Damnit, that annoying leprecon Felipe Massa won. Again! Still, credit where it’s due, he took pole with a cracking time, by just sneaking in front of Alonso and proceeded to keep the lead, knocking out the fastest lap along the way.
More interesting than that though is that thanks to Hamilton’s second place, he now leads the championship! A pretty amazing feat for rookie in just his fourth race.
Alonso on the other hand had a pretty poor weekend. Hamilton outclassed him again and even though he’d qualified ahead of him, he lost two places due to a risky over taking move at the first corner on Massa which didn’t pay off. Massa held his ground well, pushing Alonso off track and losing him two positions.
It looked like he’d stay fourth but Raikkonen’s reliability gremlin’s made a welcome return (for us Alonso fans) and chewed up his electrics. That made for a quick end to his weekend, and he was off the circuit before the race had even finished. Both the lead drivers for McLaren and Ferrari had poor weekends by their standards. The second drivers are giving them a real beating and as such, they’ve got to raise their games.
Strangely Michael Schumacher was back at Ferrari. Not driving, but in an advisor role. I’m not sure if it’s a good or a bad thing. But that said, it’s nice to see he still has an active interest in the sport.
As for the rest of the pack, well, Kubica came in fourth and pushed home just how well BMW are now doing since they split from Williams and bought out Sauber. It’s really good to see. I doubt they’ll be fighting for the championship this year, but I reckon they will be next year. Coulthard also did well coming home with fifth. The Red Bulls have really pushed on since Bahrain which is great news.
I’m not sure Renault will be happy with Honda’s second team, Super Aguri, beating Fisichella to eighth. It’s weird how Renault’s form has slipped so much. It is, however, making for a highly competitive mid-field.
Next up is Monaco in just under two weeks. Hamilton has an excellent record there from racing in GP3 and GP2 whilst for Alonso, it’s not a good circuit. Still, at least Schumacher wouldn’t be able to ruin everyones qualifying times this year by parking his car on the second to last corner… or will he?
- Race Result – F1 ITV
Photos from www.F1–Live.com
