Massa wins Spanish Grand Prix

The Spanish Grand Prix saw a record 160,000 fans watch history in the making in an action packed race although not quite in the manner they had anticipated or perhaps welcomed. Felipe Massa drove another superlative race to win on Spanish soil but not before dashing the hopes and dreams of thousands of spectators as he tangled with local hero Fernando Alonso at the very first corner.

Alonso’s loss handed team-mate Lewis Hamilton his chance of grabbing second place and the rookie driver wasted no time in slipping past the double world champion and into the record books.

At 22 years of age, Hamilton becomes the youngest man to lead the Drivers’ Championship since Bruce McLaren – ironically the founder of the McLaren Formula One team.

“I’m living my dream, it’s incredible,” he said in the post race press conference.

However, in a race which had an unusually high number of retirements, including Kimi Räikkönen, who retired after just nine laps with an electrical problem, Massa had perhaps the broadest grin, especially after putting one over Alonso and holding his nerve going into the first corner, where the race was effectively won and lost.

A pumped up Massa said: “It was a little bit tight from both of us (Alonso), I was on the inside and I went for it. The first corner was important and I didn’t want to lose like I did in Malaysia,” he said.

Hamilton conceded that whilst he could not keep up with the Massa’s Ferrari, he vowed he would catch him soon.

“We had a good strategy. The aim was to get as many places as possible. We didn’t quite have the pace of Felipe but as I said to him (Massa), we will get him soon.”

A resigned looking Alonso, who now trails Hamilton by two points in the Drivers’ table, confessed he lost momentum after clashing with Massa.

“Unfortunately it was not enough after the touch. From there on if you are fourth in the first corner the race become very complicated.”

The Spanish Grand Prix was full of incident even before the lights went out for the 66-lap race when Jarno Trulli, who had qualified in sixth place, stalled his engine on the starting grid, forcing the cars to go round for a second formation lap.

It was a sign of things to come for Toyota who suffered a miserable afternoon with both cars retiring. Trulli retired on lap 9 with a recurrence of his fuel pressure woes. “The fuel pressure dropped and the engine stopped and there was nothing to else to do,” he said afterwards.

Team-mate Ralf Schumacher had a busy afternoon in and out of the pits before he too pulled into the garage with just 20 laps to the finish. “I had a problem with the front suspension and we’re not sure what it was,” he said.

BMW-Sauber also had a busy afternoon with mixed fortunes after Robert Kubica secured their ubiquitous fourth place – confirming their standing as the third best team on the grid, whilst team-mate Nick Heidfeld failed to finish for the first time this season but not before he had been leading the race only to pit and watch his front right wheel nut fly off as he tried to pull away.

The German was forced to limp round the circuit back to garage and have a new wheel fitted but to no avail as he stopped on lap 47 with a broken gearbox.

A disappointed Heidfeld, who had managed to finish fourth in the first three races, said the issue surrounding the wheel nut was just one of those things. “It was one of those things that happen but it shouldn’t happen.”

Elsewhere however, things were looking up for some of the middle order teams, in particular Red Bull, who secured their first points of the season with David Coulthard limping home minus third gear in fifth place and four valuable points.

The Scotsman, who had to fend off the advancing Nico Rosberg in the Williams, said his pace was “worth all the hard work at the expense of reliability. I felt entirely comfortable with the car. And we can build on that.”

Red Bull’s reliability issues are of cold comfort to his team-mate Mark Webber who once again was forced to retire after just seven laps with a hydraulics failure. “The problems started quite early. It’s disappointing… not much more we can say.”

Renault also suffered mixed fortunes on a busy day trying to work around a fuel rig problem which was failing to deliver the correct amount of fuel.

Heikki Kovalainen managed to cross the line in seventh place to give himself another two points whilst Giancarlo Fisichella’s hopes of a points finish were thwarted as he made a splash and dash for fuel with just six laps to go.

His single point was eagerly and gratefully accepted by Takuma Sato who secured Super Aguri’s first ever points in eighth.

Further down the grid it was a litany of mishaps and adventures. Rubens Barrichello managed to secure his best finish of the season in tenth, but not before tangling with team-mate Jenson Button, who crossed the line in 12th but only after losing his front wing after clashing with Barrichello.

“I wasn’t given a lot of room on turn 1 and we touched,” Button said of Barrichello’s move.

Other’s who lost body parts included Alex Wurz, who ran into the back of Ralf Schumacher on the first lap after the cars had concertinaed following Alonso’s trip with Massa. “For me it all happened too quick, I had zero chance to react,” bemoaned the Williams driver, who lost his front wing.

Scott Speed suffered a high-speed blow out along the home straight; he was joined in the Toro Rosso garage a short while later by team-mate Vitantonio Liuzzi.

With only 14 cars finishing, Toyota’s Ralf Schumacher was asked why so many cars were retiring: “A lot of new parts have been added to the cars and maybe that’s why,” he explained.

With just three points separating the top three places, the grid now prepare for the Monaco Grand Prix, where Hamilton has never lost a race. The pressure will be on the British driver to deliver his first Grand Prix victory whilst Kimi Räikkönen, now eight points adrift, will be hoping to make amends and close the gap on the leading trio.(espnstar.com)