Apr 27, 2008

Race 4 Barcelona : Kimi's perfect treble

POLE, WIN & FASTEST LAP : It looks like nothing in the world can stop the Iceman for the time being. Right from Friday's free practice session to the flag, he couldn't have done any better in the Circuit de Catalunya. Kimi had a superb start going through the clear part of the start-finish straight chased down by the equally quick scarlet of Massa but since they were no way interested in racing any harder, the positions remained the same through the first corner. Earlier, Massa made a great pass on Alonso who didn't had a clear run and had to live with the constant pressure from the quicker McLaren of Lewis in the fourth place. So, Ferrari did eventually had a 1-2 but the lap times look a bit deceptive. Maybe, they didn't want to push too much when there was no necessity of doing so or maybe the 'safety car touring' for 10 mins would have enabled the likes of McLaren n BMW to close down the gap a bit. Nevertheless, no reliability woes anymore nor any grey hairs seen in the Ferrari pitcrew.

McLaren came up with a mixed bad as Heikki Kovalainen survived a puncture half-way through the race causing his McLaren to kiss the tyre wall at 140 mph (see photo) but luckily, no serious injury is reported as the Finn was taken for premilinary medical check-up. Lewis Hamilton was all over Felipe Massa's Ferrari just after the safety car went to pits but considering Catalunya is a Ferrari track with long sweeping corners n a long straight, there was nothing more he could do other than maintaining the gap to just 1 sec. Robert Kubica was also in a chasing mood all the way from lap 1 where he lost a place to Lewis but McLaren and BMW looked on par. The team though didn't had to worry too much as not a lot is expected from them even now. Alonso with a surprising front row start failed to finish after his Renault engine gave up in lap 22 much to the horror of the raucous Spanish crowd.

Apart from the Heikki's shunt, the Spanish GP wasn't an eventful one but can't take anything away from what Heidfeld did to Fisichella after 7 laps of frustration. That infact was the one and only overtaking maneuver in the whole race. Ferrari will travel to Turkey with a big smile on their face after second consecutive 1-2 and bagging a lead on both drivers' and constructors' championship. McLaren would be exhausted after following the scarlets for 66 laps with not much hope either. Kimi Raikkonen, as lots of F1 fanatics say, is enjoying a single horse race to the championship and it's his title to loose now without doubt but let's wait n watch whether Massa or Lewis can come up with some goods or not.

As they stand after race 4 of 18:

1. K. Raikkonen 29
2. L. Hamilton 20
3. R. Kubica 19
4. F. Massa 18
5. N. Heidfeld 16

Next Race : Turkish GP - Sunday, May 11th

No comments: