up Honda’s first points of the season. Fisichella did a tremendous job to finish in tenth in the Force India. He is doing a great job with the progress of that car and he should be worth a mention.   

But back to McLaren. I am greatly encouraged by today’s performance. Before his terrible crash Kovalainen was doing well and keeping up with the pack and Lewis was back on the podium again, surely where he belongs.

There was some negative press; fickle at the best of times, about his capabilities because he hasn’t been winning since Australia and had the worst finish in his short F1 history at Bahrain.

Today went a long way to showing everyone that they would be extremely foolish to write him off just yet. The MP4-23 is not as far off pace than the Ferrari’s as we might have thought. And despite Heidfeld’s misfortunes Lewis was still able to hold off Kubica’s BMW so I think we should proceed in this 2008 season feeling very positive about the team’s chances for picking up great championship points.

Kimi is nine points ahead of Lewis in the Driver’s Championship but things can quickly change in Formula 1. It’s still very much game on from where I’m sitting.

Bookmark or share this story with:

• Digg
• Delicious
• Facebook
• Reddit
• Stumbleupon

SPORTNETWORK SPECIALS

• Think you know your sport? Click here to try the Sportnetwork Prize Quizzes